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| The Botong River basin in Pyongyang is seen flooded after three days of torrential rain, in this June 29 photo captured from North Korea's Central TV. The network reported that 233.7 millimeters of rain hit the area between 7 p.m. June 27 and 5 a.m. June 29, with the river's water level reaching as high as 5.57 meters and surpassing the danger level of 5.46 meters. Yonhap |
North Korea has remained unresponsive for the second day to South Korea's attempt to deliver a formal request asking it to give prior 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. (Yonhap)
