SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea restored dormant communication hotlines with South Korea in a small, fragile reconciliation step Monday in an apparent hard push to win outside concessions with a mix of conciliatory gestures and missile tests. North Korean liaison officers answered phone calls by their South Korean counterparts over a set of cross-border government and military channels on Monday morning for the first time in nearly two months. They’ve been largely stalled for more than a year as the North cut off them in protest of South Korean civilian leafleting campaigns. Some experts question the sincerity of such an overture because it came as North Korea renewed missile tests after a six-month hiatus. Kim Jong Un has said he won’t return to talks with the United States unless it drops its “hostile policy,“ an apparent reference to the sanctions.

Source: thestar October 04, 2021 00:27 UTC