North Korea does not answer routine calls from South Korea

North Korea has not responded to South Korea’s routine calls through the direct communication channels between the two countries for several days. The reasons for this were unclear until Monday evening (local time). But Seoul’s Unification Ministry suspected the largely isolated neighbor could have unilaterally cut communications. Since Friday, there has been no answer to the calls made twice a day by the responsible “liaison officers” in Seoul, it was said.

According to the South Korean defense ministry, military communication channels were also affected. Initially, there was no statement from North Korea.

Both parties have neither an embassy nor a liaison office in the other country. The cross-border lines between the governments and the military therefore form the basis for understanding, for example when arranging possible meetings. This is also intended to prevent border incidents. In recent years, communication has been interrupted several times.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula are escalating at the moment. Observers suspect that North Korea could also use the communication cut to express its protest against South Korea’s joint military exercises with the United States.

After an unprecedented series of missile tests last year, North Korea has repeatedly tested nuclear-powered missiles this year, despite being banned by UN resolutions. The US and South Korea resume large-scale maneuvers.

As North Korean state media reported on Saturday, an underwater drone that could also be equipped with a nuclear warhead has been tested again for four days through Friday. The unmanned underwater vehicle “Haeil-2” has “superior military potential” for the future of its own armed forces, it said. In this way all “enemy military actions” could be controlled.

The test reportedly lasted four days through Friday. The attack drone covered 1,000 kilometers of a “simulated distance underwater” in 71 hours and 6 minutes before the test warhead exploded in the target area off the east coast. The information cannot be independently verified. The North Korean media reported in March about the test of a “Haeil” drone. North Korea’s statements about the test were subsequently questioned by the South Korean military. (saw/sda/dpa)