According to the Central News Agency, the Ministry of Unification of South Korea stated that the Inter-Korean Liaison Office had routine calls with the North Korean side at 9:00 am and 5:00 pm on Friday, but they were not connected. The South Korean side checked the South Korean line and found that there was no line Abnormal, the Ministry of Unification stated that it will continue to observe whether it is caused by the North Korean line problem.
The South Korean military said that they did not receive a response from the North Korean side in the two phone calls they had today.
The report said that in early October last year, the routine calls between the Inter-Korean Liaison Office and the North Korean side were not connected normally. Later, the two sides believed that it might be due to the heavy rain in Panmunjom, which caused a problem in the line. The two countries resumed the call the next day. ; At that time, the military’s call was going on normally.
The South Korean Ministry of Unification tried to ask the North Korean side not to use facilities such as factories built by South Korean companies in the Kaesong Industrial Zone after a routine phone call on the morning of the 7th, but the North Korean side refused to respond to this. South Korean officials said that they need to observe the attitude of the North Korean side before deciding on countermeasures, but did not specify the countermeasures that may be taken in this regard.
The Kaesong Industrial Zone in North Korea was established after the two Koreas signed a joint declaration in 2000. The industrial zone allows South Korean and foreign companies to invest in it. However, due to the tense relationship between the two Koreas, it has been closed several times. The industrial zone has been completely shut down since 2016 and has not been reopened so far.
South Korean officials said that the South Korean side found that there are vehicles coming and going in and out of the industrial park on a regular basis, and the materials piled up by South Korean companies outside the factory buildings also showed signs of being passive. Therefore, they asked the North Korean side to confirm whether South Korean materials were stolen in the Kaesong Industrial Park. Phenomenon, but the North Korean side did not respond to this.
According to North Korean media reports, the North Korean side also used the Kaesong Industrial Zone commuter bus owned by South Korea for urban transportation between Kaesong and Pyongyang without the permission of South Korea.
