North Korea cuts communications lines with South Korea
North Korea has closed off all inter-Korean lines of contact with South Korea.
North Korea said this was the first in a series of acts as it declares South Korea as its enemy.
It has also halted the hotline between the leaders of the two countries.
Daily calls to a liaison office located in Kaesong’s North Korean border town will be discontinued from today.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report said that North Korea “will completely cut off and shut down the liaison line between the authorities of the North and the South, which has been maintained through the North-South joint liaison office… from 12:00 on 9 June 2020.”
North Korea has also said that outlets for military contact should also be closed.
Both North and South Korea have made two phone calls via the office a day, according to reports. For the first time in 21 months, South Korea said its morning call had not been received.
KNCA said, “We have reached a conclusion that there is no need to sit face-to-face with the south Korean authorities and there is no issue to discuss with them, as they have only aroused our dismay.”
Kim Yo-jong, the sister of Kim Jong-un, warned last week that the office would be closed unless South Korea stopped sending leaflets to the North by defector groups.
He said the leaflet campaign was a provocative act that breached peace agreements reached between the South’s Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong-un during the 2018 Panmunjom Summit.
