#North Korea blew up liaison office on border, South Korea says

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South Korean army soldiers patrol along the barbed-wire fence in Paju, South Korea, near the border with North Korea.
AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon

North Korea blew up its de facto embassy with South Korea on Tuesday, a report said.

The North Korean military launched an attack on the inter-Korean liaison office in the border town of Kaesong, shortly after the North warned of an upcoming attack at the building, according to South Korea’s Yonhap News.

Loud explosions were heard in the area and smoke could be seen billowing from the structure, the outlet said.

Kim Yo-jong, the sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, had warned on Saturday of a “tragic scene of the useless North-South joint liaison office completely collapsed.”

“I gave an instruction to the arms of the department in charge of the affairs with enemy to decisively carry out the next action,” she said in a statement to state media.

The relationship between North and South Korea has deteriorated in recent months. Some experts believe Pyongyang is frustrated over a lack of progress in nuclear talks that South Korean President Moon Jae-in organized with the Trump administration.