North Korea reopens border hotline with South

Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, announced the reopening of the inter-Korean hotline on behalf of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a televised address, Wednesday. / Yonhap

By Park Si-soo

North Korea reopened the border hotline with South Korea at 3:30 p.m. today.

It came a day after Seoul proposed high-level inter-Korean talks in the truce village of Panmunjeom on Jan. 9 to discuss matters related to the North's participation in the PyeongChang Winter Olympics next month.

North Korea made a phone call to the South at the stroke of 3:30 p.m. and the two sides had a brief conversation, Seoul's unification ministry said. Both sides checked the condition of the hotline and fax machines. Details of the talks were unknown.

The cross-border hotline has been cut since February 2016 when the previous Park Geun-hye administration unilaterally closed the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in response to the North's fourth nuclear test.

Ri Son-gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, announced the reopening on behalf of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in a televised address around 1:30 p.m.

Ri said North Korea will try to engage with South Korea in a "sincere and careful" manner by "upholding the will of the supreme leader." He said Kim welcomed South Korean President Moon Jae-in's dialogue offer made a day earlier.

South Korea's presidential office welcomed the decision, calling it a move toward "direct and frequent dialogue" between the two Koreas.

"I believe it signals a move toward an environment where communication will be possible at all times," the chief presidential press secretary Yoon Young-chan told reporters.

The remarks came shortly after the North's reopening announcement.

The inter-Korean hotline phone booth on the South Korean side. North Korea said it will reopen the hotline, which has been cut since early 2016 amid inter-Korean tensions, from 3:30 p.m. Wednesday to discuss issues related to North Korean athletes' participation in next month's PyeongChang Winter Olympics. / Yonhap