North Korea is reopening a vital communication channel with South Korea
KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty Images
North Korea will reopen a communications channel with South Korea, it announced on Wednesday.
A North Korean official said on state television that the country will reopen the suspended inter-Korean communication line later today, at approximately 6:30 a.m. GMT.
The official was the head of North Korea's agency that handles inter-Korean affairs, reported Yonhap.
The dialogue channel will be reactivated at the Panmunjeom, the "truce village" where South Korea offered to hold talks between the two countries on January 9.
According to Korea's flagship public international broadcaster KBS, South Korea's Unification Ministry attempted to contact North Korea at 9 a.m. on Tuesday via the hotline at Panmunjom, but got no response.
The channel between the two countries was cut in February 2016, after a joint commercial project ended.
The announcement comes two days after Kim Jong Un said he would be open to disussions with South Korea about sending a delegation to February's Winter Olympics in South Korea.
During that speech, Kim also said he had a "nuclear button" on his desk. Today, US President Donald Trump responded by saying he also had a nuclear button that is "bigger and more powerful."
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