– The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea – Raising tensions with South Korea yet again, North Korea cut its last military hot line with Seoul on Wednesday, saying there was no need to continue military communications between the countries in a situation “where a war may break out at any moment.”

The hot line — a dedicated telephone link between the two militaries — was used mainly to arrange for South Koreans who work at an industrial complex in the North to cross the heavily armed border. When the connection was last severed in 2009, some workers were stranded in the North.

Normal direct telephone communications do not exist between the two countries.

The shutdown of the hot line is the latest of many threats and provocative actions from North Korea, which is angry over U.S.-South Korean military drills and recent U.N. sanctions punishing it for its Feb. 12 nuclear test.

A senior North Korean military official informed the South that all regular military dialogue and communications channels would remain cut until South Korea halts its “hostile acts” against the North. North Korea recently also cut a Red Cross hot line with South Korea and another with the U.S.-led U.N. command at the border between the Koreas.

The link severed Wednesday has been essential in operating the last major symbol of inter-Korean cooperation: an industrial complex in the North that employs hundreds of workers from the South.

 

It was used to arrange for cross-border shipments and for workers going north and returning to South Korea.

There was no immediate word about the impact on South Korean workers who were at the Kaesong industrial complex.

 

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