KOREAS AGREE TO IMPROVE RELATIONS
Seoul, July 27: North and South Korea have restored suspended communication channels between them and their leaders agreed to improve ties, both governments said Tuesday, despite a two-year-stalemate in US-led diplomacy aimed at stripping North Korea of its nuclear weapons.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reached the agreement during several exchanges of letters since April, the presidential office in Seoul said.
The two leaders agreed to restore mutual confidence and develop their relationships again as soon as possible, Blue House spokesman Park Soo Hyun said. Park said the two Koreas subsequently reopened communication channels on Tuesday morning.
North Korea’s state media quickly confirmed the South Korean announcement. Now, the whole Korean nation desires to see the NorthSouth relations recovered from setback and stagnation as early as possible, the official Korean Central News Agency said. In this regard, the top leaders of the North and the South agreed to make a big stride in recovering the mutual trust and promoting reconciliation by restoring the cutoff inter-Korean communication liaison lines through the recent several exchanges of personal letters. Last year, North Korea cut off all communication channels with South Korea in protest of what it calls South Korea’s failure to stop activists from floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets across their border. —
SOUTH KOREAN President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reached the agreement during several exchanges of letters since April.