North Korea demolishes monument symbolizing potential unification with South: report

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A massive arched monument that stood in North Korea for more than 20 years and symbolized the goal of reconciliation with South Korea has been demolished weeks after Kim Jong Un ordered it to be destroyed, according to a report by NK News, an online outlet that monitors North Korea.

The concrete straddled monument, known as the "Arch of Reunification," opened in 2001 to commemorate Korean reunification proposals put forward by former leader and dictator Kim Il Sung. At 100 feet high and 300 feet wide, it towered over the multi-laned Reunification Highway leading from Pyongyang to the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) and consisted of two Korean women in traditional dress holding an emblem of the entire Korean Peninsula, symbolizing the North and the South.

But satellite imagery of Pyongyang on Tuesday showed that the monument had been destroyed. It is unclear when or how it was brought down, and it was last seen standing in an image taken on Jan. 19, NK News reports.

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Reuters and Fox News could not independently confirm that the monument, known officially as the "Monument to the Three-Point Charter for National Reunification," had been demolished. The three charters were self-reliance, peace and national cooperation, according to South Korean