N Korea-dam water release

N. Korea noncommittal on S. Korea's bid for prior notice on border dam discharge

SEOUL, Sept. 5 (Yonhap) -- The South Korean government said Monday it has sought to send a formal letter asking North Korea to give notification before releasing water from dams near their border, with a super typhoon approaching the peninsula.

Pyongyang, however, did not clarify whether to accept the message during their daily phone call via an inter-Korean liaison communication line at 9 a.m., according to the unification ministry.

"We attempted to send a formal request under the name of the unification minister to North Korea asking for prior notice in case it decides to release water from the border areas in consideration of concerns over damage from Typhoon Hinnamnor heading northward," Cho Joong-hoon, the ministry's spokesperson, said during a regular press briefing.

"But the North ended the call without clearly stating whether it was willing to accept the letter," he added.

North Korea has issued a heavy rain advisory for the border city of Kaesong and other areas in the country Monday as Typhoon Hinnamnor, the 11th this year, has gradually moved northward to reach waters off the southern island of Jeju in the South.

Under an inter-Korean agreement signed in October 2009, the North agreed to notify the South in advance of its plans to release dam water, following a deadly accident that killed six South Koreans after the North discharged water from Hwanggang Dam without notice.

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