For unknown reasons, North Korea did not respond to routine calls from South Korea via a military hotline for the third day in a row on Sunday, officials said.
The two Koreas are supposed to make calls twice a day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — through military and liaison hotlines set up across the border, but the North stopped answering calls from the South on Friday afternoon, according to Yonhap News Agency.
According to defense ministry officials, the South made military hotline calls to the North at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday, but both went unanswered. Weekend calls to the liaison hotline are not accepted.
It is unknown why the North is refusing to respond to the calls.
However, the suspension comes amid rising tensions on the Korean Peninsula as a result of North Korea’s recent weapons tests in protest of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.
Source:IANS