South Korea president warns of risk of accidental clashes with North

Seoul: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned Monday of the risk of accidental clashes with North Korea, which has cut off all channels of commun...

Seoul: South Korean President Lee Jae Myung warned Monday of the risk of accidental clashes with North Korea, which has cut off all channels of communication with Seoul.

Lee, who has taken several steps to ease tensions since taking office in June, has offered discussions with the North without preconditions, in contrast to his hawkish conservative predecessor.

Pyongyang has yet to respond to Lee's overtures.

"Inter-Korean relations have, regrettably, turned very hostile and confrontational," Lee told reporters on a flight from South Africa, where he attended the G20 summit, to Turkey.

"There is not even the most basic level of trust, and North Korea is making extremely extreme statements and taking extremely extreme actions," he said, giving examples of recent cases of North Korea installing triple layers of barbed-wire fences on the border.