The South Korean authorities believe that the DPRK could unilaterally interrupt contact over communication lines, but they are considering all possible options – there have already been cases when Pyongyang reacted in this way to the joint military exercises of Seoul and Washington, follows from statements by the Ministry of Unification and the Ministry of Defense of South Korea .
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Earlier it was reported that since Friday, North Korea has stopped responding to attempts by the South Korean side to conduct a daily phone call through inter-Korean communication channels, including the military line and the line of the unification ministry. The two countries usually call twice a day at 9:00 and 16:00, the military said, but North Korea has not returned calls for four days.
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“This morning (DPRK) did not answer the call either through the military line or through the line of the communications office. At the moment, we are inclined to the likelihood of a unilateral blocking by North Korea,” said Koo Byung Sam, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry.
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As stated in the South Korean Ministry of Defense, the unilateral termination of contacts by Pyongyang has happened before.
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“There have been several cases in the past when communications along the western or eastern military lines were blocked and then restored again … There were various cases, for example, when (DPRK) did this against the backdrop of our joint exercises,” Defense Ministry spokesman Chung Ha Gyu Na briefing.
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He noted that Seoul is still considering various possible causes of what is happening, including technical problems on the North Korean side, and are monitoring the situation.
Relations between Pyongyang and Seoul have become tense recently as the US and South Korea hold large-scale military exercises for the first time in several years.
