North Korea reconnects military hotline with South

By Alex Jensen

SEOUL (AA) - North Korea reopened a military hotline with the South on Tuesday in a further sign of thawing ties between Seoul and Pyongyang.

According to a South Korean government official cited by local news agency Yonhap, the hotline will be fully functioning by Wednesday morning.

The move suggests that the Koreas have made progress in their first formal meeting in over two years.

Minister-level representatives convened at the border village of Panmunjom earlier in the day to focus on the North’s offer to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in the South next month.

North Korea is known to have proposed sending a senior delegation of officials and athletes to PyeongChang 2018, while the South has asked to find ways to reduce the chance of a conflict at the border and arrange inter-Korean family reunions.

The Koreas were able to arrange Tuesday’s talks via a separate communication channel -- which like the military hotline -- was cut in 2016 during a downward spiral in bilateral relations.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un ended months of nuclear threats against the South by suggesting the two sides meet for dialogue during his New Year’s Day speech.

However, Kim remains hostile against the United States, raising the prospect of renewed aggression on the peninsula when South Korea and the U.S. eventually resume joint military drills.

Seoul and Washington have agreed to delay such exercises until after the Winter Paralympics in March.