North Korea severed communications with the South, only two weeks after they reopened the hotlines for the first time since June 2020, following heavy criticism from the Kim regime about U.S.-ROK joint military drills in August.

The DPRK continued to issue harshly worded statements during and after the drills, including one that said the exercises reaffirmed the need for the country to develop its “preemptive strike capabilities” — believed to be a euphemism for its nuclear arsenal.

Toward the end of August, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report stating that North Korea