Recent developments on the peninsula warrant attention from Korea watchers, as they signal North Korea’s shift in its approaches to the United States and South Korea.

On Tuesday morning last week, Pyongyang’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced that the North would cut off South Korea by shutting down “all contact means” with Seoul.

While the move came as a surprise to many, numerous signs suggest that this rise in inter-Korean tensions had been several months in the making.

SHIFTING DOMESTIC NARRATIVES

Early this year, Kim Jong Un chose not to deliver a new year’s address, instead delivering a speech