South Korea asks North Korea to give prior notice of dam discharges

2024-05-20 12:09:58      点击：508

Cho Joong-hoon, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Unification, speaks during a press briefing at the Government Complex in Seoul, June 28. The South Korean government formally asked North Korea, Tuesday, to give it notification before releasing water from dams near their border. Yonhap

The South Korean government publicly asked North Korea, Tuesday, to give notification before releasing water from dams near their border during the current rainy season, as their daily hotline communication was disrupted presumably due to technical reasons.

The Ministry of Unification made the request in a statement, describing it as a "basic measure" to protect the lives and property of the South Korean residents just south of the border.

"We attempted to reach North Korea several times through our regular call via the inter-Korean liaison office at 9 a.m. this morning, but we failed to make a connection, as the North remained unresponsive," a unification ministry official told reporters.

The official cited the possibility of technical glitches in Pyongyang's communication lines caused by heavy rainfall that hit some parts of the North recently, pointing out that such instability in the bilateral hotline is not unprecedented during the rainy season.

The ministry plans to deliver a formal request to the North as soon as regular communication resumes through the joint liaison office lines.

In August 2020, the North partially opened the floodgates of the Hwanggang Dam on the western inter-Korean border without prior notice and dumped water into the Imjin River, putting South Korean residents living near border areas on high alert.

Under an agreement signed between the two countries in October 2009, the North agreed to notify the South in advance of any plans to release water from the dam, following a deadly accident that killed six South Koreans after the North discharged water from the Hwanggang Dam without notice. (Yonhap)