Also threatens to nullify 2018 inter-Korean deal aimed at reducing tensions SEOUL: North Korea severed all cross-border communication channels with South Korea on Tuesday, a move which the communist regime claims will be the first in a series of steps against its southern neighbor. The decision follows Pyongyang’s threat to shut down the inter-Korean liaison office in the North’s border town of Kaesong and scrap other major cross-border programs, denouncing a leaflet-sending initiative by civil activists in South Korea. “The disgusting riff-raff have committed hostile acts against the DPRK by taking advantage of the South Korean authorities’ irresponsible stance and with their connivance,” the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported, using the acronym for North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. “They dared to hurt the dignity of our supreme leadership and mock the sacred mental core of all our people,” it said. “This was a sign of hostility to all our people.” The links being cut include military communication lines, an inter-Korean trial communication line, and a hotline between South Korea’s presidential Blue House and the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of North Korea. Officials from the two Koreas usually exchange brief messages twice a day via lower-level channels to check whether they work normally, even if there are no major issues between the governments. Kim Yo Jong, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s younger sister, decided to cut off hotlines with the South, along with Kim Yong Chol, a former military intelligence chief who has been leading nuclear negotiations with the US, according to the KCNA. The North’s mouthpiece went on to say that the South Korean government was trying to dodge “heavy responsibility” over the propaganda leaflets and “should be forced to pay dearly for that.” The North has also threatened to nullify a 2018 inter-Korean military agreement aimed at reducing tensions. The leafleting has long been a source of tensions between the two Koreas. Some activist groups in the South, including ones led by North Korean defectors, have floated huge balloons into the North, carrying propaganda leaflets criticizing or scorning the dictatorship of North Korea and the regime’s human rights abuses. The Moon Jae-in administration keeps a low-key approach toward the North, not wanting to compromise relations with Pyongyang. “The inter-Korean joint liaison office attempted to call North Korea at noon, but the North didn’t answer,” a spokesman for Seoul’s Ministry of Unification told reporters on Tuesday. “While abiding by inter-Korean agreements, the government will make efforts for peace and prosperity on the Korean Peninsula.” Kim Yong-hyun, professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul, believes the severing of hotlines is aimed at voicing the North’s growing frustration over stalled denuclearization talks with the US, which has hindered economic projects with the South. “The latest decision over the cross-border hotlines appears to be in line with the North’s displeasure with the deadlock over nuclear talks and inter-Korean relations,” Kim told Arab News. “The North Korean leadership also seeks to strengthen domestic unity through South Korean bashing.” Three summits between the leaders of both Koreas took place in 2018. Nevertheless, North Korea has suspended virtually all cooperation with South Korea as its nuclear negotiations with the US remain stalemated. Negotiations have been gridlocked since the breakdown of a summit between Kim Jong- Un and US President Donald Trump in early 2019 over the relief of sanctions on the North. North Korea has slammed South Korea for failing to break away from Washington and for not restoring massive joint economic projects held up by US-led sanctions.