North not responding to inter-Korean phone link: officials

SEOUL, Aug. 24 (Yonhap) -- North Korea was failing to respond to calls from South
Korea on a direct phone channel on Monday after briefly reconnecting the line
during a visit by a North Korean delegation to Seoul, officials said.

North Korea had asked the South to open a cross-border hotline ahead of its
delegation's visit to Seoul last Friday to pay condolences to late former South
Korean President Kim Dae-jung. Pyongyang later accepted Seoul's proposal to use
the suspended Red Cross channel at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom.
"As of Monday morning, the direct Red Cross phone line was not working, as the
North was not responding to our calls," Unification Ministry spokesman Chun
Hae-sung said.
But the spokesman could not say whether the North had suspended the phone channel
again or was temporarily not taking calls.
North Korea cut off the Red Cross channel, a key hotline between the two
governments, in November to protest Seoul's participation in a U.N. resolution
criticizing its human rights conditions.
In a conciliatory gesture last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il sent a
six-member delegation, including two of his top aides, to pay respects to Kim
Dae-jung, with whom he held the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. Kim Jong-il
also sent a verbal message regarding "progress in inter-Korean cooperation" to
President Lee Myung-bak through the delegates, Lee's office said.
The delegation returned home Sunday after a meeting with Lee at the presidential
office, Cheong Wa Dae.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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