Koreas hold daily hotline contact; N. Korea mum on S. Korea's call for prior notice on dam water discharge: ministry

By Yi Wonju

SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has remained unresponsive for the second day to South Korea's attempt to deliver a formal request asking North Korea to give notification before releasing water from dams near their border during the summer rainy season, according to Seoul's unification ministry Wednesday.

"At around 9 a.m. today, the regular phone call via the inter-Korean joint liaison office was held as usual," the ministry announced.

The North, however, did not mention whether it was willing to accept the formal note from the South Korean government, it said.

On Tuesday morning, the North did not respond to a regular hotline call through the joint liaison office apparently due to technical glitches on its side. The ministry handling inter-Korean affairs soon issued a public statement calling on Pyongyang to notify Seoul of its plan, if any, to release dam water close to the border.

The communication lines were then restored, and the ministry expressed its intent to send a formal request. But the North did not clarify its position on whether to take it officially.

The message was instead conveyed "verbally" via a separate military hotline at around 4 p.m., the ministry added.

The two sides hold routine contact through the joint liaison office channel twice a day -- once in the morning and the other in late afternoon.

julesyi@yna.co.kr
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