(VOVWORLD) - Relations between the two Koreas have been frozen since North Korea cut off all communications with South Korea, including a line at an inter-Korean liaison office, military lines, and a hotline between South Korea's Presidential Office and North Korea's Workers' Party. The inter-Korean ties are once again at risk.
The Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said Tuesday that Pyongyang shut down military and political communications lines with the South after multiple warnings condemning the South for failing to prevent activists from sending anti-North Korea leaflets across the border.
The latest development has undercut recent efforts to maintain stable inter-Korean ties just before the 20th anniversary of the first inter-Korean Summit in 2000.
Failure to thaw ties
The leaflet campaigns have long been a cause of tension. Pyongyang has said delivering leaflets by balloon is a sign that Seoul considers Pyongyang its enemy and therefore Pyongyang will respond by declaring Seoul its enemy. Several days earlier, North Korea threatened to close the inter-Korean liaison office and take further tough measures if the South will not prevent defectors from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets.
Leaflet campaigns violated the September 2018 inter-Korean Joint Statement aimed at preventing hostile acts. But cracks in the relationship appeared soon after the failed Hanoi Summit between the US and North Korea in February 2019. Denuclearization talks have been deadlocked.
Pyongyang has resumed short-range missile tests, refused the South’s proposed rice donation, dismantled the South’s equipment and facilities at the Kumgang Mountain Resort Area, and criticized Seoul’s military drills. North Korea’s strong denouncement of South Korea’s propaganda campaign in the past year is just one of multiple manifestations of tensions between the two Koreas.
Uncertain future
In the 1970s, the two Koreas established at least 49 hot lines to conduct diplomatic negotiations, deescalate military activities, coordinate air and sea transportation, organize humanitarian talks, and forge economic cooperation. South Korea considered these communication channels an important tool for resolving misunderstandings. The inter-Korean liaison office line was terminated in 2016 and resumed in 2018 when North Korean leader Kim Jong-un made a series of overtures to thaw diplomatic ties with the South which had been frozen following North Korean missile and nuclear tests and an exchange of heated words with US President Donald Trump.
Although the two Koreas have not been in touch since January because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pyongyang’s latest moves have poured cold water on the inter-Korea relationship, which South Korean President Moon Jae-in has been trying to warm up. Analysts said North Korea is intentionally ratcheting up tension to increase pressure on negotiations and US sanctions.
Despite Pyongyang’s provocations, Seoul has been patient, asking the UN to lift sanctions on Pyongyang and extinguishing rumors about Kim’s health. North Korea’s anger won’t be calmed easily.