Regular inter-Korean call goes unanswered by North twice on Friday

North Korea failed to respond to regularly scheduled calls via the inter-Korean liaison line Friday, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

The Inter-Korean Liaison Office in Kaesong, North Korea. The building was blown up by the North in June 2020, after the regime expressed anger over anti-Pyongyang leaflets being sent across the border by South Korean activists. [YONHAP]

North Korea failed to respond to regularly scheduled calls via the inter-Korean liaison line Friday, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

"There was no opening call via the liaison line at 9 a.m.," the ministry told reporters in a text message, adding later that the scheduled 5 p.m. call had also gone unanswered.

The ministry said it had confirmed communication lines in the South were functioning normally, and that it will monitor the situation for the possibility of a technical problem in the North.

The two Koreas communicate via the line twice daily at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

North Korea also failed to respond to an opening call via a military hotline earlier in the day, according to South Korean defense officials.

Regular phone calls via inter-Korean communication lines have previously gone unanswered.

Pyongyang failed to respond to a regular call through the liaison line in June last year due to technical problems caused by heavy rains.

The North has also twice unilaterally suspended contact via the inter-Korean liaison line.

The North restored the inter-Korean hotline in July 2021, a year after it severed the channel in anger over South Korean activists launching leaflets critical of the regime by balloon over the inter-Korean border.

The North also suspended the liaison line in October, but restored it later.

BY MICHAEL LEE [lee.junhyuk@joongang.co.kr]