N. Korea says will sever hot-line with Seoul, nullify

North Korea will sever its hot-line with Seoul and nullify non-aggression agreements between the countries, the state-run news agency said Friday amid escalating tensions over the North's nuclear test last month.

"The DPRK abrogates all agreements on nonaggressions reached between the North and the South," the North's Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of Korea, a propaganda organ against the South, said in a statement.

"The DPRK will close the Panmunjom liaison channel between the north and the south," said the English statement carried by the North's Korean Central News Agency. DPRK is the short for the country's official name Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

The statement came hours after the United Nations unanimously adopted a resolution to punish the communist country for its internationally-condemned underground nuclear test on Feb. 12.
(Yonhap News)