Source: TRT World
North Korea has announced severance of hotlines with South Korea.
According to the state news agency, the decision is the first step towards shutting down all contact with Seoul, in retaliation for actions taken by defectors who have been sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets across the border.
While confirming this on Tuesday June 9, 2020, Seoul stated that Pyongyang had refused to receive calls from its liaison office after making the threat.
“The liaison office attempted to call North Korea this morning, but the North did not answer,” the unification ministry said.
Yonhap also quoted South Korea’s defence ministry as saying North Korea also did not answer calls via military hotlines.
For several days, North Korea has lashed out at South Korea, threatening to close an inter-Korean liaison office and other projects if South Korea did not stop defectors from sending leaflets and other material into North Korea.
Top government officials in North Korea, including leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, Kim Yo Jong, and Kim Yong Chol, vice chairman of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea, determined “that the work towards the South should thoroughly turn into the one against an enemy”.
As a first step, at noon on Tuesday, North Korea will close lines of communication at an inter-Korean liaison office, and hotlines between the two militaries and presidential offices.
