The Korea Herald

피터빈트

Koreas hold daily liaison phone call after restoring communication lines

By Yonhap

Published : July 28, 2021 - 10:56

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This photo, provided by the unification ministry, shows a South Korean liaison officer talking to his North Korean counterpart at the Seoul bureau of their joint liaison office on Tuesday. After a 13-month suspension, the two Koreas restored cross-border communication lines that Pyongyang severed last year in protest of propaganda leaflets coming in from the South. (Unification Ministry) This photo, provided by the unification ministry, shows a South Korean liaison officer talking to his North Korean counterpart at the Seoul bureau of their joint liaison office on Tuesday. After a 13-month suspension, the two Koreas restored cross-border communication lines that Pyongyang severed last year in protest of propaganda leaflets coming in from the South. (Unification Ministry)
South and North Korea held their daily liaison phone call on Wednesday, the unification ministry said, a day after Pyongyang restored inter-Korean communication lines after a 13-month suspension.

Four hotlines were restored Tuesday after the North cut them off in June last year in protest of anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets coming in from the South. At the time, the North also blew up a joint liaison office in anger as well.

On Wednesday, the two sides held phone calls via liaison and military hotlines.

"Calls between South and North Korea proceeded as usual at 9 a.m.," the unification ministry said.

The two sides are supposed to hold regular phone calls twice a day, at 9 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Meanwhile, North Korean media outlets for the domestic audience have stayed silent on the restored hotlines, though the official Korean Central News Agency, which is geared toward a global audience, carried a report on the news.

As of Wednesday morning, the Rodong Sinmun, the official newspaper of the North's ruling party, and other state-run broadcasters have not carried any report on the restoration of the lines. (Yonhap)