North Korea has announced it will close its land border with the South from next month.
North Korea's state media agency KCNA said the border closure would take effect from December 1.
The move follows growing anger in Pyongyang at the hardline approach of the South's conservative government over its nuclear weapons programme.
The hermit kingdom has accused its wealthy southern neighbour of taking their confrontation "beyond the danger level".
The little traffic there is across their heavily armed border is the product of agreements during ten years of left-wing leaders in Seoul.
But relations between the states have frayed since February, when conservative President Lee Myung-bak took office, pledging to get tough with Pyongyang but offering massive economic aid if it mended its ways.
