N. Korea begins dismantling symbolic facility near border that hosted meetings for war-separated families

North Korea started to destroy a reunion center for separated families near the inter-Korean border amid icy ties with the South.

Seoul urged the regime to immediately stop its actions.

Our Bae Eun-ji reports.

The Inter-Korean Family Reunion Center, located at Kumgangsan Mountain has been a symbol of peace as it has been used to host tearful reunions of families separated for decades by the Korean War.

Since 2009, it has hosted five meetings between families from the two Koreas, and the last family reunion was held there in August 2018.

But on Thursday, the South Korean government said the North has begun dismantling the facility, in the latest sign of strained inter-Korean ties, after the regime described the South as "its principal enemy."

The Unification Ministry spokesperson urged the North to immediately halt its actions, adding that the government plans to consider legal measures over the action and a joint response with the international community.

"The demolition of the facility is an anti-humanitarian act that tramples on the wishes of separated families, and a violation of South Korea's assets."

Upon an agreement between the two Koreas, the 12-story reunion center was built in July 2008, at a cost of over 35 million dollars.

The building was the last remaining South Korean-owned facility in the Kumgansan Mountain tourist region as the North has been demolishing facilities there over the past few years.

After the Hanoi summit between the United States and North Korea ended in failure in February 2019, Kim Jong-un visited the resort area later that year in October.. and ordered the removal of South Korean facilities there, saying they were "shabby," and that they looked like "makeshift tents in a disaster-stricken area."

Since 2022, the regime has destroyed other facilities including a hotel, a fire station, and a golf clubhouse leaving only the reunion center, which it has also started to tear down.

Bae Eun-ji, Arirang News.