S. Korea asks Pyongyang to give prior notice on border dam discharge

2024-06-07 01:28:58      点击：582

This Aug. 9, 2022 file photo shows people watching the water pouring out of floodgates at Paldang Dam in Hanam. Korea Times file

South Korea requested North Korea on Friday to give prior notice should it release water from dams near their border to minimize damage from heavy rains.

Seoul's unification ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, made the official request in a statement released to reporters as downpours have pounded the Korean Peninsula this week.

"We urge the North to take all sincere measures so that damage will not occur due to a failure in notification," the ministry said, noting how North Korea has given prior notice on three occasions under an inter-Korean agreement on the matter.

The request was made through the press, as Pyongyang has remained unresponsive to daily routine calls via an inter-Korean liaison communication channel since April.

Under the agreement signed in October 2009, the North agreed to notify the South in advance of its plan to release dam water, following an accident that killed six South Koreans after the North discharged water from Hwanggang Dam without notice.

But North Korea pushed ahead with water release last year, without notifying the South.

Earlier this week, the North's main newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, said this year's monsoon season has begun, calling for precautionary measures against possible damage. (Yonhap)