News North Korea tension sidelines South's Unification Ministry KIM TONG-HYUNG , Associated Press • October 2, 2017 1 / 5 FILE - In this June 13, 2000, file photo, then North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, left, and then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung shake hands in Pyongyang, North Korea. As North Korea steps up its nuclear weapons tests and threats, South Korea’s Unification Ministry faces an almost existential crisis. It wasn’t too long ago that the ministry was one of Seoul’s most powerful government departments. But the political sway is mostly gone after a decade that saw relations between the Koreas go from bad to worse. (Yonhap Pool Photo via AP, File) SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Every day, South Korea's Unification Ministry sends officials to the border village of Panmunjom to call North Korea at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. For more than 18 months, the North hasn't picked up. As North Korea steps u...