According to a report from Voice of America (VOA) on Thursday, North Korea has recently demolished a building near the southern entrance of the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Satellite images captured by the U.S. commercial satellite company Planet Labs on February 24 show that a structure measuring 25 meters wide and 8 meters long, which had been located south of the entrance facility until January, has been removed.
An adjacent building was also dismantled last year, leaving the area as an open lot.
This site is located approximately 70 meters from the southern entrance of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which connects to Paju in South Korea. It is believed that this location was previously used to monitor and control the movement of vehicles and people crossing between North and South Korea.
While the exact reasons behind the demolition remain unclear, there have been ongoing signs of suspected unauthorized activities in the area since the complete shutdown of the Kaesong Industrial Complex in 2016. Last year, fresh crosswalk markings were added to approximately 21 roads within the complex, and there were signs of land clearing in several overgrown, vacant lots.
North Korea has also dismantled the existing entrance to Kaesong City and rebuilt it in a new form, with new buildings constructed around the perimeter of the entrance and within the complex itself.
Bradley Babson, a former World Bank advisor and expert on North Korean economics, has suggested that these changes could be part of the country’s Local Development 20X10 Policy, which aims to boost its regional economy. Babson speculates that North Korea is refurbishing and repurposing existing facilities within the Kaesong Industrial Complex instead of building entirely new factories there.