North Korea cuts communications claiming war imminent

NORTH Korea is to cut the last channel of communications with its southern neighbour, claiming that war could break out at “any moment”.

The move is the latest in a series of bellicose threats from the North in response to new United Nations’ sanctions imposed after its third nuclear test in February and to “hostile” military drills under way involving the US and South Korea. The North has already stopped responding to calls on the hotline to the US military that supervises the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) between the North and South and the Red Cross line used by the governments of both sides.

“Under the situation where a war may break out at any moment, there is no need to keep north-south military communications,” a military spokesman told state television. A dialogue channel has also been cut. It helps process South Koreans who work with 123 southern firms who employ 50,000 North Koreans in Kaesong.