N. Korea to halt border crossings

North Korea ratcheted up its threats to sever ties with South Korea by announcing Wednesday it will halt cross-border traffic next month over what it calls Seoul’s confrontational stance against Pyongyang.

The North’s military is taking action to “restrict and cut off all the overland passages” across the frontier beginning Dec. 1, the country’s official Korean Central News Agency said.

Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated since South Korean President Lee Myung-bak’s conservative government took over in February, pledging to get tough with Pyongyang.

North Korea has stepped up the rhetoric against the South in recent weeks, warning that it will attack South Korea and reduce it to “debris” if Seoul continues what it says are confrontational activities against the communist country.