South Korean officials said Sunday that North Korea has not returned a routine morning call from Seoul to the military hotline for the third consecutive day for unclear reasons.
The Yonhap news agency said the two Koreas are required to make two calls a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon, to military hotlines and cross-border lines, but North Korea stopped answering calls from the south on Friday afternoon.
On Sunday, the military hotline was called from the south at 9 am, but, according to representatives of the Ministry of Defense, it was again not answered.
On weekends, calls to the hotline are not made.
Ministry officials said they plan to attempt to contact North Korea at 4:00 pm, noting it is not clear why North Korea has refused to return calls.
The agency said the lack of response comes amid escalating tensions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s recent weapons tests to protest joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.
Relations between North and South Korea have recently deteriorated after the US and South Korea held large-scale military exercises for the first time in several years.
Source: “Yonhap”
