North Korea “will completely cut off and shut down the liaison line between the authorities of the North and the South, which has been maintained through the North-South joint liaison office… from 12:00 on 9 June 2020,” a Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) report has said.

Military communication channels will also be cut, North Korea said.

The decision was taken by Kim Yo Jong, the leader’s sister and key adviser, and ruling party vice chairman Kim Yong Chol, KCNA said.

The North said this was the first in a series of actions, describing South Korea as “the enemy”.

Daily calls, which have been made to a liaison office located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, will cease from Tuesday.

The two states had set up the office to reduce tensions after talks in 2018.

The latest development comes just three days before the two-year anniversary of a landmark summit between Kim and US President Donald Trump in Singapore.

Negotiations over the North’s nuclear programme have been deadlocked since the collapse of a second meeting in Hanoi last year over what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief.

The two countries remain technically at war because the 1950-1953 Korean war ended with an armistice rather than a peace treaty.