Revived DPRK-ROK link ‘positive’

Beijing on Wednesday encouraged all parties to take advantage of the situation in the Korean Peninsula showing signs of easing after Pyongyang reopened a line of communication with Seoul.

The channel was reopened in the truce village of Panmunjom on Wednesday afternoon after Seoul on Tuesday proposed high-level talks between both sides on Jan 9 to discuss issues including the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’s participation in the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said in a daily news conference in Beijing that China thinks all parties “should seize the positive development of the situation in the peninsula and work in the same direction”.

He reiterated China’s support for the two sides to use the Olympics as an opportunity to improve ties, ease tensions and denuclearize the peninsula.

The inter-Korean communication channel had been severed since the previous Republic of Korea administration unilaterally closed the inter-Korean industrial zone in the DPRK’s border town of Kaesong following Pyongyang’s fourth nuclear test in January 2016.

Tensions had been rising since the nuclear test. But in an address on Monday, DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un sent out a conciliatory message. He said his country is willing to dispatch a delegation to the Winter Olympics in the ROK, suggesting the two sides meet soon on the matter.

Pyongyang and Washington, however, have been exchanging fierce remarks.

The DPRK and the United States should resume talks and build mutual trust as soon as possible, instead of challenging each other, Geng said.