Red Cross hotline cut by NK in drills protest
Source: Agencies |
March 12, 2013, Tuesday
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North Korea has cut off a Red Cross hotline with South Korea as it escalates its war of words against Seoul and Washington in response to a military drills in South Korea and UN sanctions imposed for its recent nuclear test.
The Red Cross hotline is used to communicate between Seoul and Pyongyang, which do not have diplomatic relations.
"We called at 9am and there was no response," a government official from South Korea said. The line is tested every day.
Pyongyang has also threatened to cut off a hotline with UN forces in South Korea at the border "truce village" of Pammunjom.
South Korea and the United States began their annual military drills yesterday despite North Korean threats to respond by voiding the armistice that ended the Korean War and launching a nuclear attack on the US. The 11-day war games involve 10,000 South Korean and about 3,000 American troops.
North Korea has accused the US of using the military drills as a launch pad for a nuclear war. It wants a formal peace treaty, security guarantees and other concessions, as well as the removal of 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un visited two islands just north of the sea boundary last week and ordered troops to open fire if a single enemy shell is fired on North Korean waters.
Kim was also quoted as saying his military is fully ready to fight an "all-out war" and that he will order a "just, great advance for national unification" at the slightest provocation, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency.
The Red Cross hotline is used to communicate between Seoul and Pyongyang, which do not have diplomatic relations.
"We called at 9am and there was no response," a government official from South Korea said. The line is tested every day.
Pyongyang has also threatened to cut off a hotline with UN forces in South Korea at the border "truce village" of Pammunjom.
South Korea and the United States began their annual military drills yesterday despite North Korean threats to respond by voiding the armistice that ended the Korean War and launching a nuclear attack on the US. The 11-day war games involve 10,000 South Korean and about 3,000 American troops.
North Korea has accused the US of using the military drills as a launch pad for a nuclear war. It wants a formal peace treaty, security guarantees and other concessions, as well as the removal of 28,500 US troops stationed in South Korea.
North Korea leader Kim Jong Un visited two islands just north of the sea boundary last week and ordered troops to open fire if a single enemy shell is fired on North Korean waters.
Kim was also quoted as saying his military is fully ready to fight an "all-out war" and that he will order a "just, great advance for national unification" at the slightest provocation, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency.
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