"The North Korean military conducted explosions, believed to be aimed at cutting the Gyeongui and Donghae routes, around noon on October 15 and conducting additional operations using heavy equipment," Yonhap said, citing information from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).
According to the JCS, the South Korean military suffered no damage and responded by firing shots south of the Military necessity Line (MDL) as a self-defense measure and a warning for acts that could violate the ceasefire agreement.
The explosions occurred in areas only 10 meters from the MDL at 11:49 local time on the route along Gyeongui and at 12:01 on the route along Donghae.
Last week, the North Korean military announced a plan to "completely separate" North Korea's territory from South Korea, and informed the US military about the move to "prevent any mis judgments and unwanted conflicts".
The two Koreas are connected by road and rail along the Gyeongui route - the route connecting the western border city of Paju in South Korea with North Korea's Kaesong, and the Donghae route along the eastern coast.
The move comes as Pyongyang has increased tensions with Seoul andwned hopes of a unified deal after leader Kim Jong-un defined North and South Korea as "two hostile states" late last year and took steps to disrupt inter-Korean roads.
North Korea has since dismantled street lights and planted mines along Gyeongui and Donghae roads, as well as deployed troops to build anti-ship barriers and reinforce barbed wire fences inside the demilitarized zone dividing North Korea.
"Blowing up inter-Korean roads could be their last resort as they have destroyed other signs of inter-Korean cooperation, such as the inter-Korean common focal office," a JCS official said.
In 2020, North Korea blew up an inter-Korean joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong after criticizing South Korea for not stopping North Korean defecationists in South Korea from sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border by balloons.
The official said Pyongyang appeared to want to show its people that all relations between the two Koreas had been severed, while warning South Korea that the relationship between the two Koreas was no longer viable.
Tensions escalated further after North Korea announced on October 11 that South Korea had flown drones over Pyongyang three times this month.
The next day, Kim Yo-jong, Kim Jong-un's younger sister, warned of a "terrifying disaster" if South Korean drones flew over the North Korean capital again.
South Korea neither confirmed nor denied the statement and warned that North Korea would suffer the consequences if it caused any harm to South Korean people.
