On Tuesday (GMT+9), June 9, Tuesday, North Korea had officially declared South Korea as their 'enemy.' Thus, the country now cuts all communication lines with their counterpart. N. Korean leader Kim Jong-un said that he wanted to make the capital of S. Korea, Seoul 'suffer' from this controversy.
N. Korea ends ties with S. Korea saying they're the 'enemy'
The Guardian reported that North Korea will now cut all main hotline communication with South Korea as their first step against shutting down all contacts with the country.
"[North Korea] will completely cut off and shut down the liaison line between the authorities of the North and the South, which has been maintained through the North-South joint liaison office as well as other communication links," said on the report.
This includes the hotline between the two nation's leaders, N. Korea's Kim Jong-un and S. Korean President Moon Jae-in. To make this worse, the closing of communication also includes "the East and West Seas communication lines" between the two nations' militaries, a hotline between the central committee of the Workers' party of Korea and South Korea's presidential Blue House, and the inter-Korean "trial communication line," said on the local report of the North.
The top government officials from the North have discussed this matter including leader Kim Jong-un's sister, Kim Yo-jong, and Kim Yong-chol, vice-chairman of the Central Committee of the ruling Workers' party of Korea, and said that they determined "that the work towards the South should thoroughly turn into the one against an enemy."
Not just describing the South as the 'enemy' of the state, reports also said that N. Korea wants their counterpart's capital, Seoul, to 'suffer' from this event.
Why did they cut ties?
N. Korea and S. Korea have never been in such great terms even before. This massive gap between the counterparts was even stirred up by the issues of the increasing number of S. Korean defectors that recently criticize the leadership of Kim.
Students from N. Korea even made a rally to protect their leader and said that S. Korea has been circulating derogatory words against their leader.
"This was a sign of hostility to all our people," KCNA said. "We have reached a conclusion that there is no need to sit face to face with the South Korean authorities, and there is no issue to discuss with them, as they have only aroused our dismay."
As of now, South Korea has not yet commented on the issue and allegations by its counterpart.