North Korea's Communication Line Remains Unresponsive Until Today

No Response from Inter-Korean Joint Liaison Office and Military Communication Lines until Morning of the 10th

North Korea has not responded to the regular calls on the inter-Korean joint liaison office and the East-West Sea military communication lines as of the morning of the 10th. This marks the fourth consecutive day since the 7th. It is highly likely that the lack of response is intentional rather than due to technical issues.

According to government authorities on the day, North Korea did not answer the opening call at 9 a.m. on the inter-Korean joint liaison office and military communication lines. There are two direct communication lines connected by wired lines between the two Koreas. The Ministry of Unification communicates through the inter-Korean joint liaison office channel, which conducts opening calls at 9 a.m. and closing calls at 5 p.m. on weekdays. The Ministry of National Defense uses the East-West Sea military communication lines, which conduct opening calls at 9 a.m. and closing calls at 4 p.m. daily.

The reason why North Korea has not responded to either communication line has not yet been confirmed. However, government authorities are placing more weight on the possibility of intentional refusal to respond, considering that there were no abnormalities found in the inspection of the South Korean section of the communication lines.

If there were technical problems, at least one of the inter-Korean joint liaison office or military communication lines should be connected. In October last year, North Korea did not respond to the inter-Korean joint liaison office channel but did respond to the military communication lines. At that time, it was judged that the wired communication was technically cut off due to weather conditions such as typhoons and heavy rain.

However, the current situation is different. It appears to be an intentional refusal to respond. In August 2021, North Korea intentionally cut off the inter-Korean military communication lines for 55 days. At that time, North Korea did not respond to communications starting immediately after a statement by Kim Yo-jong, sister of Chairman Kim Jong-un, in protest against the South Korea-U.S. joint command post training (CCPT), and resumed communication two months later following Chairman Kim Jong-un’s speech at the Supreme People’s Assembly.

This current refusal to respond is likely a reaction to the recent large-scale South Korea-U.S. joint exercises ‘Freedom Shield’ and ‘Warrior Shield’ combined field training exercises (FTX), as well as the deployment of a carrier strike group led by the U.S. Navy’s Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Nimitz. The release of the North Korea human rights report and the adoption of the North Korea human rights resolution by the UN Human Rights Council also appear to have played a role.

Professor Yang Moo-jin of the University of North Korean Studies said, "It seems that North Korea is not responding to communications in protest against the South Korea-U.S. joint exercises, our side’s pressure on North Korean human rights, the issue of illegal vehicle operations in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and moves to close the inter-Korean joint liaison office secretariat."

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