Asia

Pyongyang, Seoul Hold Phone Call Via Reopened Hotline – S Korean Official

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - The North and South Korean liaison officers have held a phone conversation via the reopened communication channel in Panmunjom, the shared border village, South Korea’s Unification Ministry official said, as quoted by the Yonhap news agency.
Sputnik

"The call has been made between the South and North’s liaison officers in Panmunjom," the official said.

According to the news agency, the phone call took place at 15:30 local time [06:30 GMT]. The two sides confirmed that the telephone and fax machines were operating normally.

No further details regarding the phone call have been provided.

Earlier in the day, a high-ranking North Korean official said that the country’s leader Kim Jong-un had ordered to reopen a contact channel between Pyongyang and Seoul to discuss issues related to the upcoming Olympic games in Pyeongchang.

READ MORE: 'I Have Bigger Button': Trump's Tweets Threaten to Derail Korean Talks — Analyst

The day before, South Korea's Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon proposed holding high-level talks on January 9 between the two countries at the demilitarized zone, in Panmunjom in order to discuss the issue of North Korean athletes participating in the upcoming Olympics, slated for February 9-25.

However, following the proposition, US Envoy to the United Nations Nikki Haley said that the US would not recognize any possible talks between the North and the South unless the talks resulted in a ban of all nuclear weapons on the Korean Peninsula.

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