North Korea is reopening a vital communication channel with South Korea

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North Korea is reopening a vital communication channel with South Korea

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KCNA via KNS/AFP/Getty Images

his picture from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) taken and released on January 1, 2018 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un delivering a New Year's speech at an undisclosed location.

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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.

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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."