North Korea does not respond to South Korea’s military hotline calls for third day in a row

On Sunday, North Korea did not answer a routine South Korean call through a military hotline for the third day in a row

Seoul: For unknown reasons, North Korea did not answer a routine call from South Korea via a military hotline for the third day in a row on Sunday, officials said.

The two Koreas were supposed to speak twice a day — once in the morning and once in the afternoon — via a military and liaison hotline across the border, but North Korea stopped taking calls from South Korea on Friday afternoon, Yonhap said.

South Korean calls to North Korea’s military hotline at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. on Sunday were not answered, according to defense officials. No calls to the Contact Line on weekends.

It was not immediately clear why North Korea refused to answer the call.

But the suspension comes amid heightened tensions on the Korean peninsula following North Korea’s recent weapons tests in protest of joint military exercises between South Korea and the United States.