Seoul Consults With US on N. Korea Decision to Cut Communication Lines - Foreign Ministry

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 09th June, 2020) The South Korean authorities are consulting with the United States regarding the decision by Pyongyang to cut all communication lines with Seoul, South Korean Foreign Ministry spokesman Kim In-chul said on Tuesday.

Earlier in the day, Pyongyang's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that North Korea would cut all communication lines with South Korea, claiming that there was nothing more to discuss at the negotiating table and not responding to Seoul's attempts to contact its neighbor through different channels. On Monday, North Korea left unanswered a regular liaison phone call from the South for the first time since the two Koreas established a joint liaison office after their historic summit in September 2018.

"Yes, we are closely communicating with the U.S. side at all times. I believe such communication is one of the foreign ministry's major roles," he said when asked about contacts with the US, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.

North Korea has been angered by Seoul's reluctance to stop a leafleting campaign by North Korean defectors who have been sending balloons carrying pamphlets critical of Pyongyang across the border.