Weeds at border zone where Kim hosted peace talks as regime retreats into paranoia

Twitching curtains were the only sign of activity on the North Korean side of the peninsula’s demilitarised zone yesterday, after Pyongyang’s nuclear-capable ballistic missile flew over Japan and prompted widespread alarm.

Officers with the UN Command, the multinational force stationed at the border zone – where North and South Korean soldiers traditionally stand face-to-face – say Pyongyang’s military personnel have scarcely been seen since the outbreak of Covid-19.

Weeds now sprout through the pebbled ground on the northern side of the military demarcation line, which Donald Trump stepped across in 2019, so becoming the first serving United States president to do so.

That brief meeting was the last in a series of historic summits between North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Mr Trump and Moon Jae-in, the then South Korean leader, that boosted hope of the reclusive regime’s nuclear disarmament. However, along with Pyongyang’s missile launches, the messy undergrowth and unwashed windows of the blue huts that served as negotiating rooms, are another sign of unfulfilled expectations for peace.

North Korea has test-fired an unprecedented 37 missiles this year, including a suspected hypersonic weapon and a ballistic missile said to be capable of striking the US mainland. Five tests over the past week culminated in yesterday’s launch of an intermediate-range missile over Japan – the first such flight since 2017 and, at 4,600km (2,800 miles), the furthest a North Korean missile has travelled.

Lt Col Griff Hofman, of UN Command, said the force is tasked with keeping the situation on the border calm. “Our whole purpose here is to keep things from escalating,” he said.

Sanctions have weighed heavily on Pyongyang since the peace talks collapsed and Kim has doubled down on his nuclear ambitions.

Tensions have risen since South Korea elected Yoon Suk-yeol as its new president last March. During the campaign he had promised to take a harder line while keeping the door open to talks. At the same time, relations appear to be warming between North Korea, Russia and China, enabling Kim’s increasing provocation. Last month, his rubberstamp parliament passed a law to make the country’s nuclear status “irreversible”, ruling out future talks on disarmament. The legislation allows the regime to “automatically and immediately” use nuclear strikes to protect Kim if it feels he or the country is facing a threat from abroad.

North Korea’s hardening stance is driven partly by its anger over the resumption of major joint military drills between the US and South Korea, but analysts say Kim’s latest moves also betray his paranoia over outside attempts at regime change.

Just four years ago, he and Mr Moon talked privately as they walked along a blue footbridge at the Joint Security Area, lifting spirits on the peninsula. That bridge is now awaiting repair, its wooden slats broken and rotting.

More turbulence may be on the horizon. Last week, South Korea’s politicians, briefed by national intelligence, warned that Pyongyang’s seventh nuclear test could come before the US midterm elections which are held next month.