▲ 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)

(LEAD) Koreas-hotline

(LEAD) N. Korea unresponsive to regular contact via inter-Korean liaison line: ministry

(ATTN: UDPATES with more info in last 3 paras; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, April 7 (Yonhap) -- North Korea was not responding to daily contact via an inter-Korean liaison line Friday, South Korea's unification ministry said.

"There was no opening call via the liaison line at 9 a.m.," the ministry said in a message to reporters.

The government said as there was no problem in communication lines in the South, it will closely monitor the situation, including the possibility of a technical problem in the North.

The two Koreas hold phone calls twice a day at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. via their joint liaison office channel.

The North also did not respond to the opening call via a military communication channel earlier in the day, according to Seoul's military officials.

Regular phone calls via inter-Korean communication channels have previously gone unanswered due to technical reasons. Last June, Pyongyang did not respond to a regular hotline call apparently due to technical glitches caused by heavy rains.

In July 2021, the North restored the inter-Korean hotline, about a year after it severed the contact channel in protest against Seoul activists' leaflet campaigns critical of Pyongyang. The liaison line was again cut off in October and restored later.

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