SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said Monday it has detected signs that North Korea is preparing to destroy the northern parts of inter-Korean roads no longer in use, as the rivals are embroiled in soaring tensions over North Korea's claim that South Korea flew drones over its territory.
Destroying the roads would be in line with leader Kim Jong Un's push to cut off ties with South Korea, formally cement it as his country's principal enemy and abandon the North's decades-long objective to seek a peaceful Korean unification.
In a highly derisive rhetoric, Kim's sister and senior official, Kim Yo Jong, called the South Korean military ''dregs'' and ''mongrels tamed by Yankees.'' She said Monday that ''the master of those dogs,'' an apparent reference to the U.S., must be held accountable for the alleged drone flights as well. South Korea and the U.S. had no immediate responses.
Earlier Monday, South Korea's military said that it was observing various activities in North Korea that appeared to be preparations for demolishing the roads, such as installing screens.
''They have installed screens on the roads and are working behind those screens, preparing to blow up the roads,'' Lee Sung Joon, spokesperson of South Korea's Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a briefing. He said the demolitions could be carried out as early as Monday.
Lee said that the South Korean military believes that North Korea may carry out other provocations like a space rocket launch, which the U.N. views as a disguised test of long-range missile technology.
It's not clear how much parts of the roads North Korea would destroy.
During the previous era of inter-Korean detente in the 2000s, the two Koreas reconnected two road routes and two rail tracks across their heavily fortified border. But their operations later were suspended one by one as the Koreas wrangled over North Korea's nuclear program and other issues.