SEOUL, South Korea – A state-run newspaper in North Korea said Monday the communist country had carried out a threat to cancel the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War, after days of increased tensions over its latest nuclear test.

A U.N. spokesman said later in the day, however, that North Korea cannot unilaterally dissolve the armistice.

North Korea also followed through on another promise: It shut down a Red Cross hotline that North and South Korea used for general communication and to discuss aid shipments and separated families’ reunions.