North Korea responded to U.S. sanctions on its nuclear program and a joint exercise between South Korea and the U.S. by shutting off an important communication hotline.

The North and South have representatives that talk two times a day on the Red Cross hotline. A spokesperson for the government of South Korea said on Monday "We called at 9 a.m. and there was no response."

The hotline was created for daily communication between the two countries that share the Korean peninsula. It was installed in 1971 at the border village of Pammunjom so the North could keep in contact with United Nation forces.

This is not the first time that the hotline has been shut off by the North. It was severed five times in the past with the most recent incident occurring in 2010, according to The Telegraph.

The North warned about cutting off the hotline if the South did not abandon the military exercise plans it sees as provocation for a potential invasion. South Korea kicked off the two-week exercise with U.S. forces that will include a variety of large-scale military drills, according to Military.com.

Leaders at the capital of Pyongyang were warned in February by the U.N. that additional sanctions would be created after the country conducted its third nuclear test.

A message from North Korean state media, reported by Russia Today, stated that the country planned to scrap the 1953 armistice ending the Korean War.

"Our front-line military groups, the army, the navy and the air force, the anti-aircraft units and the strategic rocket units, who have entered the final all-out war stage, are awaiting the final order to strike," the statement read, regarding the North's plan to void the current peace pacts signed with the South.

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North korea