North Korea has effectively completed the dismantlement of South Korean-built facilities in the North, including the Mount Kumgang Family Reunion Center and the inter-Korean joint liaison office in Kaesong, according to reports confirmed Thursday. The two buildings had long symbolized cooperation and connection between the two Koreas.
U.S.-based North Korea-focused outlet NK News reported Wednesday local time that satellite imagery showed North Korea had “completed the demolition of millions of dollars’ worth of South Korean facilities,” including the reunion center and the inter-Korean liaison office.
NK News said the structures were dismantled gradually over a period of 12 to 18 months and suggested North Korea may seek to preserve and reuse high-quality South Korean construction materials.
According to the report, the Mount Kumgang Family Reunion Center began to be partially dismantled in May 2025, with only part of an elevator structure remaining by December of that year. The final visible structure appeared to have been removed by Feb. 3 this year, and the site has since been cleared into what is now effectively an empty lot.
The joint liaison office building in Kaesong also reportedly began to be dismantled in December 2024, with debris removal now largely complete. The nearby 15-story Kaesong Industrial Complex Support Center building also appears to have been fully demolished.
The Mount Kumgang reunion center was planned following the June 15 inter-Korean joint declaration in 2000, when the two Koreas discussed regularizing reunions for families separated by the Korean War.
South Korea spent 50 billion won — about $33.6 million using an exchange rate of 1,490 won per dollar — to complete construction in July 2008. The facility could accommodate around 1,000 people and consisted of a 12-story reunion hall and a separate administrative building.
However, operations at the site were disrupted almost immediately after completion when North Korea suspended the Mount Kumgang tourism program. The facility was used only occasionally for temporary family reunions. The last reunion event there was held in August 2018.
The inter-Korean joint liaison office was established in 2018 under agreements reached between the leaders of the two Koreas. The office was created by remodeling an existing building in the Kaesong Industrial Complex so officials from both sides could maintain a permanent communication channel in the same space.
North Korea later blew up the building in June 2020, citing disputes over anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent from the South. Remaining structures that survived the explosion now also appear to have been completely removed.
The dismantlement is widely viewed as part of North Korea’s broader push to formalize what it calls a “hostile two-state relationship” with South Korea.
Recently disclosed revisions to North Korea’s constitution reportedly define only the North as its sovereign territory and remove all references related to reunification. The changes reflect leader Kim Jong Un’s “two-state theory,” first publicly declared in late 2023.
Against that backdrop, analysts say the demolition of the reunion center and liaison office appears intended as a symbolic effort to erase South Korean-linked facilities from North Korean territory.