South Korea says North Korea has torn down Arch of Reunification
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North Korea has allegedly destroyed the Arch of Reunification, according to South Korea, a monument symbolizing the potential reconciliation between the two countries, in the capital Pyongyang.
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Unification in Seoul on Thursday said that the authority assumes the arch no longer stands. The ministry said it could not initially provide any further details about the intelligence information.
The specialist media outlet on North Korea, NK News, wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the analysis of satellite images revealed that the monument had probably been destroyed.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un allegedly ordered it to be removed recently.
The presumed demolition of the monument, which was erected in 2001, comes amid growing tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
This month, Kim called on the parliament in Pyongyang to enshrine the description of South Korea as the number one enemy state in his country's communist constitution.
Kim described the Arch of Unification, officially called the Monument to the Three-Point Charter for National Reunification, as an "eyesore."
The arch, which spanned a street over 60 metres wide, consisted of two 30-metre-high stone figures of women in traditional clothing, while the figures held up a map of a united Korea.
