North Korea Defines South Korea as Enemy... Government to Respond After 12 O'Clock

North Korea Announces Complete Cutoff of All Inter-Korean Communication Lines from 12 PM
Ministry of Unification: "Will Monitor Progress After Communication Cutoff"
"Inter-Korean Communication Lines Are Fundamental Means of Communication... Must Be Maintained"

North Korea strongly condemned the distribution of leaflets to the North by defector organizations and the South Korean government's response, while protest marches by young students took place in various regions, according to a report by the Korean Central News Agency on the 9th.

On the 9th, the Ministry of Unification stated, regarding North Korea's repeated designation of South Korea as an 'enemy' and its announcement to shift its inter-Korean affairs to 'anti-South operations,' that "we will not publicly comment on the expression" and "will monitor the situation after 12:00 and respond accordingly."

On the same day, a Ministry of Unification official responded this way when asked by reporters about the government's position on North Korea defining its inter-Korean affairs as anti-South operations.

Regarding North Korea's announcement to cut off and dismantle all inter-Korean communication lines, the official said, "Inter-Korean communication lines are a basic means of communication and should be maintained according to inter-Korean agreements."

He added, "The government will continue to abide by inter-Korean agreements and strive for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula."

The official said he did not know the basis for North Korea setting the cutoff time for communication channels at noon on that day.

Regarding whether the Panmunjom channel was cut off, he said, "All inter-Korean communication lines, like the contact office, are currently not connected."

When asked if North Korea had sent any separate traditional messages to the South besides the suspension of the contact office, the official replied, "There have been no traditional messages received from the North."

When asked if the South would continue attempts to communicate with North Korea through the contact office in the future, he explained, "Communication attempts are usually made at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but since North Korea announced it would cut off communication lines after 12 noon today, we will monitor the situation and respond appropriately."

The morning communication attempt to start work at the inter-Korean joint liaison office (hereafter, the contact office) on the 9th was unsuccessful due to no response from the North. North Korea did not respond to the morning work start call on the 8th but answered the afternoon call, showing inconsistent behavior.

Normally, the contact office conducts work start and end calls twice on weekdays at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., even without special issues. North Korea's failure to answer the call attempt on the morning of the 8th was the first such occurrence since the contact office opened in September 2018.

Meanwhile, North Korea's state media, Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), reported on the same day that "from 12:00 on June 9, the communication lines between the North and South authorities maintained through the inter-Korean joint liaison office, the East-West Sea communication lines between the North and South military, the inter-Korean communication test line, and the direct communication line between the Workers' Party Central Committee headquarters and the Blue House will be completely cut off and dismantled."

The report continued that First Deputy Director Kim and Vice Chairman Kim emphasized at a meeting "the need to thoroughly convert inter-Korean affairs into anti-South operations and reviewed step-by-step anti-South operation plans to accurately calculate the price to be paid by traitors and trash," adding, "They issued orders to completely cut off all communication lines between the North and South."

The KCNA report was also published in the Workers' Party's official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, which is read by all residents, indicating that North Korea's hardline measures are likely to be followed by actual actions.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.