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POLITICS-SKOREA-NKOREA-KAESONG
New joint liaison office will ‘advance inter-Korean relations’
SEOUL, Sept 12, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – North and South Korea will open a joint
liaison office this week to improve cross-border communications and
exchanges, Seoul said Wednesday.
The office is a significant move in thawing relations between the two
countries, and follows a meeting this month between the North’s leader Kim
Jong Un and a South Korean presidential envoy.
Seoul’s unification ministry said the office would become a “round-the-
clock consultation and communication channel” for advancing inter-Korean
relations, improving ties between the US and the North, and easing military
tensions.
At a historic meeting in June between US President Donald Trump and Kim,
the two leaders signed a vaguely-worded agreement on denuclearisation of the
Korean Peninsula — touted by the US leader as a breakthrough deal to end the
North’s nuclear programme.
The US claimed there had been little progress made since then, prompting
Trump to abruptly cancel Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned trip to
Pyongyang late last month.
The opening of the office — initially scheduled for last month — was
delayed amid the diplomatic deadlock.
But the atmosphere drastically improved after Kim met with the South Korean
envoy in September, and Trump warmly reacted to a personal letter from Kim
offering a second summit with the US.
Seoul said the office will become operational immediately after the opening
ceremony on Friday, with Unification Minister Cho Myoung-Gyon and his North
Korean counterpart Ri Son Gwon both taking part.
Both sides will deploy some 20 officials each, the ministry said.
“We expect that South-North Korean relations will be managed in a stable
manner through 24-hour communications, 365 days of the year”, the unification
ministry said in a press statement.
The office will be located at what used to be the Seoul-invested industrial
zone at the North’s Kaesong City — shut down in 2016 amid heightened
tensions over the North’s nuclear development.
BSS/AFP/MR/1046 hrs