North Korea did not answer regular calls through the military communication line and the South-North Joint Liaison Office channel on the afternoon of the 10th, when the pre-rehearsal for the South Korea-US joint exercise in the second half of the year began.
It seems that South Korea and the US have expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that they have started joint exercises.
The Ministry of Unification said today that "the closing call of the inter-Korean joint liaison office at 5 pm has not been made," and "we are closely monitoring the situation in this regard."
A military official also said, "None of the regular calls were made at 4 pm today on the military communication lines in the East Sea and West Sea regions."
It is the first time in 14 days since the inter-Korean communication line was completely restored on the 27th of last month.
Earlier this morning, Kim Yeo-jung, deputy director of the North Korean Workers' Party of Korea, made a statement against the start of the Crisis Management Staff Training (CMST), which is a pre-rehearsal for the South Korea-US joint exercise in the second half of this morning.
"The U.S. and the South Korean military have finally begun joint military exercises that further aggravate the instability," Kim said in a discourse.
(Photo = provided by the Ministry of Unification, Yonhap News)