N. Korea responds to closing call via inter-Korean liaison line despite missile test

Seoul, Oct 4 : Daily communication between the two Koreas via a cross-border liaison line resumed on Tuesday following a temporary suspension, officials said, amid growing tensions over Pyongyangs intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) launch earlier in the day.The government earlier said North Korea did not respond to an opening call via the joint liaison hotline at 9 a.

m.and it was trying to find out the reason amid the possibility of a technical problem.

Later in the day, the unification ministry said that the North answered the daily 5 p.m.closing call as usual.The hourslong suspension of inter-Korean communications came after North Korea fired an IRBM into the Pacific earlier in the day, its first IRBM launch in eight months.

Throughout the day, a separate military hotline was in normal operation.The two Koreas hold phone calls twice a day via their joint liaison office channel.

In June, North Korea did not respond to a regular hotline call apparently due to technical glitches caused by heavy rains.The North has recently ratcheted up tensions on the peninsula with a series of missile tests amid speculation that a nuclear test is imminent.

In July 2021, the North restored the inter-Korean hotline, about a year after it severed the contact channel in protest of Seoul activists leaflet campaigns critical of Pyongyang.The liaison line was again cut off in October last year and restored later.int/kvd #Korea #responds #Korean #liaison #missile #Seoul.