Government: "North Korea Has Previously Cut Communications First and Proposed Resumption First"

Six Cases of Inter-Korean Direct Phone Line Disconnection
Ministry of Unification: "Resumption Discussions Will Take Place When the Time Is Right"

North Korea announced on the 9th that it will completely cut off and dismantle all communication channels between the South and the North, including the Cheong Wa Dae hotline. On the same day, North Korea did not respond to any contact attempts from the South through both the liaison office channel and the military communication line channel in the morning. The photo shows the 'Hotline' direct phone installed between the South and North leaders at Cheong Wa Dae on April 20, 2018.

Regarding North Korea's unilateral declaration to cut off and terminate all inter-Korean communication channels, the government stated on the 11th that North Korea has often cut communication lines in the past, and it was also North Korea that first proposed resuming communication afterward.

An official from the Ministry of Unification said to reporters on the same day, in response to a question about the "plan to resume inter-Korean communication lines," "Excluding this case, there have been six instances of communication line cuts between the two Koreas," adding, "What is noteworthy here is that North Korea mostly cut the communication lines, and it was North Korea that proposed resuming them."

The official said, "It is premature to discuss plans for resumption at this moment when the communication line cut on the 9th is still very fresh," and added, "We expect that when the time comes, the two Koreas will naturally be able to discuss ways to reopen the communication lines."

Meanwhile, North Korea completely cut off all inter-Korean communication channels from noon on the 9th, citing the issue of leaflet distribution aimed at the North.

The government attempted to connect a call to the North through the liaison office at noon on the 9th, the time North Korea had announced the cut, but North Korea did not respond as announced. Accordingly, the government announced that it will suspend attempts to contact through the liaison office for the time being.

At a regular briefing on the 10th, Ministry of Unification spokesperson Yeo Sang-gi said in response to a question about whether a call connection was attempted through the liaison office at 9 a.m. on the 10th, "We did attempt to call, but received no response, and have not attempted to call since then."

Spokesperson Yeo explained, "North Korea officially announced that it would cut off inter-Korean communication lines from noon yesterday, and our joint liaison office attempted to call at noon yesterday and confirmed this," adding, "Until there is an inter-Korean agreement to resume communication lines, we will not attempt daily calls."

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