Inter-Korean military communication lines restored, North answers liaison call

Inter-Korean military communication lines are restored as of Monday morning and North Korea has already answered a liaison phone call from the South, the South Korean Yonhap news agency reports.

According to Yonhap, the two sides had contact through a military hotline and a separate joint liaison office channel on Monday.

The South Korean government has expressed hope for early resumption of inter-Korean talks following the restoration of communication lines.

"Through that stable management of the communication lines and swift resumption of dialogue, the government hopes to begin and advance substantive discussions on improving inter-Korean relations and making peace take root on the Korean Peninsula, along with implementing agreements between the two Koreas," Yonhap quoted the unification ministry as saying on Monday.

Earlier, Yonhap reported citing the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) that all communication channels between North and South Korea were going to be restored starting from 9:00 a.m. on October 4 (00:00 GMT).

According to KCNA, Pyongyang urged Seoul to also make positive efforts to improve inter-Korean relations and bring the ties on a right track.

At the end of September, Kim Yo Jong, the deputy department director of the Workers' Party of Korea Central Committee and the North Korean leader's sister, said that Pyongyang was ready to declare the end of war with Seoul, bring back the Inter-Korean Liaison Office and hold a leaders' summit provided that bilateral relations are marked by respect and fairness.

The statement came in response to South Korean President Moon Jae-in's proposal to declare the end of war between Seoul and Pyongyang.

Pyongyang cut off communications with its southern neighbor in June 2020 and blew up the joint liaison office in the border town of Kaesong, in response to the campaign by North Korean defectors to send propaganda leaflets across the border.

Last week, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said that cross-border communication lines with South Korea could be restored starting from early October.

(ANI)

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