North Korea has not responded to South Korea’s daily telephone call via military channels after it threatened to cut all communication lines between the two countries. 

The South Korean Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that the North Korean side did not respond to calls made through the East and West Sea Communication Lines at 9 a.m. The regime also did not answer a hotline established between naval ships. 

South and North Korea have communicated through these channels twice a day at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. since the lines were restored as follow-up measures to the inter-Korean summit and general-level talks in 2018. 

It is the first time the North has ignored calls via military channels since Pyongyang threatened to withdraw some conciliatory measures in protest of leaflet campaigns led by defectors-turned-activists in the South. 

Earlier on Tuesday, the North said it would cut off all inter-Korean communication lines at noon that day and did not respond to a call via the inter-Korean liaison office in the morning.