Pyongyang to 'permanently' shut border with South Korea

North Korea's Army said it will completely cut off roads and railways connected to South Korea starting from Wednesday, and fortify the areas on its side of the border, state media KCNA reported. The announcement released via KCNA on Wednesday heralds a further escalation in activity close to the demarcation line separating the two Koreas, which had been rare in recent years until this year. North Korea had already been installing landmines and barriers and creating wasteland along the heavily militarized border for months this year, South Korea's military said in July. The General Staff of the Korean People's Army said in a statement carried by KCNA that this was a response to war exercises that have been held in South Korea, which it called "the primary hostile state and invariable principal enemy", as well as frequent visits by US strategic nuclear assets in the region. (Production: Jisoo Kim, Heejung Jung) Subscribe to the ABS-CBN News channel! - http://bit.ly/TheABSCBNNews Watch full episodes on iWantTFC for FREE here: http://iwanttfc.com Visit our website at http://news.abs-cbn.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abscbnNEWS Twitter: https://twitter.com/abscbnnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abscbnnews