▲ This file photo, provided by the unification ministry, shows a South Korean liaison officer talking to his North Korean counterpart at the Seoul bureau of their joint liaison office on Oct. 4, 2021. After a two-month suspension, the two Koreas restored cross-border communication lines that Pyongyang suspended in protest against an annual combined military exercise of South Korea and the United States. (PHOTO NOT FOR SALE) (Yonhap)

Koreas-hotline calls

S. Korea urges Pyongyang to resume regular contact via inter-Korean liaison line

By Lee Minji

SEOUL, Nov. 2 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's unification ministry on Thursday called on Pyongyang to respond to daily routine calls through an inter-Korean liaison communication channel.

The two Koreas had made two phone calls daily, at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., as part of liaison communication, but the daily routine calls have gone unanswered since April 7.

"As seen in the rescue of a North Korean vessel stranded near the Northern Limit Line in the East Sea on Oct. 29, the communications channel is an indispensable channel for the notification and consultation of maritime rescue and disasters that should not be halted under any circumstance," the unification ministry said in a statement.

The ministry voiced "regret" over the situation and emphasized that maintaining the liaison channel is a "humanitarian matter" that is linked to the lives and safety of both South Korean and North Korean residents.

"We urge North Korea to promptly resume and normalize the liaison communication channel so that mutual measures can be taken for emergency situations," the ministry said.

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