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

(ATTN: UPDATES with more details in last 4 paras; ADDS photo)

SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea was not responding to daily contact via an inter-Korean liaison line Tuesday, South Korea's unification ministry said, hours after Pyongyang fired an intermediate range ballistic missile into the Pacific.

"The North had not answered an opening call through an inter-Korean liaison communication line as of 9 a.m., while the military hotline was in normal operation," a ministry official said, adding the government is trying to find out the reason amid the possibility of a technical problem.

The two Koreas hold phone calls twice a day via their joint liaison office channel.

In June, North Korea did not respond to a regular hotline call apparently due to technical glitches caused by heavy rains.

Earlier in the day, North Korea fired an intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) over Japan in its first launch of an IRBM in eight months, according to South Korea's military.

The North has recently ratcheted up tensions on the peninsula with a series of missile tests amid speculation that a nuclear test is imminent.

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

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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