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‘S. Korea confirms DPRK blew up inter-Korean liaison office in Kaesong’
South Korea’s Unification Ministry said on Tuesday that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) demolished an inter-Korean liaison office in the DPRK’s border town of Kaesong by an explosion.
The South Korean ministry in charge of inter-Korean affairs said in a brief statement that the DPRK blew up the Kaesong joint liaison office at 2:49 pm local time (0549 GMT). The liaison office was opened in September 2018 for the round-the-clock communications between the two Koreas in accordance with the Panmunjom Declaration.
The declaration was signed by South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un after their first summit on April 27, 2018 at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom. The joint liaison office has been temporarily closed since January over the COVID-19 outbreak.
According to a military source cited by multiple local media, an explosion was heard and smoke was seen rising from the Kaesong Industrial Complex, an inter-Korean factory park in Kaesong housing the liaison office.
Earlier an official at the South Korean defense ministry told Xinhua over phone that the ministry had nothing to confirm over the issue. The explosion came after Kim Yo Jong, first vice department director of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) and younger sister of the DPRK leader, said in a statement Saturday night that she had given instructions for decisive action to be taken.
“If I drop a hint of our next plan the South Korean authorities are anxious about, the right to taking the next action against the enemy will be entrusted to the General Staff of our army,” she said, indicating a demolition of the liaison office.
The DPRK has repeatedly lashed out at South Korea in protest of anti-DPRK propaganda leaflets sent by defectors and activists across the border. Pyongyang closed its joint liaison office and cut off all communication lines with South Korea last week.
South Korean President Moon on Monday offered to have dialogue with the DPRK to find a breakthrough, saying the time has come that the two Koreas “would no longer sit and wait for improved conditions”. -Xinhua
The Managing Director of Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Edmond Kombat, has outlined a major expansion drive to restore the refinery to full commercial operation.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series held at the Jubilee House today, Mr. Kombat said in the near term, engineers from Verga Engineering are working with TOR’s technical team to complete the tie-in and commission the F-61 this month.
He explained that this will allow the Crude Distillation Unit to move from its current throughput of about 28,000 barrels per stream day (bpsd) to its nameplate capacity of 45,000 to 55,000 bpsd.
In the medium term, TOR plans to install a new air cooler to raise capacity to 60,000 bpsd and replace the 6,500 barrel-a-day catalytic reformers with a 10,000 barrel-per-day continuous catalytic reformer.
Mr. Kombat added that the new 120-ton boiler has been installed, while work on the RFCC turnaround and SCADA system continues.
He disclosed that on August 1, 2026, President John Mahama directed the Minister for Energy and Green Transition to work with the TOR Board and management on a strategic roadmap to raise processing capacity to 100,000 barrels a day, with a further plan to increase it to 200,000 barrels per day as an end-state.
He also announced plans to restructure TOR so that it can operate on sound commercial principles without undue political interference. According to him, the Ministry of Finance is currently working with TOR to consider writing off $120 million of TOR’s legacy debt owed to the Government of Ghana or converting it into equity.
“TOR is part of a national plan. With the refinery’s expansion from 45,000 to 100,000 barrels a day, Government is targeting about 70 percent of national fuel demand from local refining by 2028,” he said.
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
The Managing Director of the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR), Edmond Kombat, has revealed that crude processing at the refinery has resumed after years of dormancy.
Speaking at the Government Accountability Series, Mr. Kombat said crude processing started on December 19, 2025, with all product streams going to storage for the first time in years.
He disclosed that since May 2026, TOR has received four five-million-barrel crude cargoes: Bonga, Baleine, Bonnie Light, followed on July 15 by Ghana’s Jubilee Medium Sweet crude, an indigenous crude delivered aboard MT Apache.
According to him, TOR paid for the Jubilee cargo in full, making it the refinery’s first Jubilee cargo in a decade.
Mr. Kombat added that on August 1, 2026, the President commissioned the refurbished Crude Distillation Unit.
The refinery, he said, then received another parcel of Ghanaian indigenous crude of 950,000 barrels of Sankofa crude on September 25, 2026, from its sister agency, the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation (GNPC).
By Edem Mensah-Tsotorme
