North Korea has not responded to the regularly held inter-Korean calls for the third consecutive day, elevating tensions on the peninsula and raising concerns about the stability of the region.
Officials in North Korea were unresponsive to the regular phone communication between the two sides yesterday, Yonhap News reported, after calls through the military line went unanswered on the previous two days.
The two Koreas typically hold phone calls twice a day, including a cross-border liaison channel.
Photo: AP
South Korean Ministry of National Defense officials said they reached out to the North through the military hotline at 9am yesterday, but the calls went unanswered, Yonhap said.
The suspension of communication comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula following North Korea’s recent weapons tests, which were seen as a response to joint military drills between South Korea and the US.
North Korean state media reported on Saturday that the country staged an underwater detonation test of its “Haeil-2” nuclear-capable attack drone last week.
The drone cruised off North Korea’s east coast for more than 71 hours before its test warhead was detonated underwater, the Korean Central News Agency said.
North Korea’s lack of response could be a precursor to military exercises by the regime. In August 2017, North Korea did not respond to South Korea’s request for talks a few days before it launched a ballistic missile over Japan.
The inter-Korean hotline was restored in July 2021, after being ignored for about a year by the North in protest of leaflets dropped via balloon by South Korean activists, containing criticisms of Pyongyang.
Daily phone call disruptions have not always resulted in tensions. In June last year, North Korea did not respond to a hotline call, apparently due to technical problems caused by heavy rains.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’