South Korea's government on Wednesday condemned North Korea's resumption of encrypted number broadcasting, a method used in the past to send orders to its spies operating in the country.
The Ministry of Unification expressed "deep regret" over the North's latest provocation. Pyongyang on Friday resumed the broadcasting after a 16-year-long hiatus following Seoul's decision a week earlier to deploy an advanced U.S. antimissile system in South Korea by the end of 2017.
"We can't speak conclusively about North Korea's hidden intentions behind the broadcasting. But we urge North Korea desist from such outdated practices and seek ways to promote inter-Korean ties," Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee said in a press briefing.
Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee at a briefing. (Yonhap)
The radio broadcast, which seemed to be a book cipher, lasted for 12 minutes, and began at 00:45 a.m. on Friday with a female announcer saying, "Starting now, I will give an assignment to exploration agent No. 27."MOST POPULAR