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| ▲ This file photo, provided by the unification ministry, shows a South Korean liaison officer talking to his North Korean counterpart at the Seoul bureau of their joint liaison office on Oct. 4, 2021. After a two-month suspension, the two Koreas restored cross-border communication lines that Pyongyang suspended in protest against an annual combined military exercise of South Korea and the United States. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap) |
(LEAD) Koreas-hotline calls
(LEAD) S. Korea urges Pyongyang to resume regular contact via inter-Korean liaison line
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By Lee Minji
SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification ministry on Thursday called on Pyongyang to respond to daily routine calls through an inter-Korean liaison communication channel.
The two Koreas had made two phone calls daily, at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., as part of liaison communication, but the daily routine calls have gone unanswered since April 7.
"As seen in the rescue of a North Korean vessel stranded near the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea on Oct. 29, the communications channel is an indispensable channel for the notification and consultation of maritime rescue and disasters that should not be halted under any circumstance," the unification ministry said in a statement.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said Monday the South Korean military provided food and water to the 10-meter-long vessel on "humanitarian grounds" before it was towed away by North Korean authorities several hours after it was spotted by South Korean forces.
Because the North has been unresponsive to all three inter-Korean communication channels, including military lines, the JCS said it notified the North of the situation through the United Nations Command and international maritime communication channels for its assistance.
The ministry voiced "regret" over the situation and emphasized that maintaining the liaison channel is a "humanitarian matter" that is linked to the lives and safety of both South Korean and North Korean residents.
"We urge North Korea to promptly resume and normalize the liaison communication channel so that mutual measures can be taken for emergency situations," the ministry said.
"Our Navy attempted to notify the North through the UNC and international maritime communication channels, but normal communication did not take place," a ministry official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
The daily phone calls via inter-Korean communication channels have gone unanswered for over a year in the past.
In July 2021, the North restored the inter-Korean hotline, about a year after it severed the contact channel in June 2020 in protest of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets sent via balloon by North Korean defectors in Seoul.
North Korea again did not answer calls via the liaison line in August that year for about two months apparently due to its protest against Seoul and Washington's military exercises.
In some cases, Pyongyang did not respond to the call due to technical glitches caused by heavy rains.
As seen in the North Korean vessel incident, Seoul has resorted to other options when the liaison communication channels were unavailable.
In July, the unification ministry made a request through the press, asking Pyongyang to give prior notice should it release water from its border dams during the monsoon season.
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