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photo : BBC

North Korea has blown up its joint liaison office with the South near the border town of Kaesong, South Korean officials say. The move comes just hours after the North renewed threats of military action against the South.The site, which is in the North's territory, was opened in 2018 to help the two Koreas to communicate.The liaison office has been empty since January due to Covid-19 restrictions. Tensions between North and South Korea have been escalating for weeks, prompted by defector groups in the south sending propaganda into the north. The North Korean leader's sister, Kim Yo-jong, threatened to demolish the office in a "tragic scene" in a statement at the weekend. South Korea's Unification Ministry in Seoul confirmed that at 2:49pm local time there was an explosion at the liaison office. In recent weeks, North Korea has repeatedly condemned the South for allowing propaganda across the border. Defector groups regularly send balloons with leaflets and other items, including USB sticks, into the north. Analysts say Pyongyang may be seeking to create a crisis to increase its leverage as nuclear negotiations with the US are at a standstill. North and South Korea are technically still at war because no peace agreement was reached when the Korean War ended in 1953//BBC