Anchor: North Korea has blown up the inter-Korean liaison office days after it threatened to do so over Seoul’s handling of anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns. The South Korean Unification Ministry confirmed the explosion within the Gaeseong Industrial Complex Tuesday afternoon.
Kim Bum-soo has more. 

Report: North Korea has demolished the inter-Korean liaison office located in the Gaesong industrial complex in the North. 

After the South Korean military detected explosions and smoke from the liaison office, and the Unification Ministry confirmed the facility was demolished at 2:49 p.m. Tuesday.

North Korea's state-run Korean Central Television reported the move two hours later, blaming the anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns by defectors in the South, and the South Korean government for failing to stop them. 

[Sound bite: Korean Central TV June 16 17:00 news broadcast (Korean/English translation)]
"The North-South joint liaison office has been completely destroyed." 
"The North-South joint liaison office was completely demolished on June 16. To accord with public outrage calling for the thorough punishment of [human] trash and those with whom they connived, the relevant section of our side implemented the complete destruction the liaison office at the Gaesong industrial complex after severing all inter-Korean communication lines. At 14:50 on June 16th, the North-South joint liaison office was miserably demolished with a loud explosion. This is the end of the news."

The communication facility had been occupied by officials from the two Koreas after the first summit between President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un at the truce village of Panmunjeom in April 2018. However, in a quarantine effort against the COVID-19 pandemic, the two Koreas agreed to suspend the operation of the liaison office on January 30th. 

The demolition came after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's sister Yo-jong issued a statement on Saturday, warning that the South will witness the destruction of the inter-Korean liaison office, and that the next move will be up to the Korean People's Army.   

Earlier on Tuesday, North Korean media outlets also delivered a statement by the General Staff of the North's Korean People's Army(KPA), saying that an action plan is under review in which the military would reenter border areas recently demilitarized under the 2018 inter-Korean peace agreements. 

Noting that its army could fortify the front line, the North Korean military leadership also unveiled a plan to send its own propaganda leaflets into South Korea. 

In an interview with KBS World Radio, Lieutenant-General Chun In-bum, a retired South Korean special forces commander, said North Korea has a wide range of additional options. 

[Sound bite: Lieutenant General(Ret.) Chun In-bum -  former Commander - Special Warfare Command (English)]
"Once that is done, another possibility could be that it could be reoccupied by military units, which is in itself an issue but what concerns me is that that area might be occupied by newly developed multiple rocket launchers that the North Koreans have been testing."

The city of Gaeseong is only two-point-five kilometers north of the military demarcation line dividing the two Koreas. 

The retired commander also noted that the North Koreans can reoccupy guard posts inside the demilitarized zone which were demolished under the 2018 inter-Korean peace agreement.  

North Korean media has been intensifying its harsh rhetoric against the South in recent weeks, denouncing defector-turned-human rights activists for their anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns.  

While identifying the South as an "enemy," North Korea cut off all inter-Korean communication lines in the first phase of retaliatory action against the South for failing to prevent the defectors from sending hot air balloons carrying the leaflets. 

The South Korean military says it has strengthened the monitoring of North Korean military activities.
Kim Bum-soo, KBS World Radio News.