North Korea cut off all lines of communications with South Korea nearly two years ago, when Mr. Moon’s conservative predecessor, the since-impeached President Park Geun-hye, shut down a joint industrial complex in the North Korean town of Kaesong. When South Korean officials had an urgent message for the North, like the repatriation of North Korean fishermen rescued in South Korean waters, they had to use a megaphone to shout across the border at Panmunjom. On Tuesday, when South Korea proposed high-level talks, there was no way to deliver its proposal directly to the North. Moon has doggedly urged the United States and North Korea to start a dialogue to peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear crisis. He also demanded that South Korea stop participating in the American-led campaign to squeeze North Korea through sanctions.

Source: New York Times January 03, 2018 08:37 UTC