North Korea Ignoring Souths Military Hotline Calls For 3rd Consecutive Day

North Korea has not been responding to regular calls from South Korea via a military communication line for a third consecutive day for unknown reasons, South Korean news agency Yonhap reported on Sunday, citing the country's defense ministry officials.

The two countries are supposed to hold routine calls twice a day  in the morning and in the afternoon via military and liaison hotlines. On Friday, the South Korean Unification Ministry said that the daily call via both lines was not made. Seoul said there were no problems on its end.

On Sunday, South Korea's calls at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. (00:00 and 07:00 GMT) via the military line went unanswered, Yonhap said, citing defense ministry officials. The inter-Korean liaison channel does not operate on weekends, the report added.

Tensions appear to be mounting on the Korean Peninsula as the United States and South Korea held large-scale drills, which Pyongyang viewed as a preparation for invasion.