The North-South communication line has been repeatedly cut off and reopened, but it is now considered extremely difficult to restore.

It has been a year since North Korea stopped responding to routine calls on its communications line with South Korea.
Attempts to contact the North Korean side were made at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m., but there has been no response. Relations between the two Koreas have deteriorated, and North Korean leader Kim Jung Eun announced at the end of last year that he would be expelled from South Korea.
"We are no longer of the same race," he said. He has shown signs of refusing dialogue or cooperative projects, and it is unclear when contact will be resumed.
The communication line has been cut and reopened many times in the past. In February 2016,
North Korea has responded by refusing to keep in regular contact with the South Korean side after South Korea suspended operations at the Kaesong Industrial Complex in the outskirts of Kaesong, North Korea, near the border.
It was finally restored in January 2018. In June 2020, North Korea reacted by cutting off communication channels again after a group of defectors distributed leaflets criticizing the North Korean regime.
The following July, regular contact was resumed following the exchange of personal letters between the leaders of North and South Korea. However, regular contact was again cut off on April 7, last year. The then Minister of Unification issued a statement saying,
"We express our deep regret over the North's unilateral and irresponsible attitude. We strongly warn that such actions will only further isolate the North," it said. Operations have been suspended due to the deterioration of inter-Korean relations.
South Korea rebelled against North Korea for using South Korean facilities without permission at the Kaesong Industrial Complex. The South Korean government sent a notice to North Korea demanding that they stop using the facilities without permission, but North Korea refused to accept it.
To date, North Korea has not responded to regular contact with South Korea through the Inter-Korean Liaison Office or military communication line.
The impact of the communication line cut is spreading.
The body, believed to be that of a North Korean resident, was discovered in the sea near Gwanghwa Island in Incheon. The South Korean government has indicated its intention to hand over the body to the North Korean side at Panmunjom, which is on the inter-Korean military demarcation line.
Normally, in such cases, the Ministry of Unification would send a notification to North Korea through the Inter-Korean Liaison Office, but because communication lines were cut, direct contact was not possible.
The South Korean government decided to appeal to North Korea at the regular press conference. The government decided to convey the South Korean government's intentions through media reports and wait for a response from North Korea. The Ministry of Unification also decided to inform the North of the response via communication lines.
The aim of this was to create an opportunity for North Korea to reopen the communication lines it had unilaterally cut off, but North Korea never responded.
In addition, in July of last year, in order to prevent flood damage during the rainy season, the South Korean government instructed North Korea to
In the past, water levels have risen sharply downstream on the South Korean side of rivers that flow from North Korea to South Korea, causing damage. The Unification Ministry said that it was unable to provide advance notice due to the disruption of communication lines.
North Korea has shown signs of completely denying the past dialogue between the two Koreas, and Kim Jong Un stated that he had no intention of joining the South Korean-North Korea dialogue at the General Assembly of the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea held at the end of last year.
"North-South relations have reached a complete stalemate, no longer one of kindred nations but one of hostile nations, one of warring nations," he said.
The People's Assembly (equivalent to the National Assembly) argued that the constitution should be amended to designate South Korea as the "number one hostile country and the unchanging main enemy." The South Korean government was of the opinion that the government should consider the prevention of accidental military conflict and the establishment of a humanitarian-based
North Korea wants to quickly restore communication channels to facilitate responses based on the situation and to transmit information in the event of a disaster, but given the current circumstances, it is unclear when they will be re-opened.
"There is no longer any particular reason to maintain the communication channel," Yang Moo-jin, president of the University of North Korean Studies in South Korea, said in the past that the communication channel would be restored if the North's discontent was resolved.
"But if the North explicitly lists South Korea as an enemy country in its constitution, it will be very difficult to restore it."