N. Korea to cut communication lines to 'enemy' South: KCNA

By AFP |

Kim Yo Jong -- the influential younger sister of Kim Jong Un and a key adviser to the North Korean leader -- has been part of the decision-making on cutting communications with South Korea. [AFP]

Asia
North threatened to close the liaison office with the South and threatened further steps to make Seoul "suffer."

North Korea will cut military and political communication links to "enemy" South Korea on Tuesday, state media said, after threats over activists sending anti-Pyongyang leaflets over the border.


 The threats come with inter-Korean ties at a standstill, despite three summits between the North's Kim Jong Un and the South's President Moon Jae-in in 2018. Pyongyang "will completely cut off and shut down the liaison line between the authorities of the North and the South, which has been maintained through the North-South joint liaison office," as well as other communication links "from 12:00 on June 9, 2020," the Korean Central News Agency said. The links being cut also include "the East and West Seas communication lines" between militaries of the two sides, an inter-Korean "trial communication line" and a hotline between the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea and South Korea's presidential Blue House, KCNA said.

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Last week, the North threatened to close the liaison office with the South and threatened further steps to make Seoul "suffer." Kim's powerful sister, Kim Yo Jong, also threatened to scrap a military agreement signed with Seoul unless the South stopped activists from sending the leaflets. KCNA said Tuesday that Kim Yo Jong, and another top official, Kim Yong Chol, have "stressed that the work towards the South should thoroughly turn into the one against enemy." Pyongyang largely cut off contact with Seoul following the collapse of a summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Hanoi last year that left nuclear talks at a standstill.