Icetruck.tv News Blog
World

North Korea to re-open communication channel with South Korea

kim-jong-un-ap-thg-171113_12x5_992

North Korea to re-open communication channel with South Korea, discuss Olympic participation

PlayKorea News Service/Korean Central News Agency/AP

WATCH Kim Jong Un issues a threat to America in his New Year's message

    North Korea will re-open the inter-Korean communication line on Wednesday afternoon to discuss sending a delegation to next month's Winter Olympics in South Korea, the isolated regime announced.

    Interested in North Korea?

    Add North Korea as an interest to stay up to date on the latest North Korea news, video, and analysis from ABC News. North Korea Add Interest

    The head of North Korea's agency handling inter-Korean affairs, Ri Son-gwon, appeared on their central television news Wednesday to say he was announcing North Korea's stance on behalf of leader Kim Jong Un.

    "By upholding a decision by the leadership, we will make close contact with South Korea in a sincere and faithful manner," Ri said. "We will discuss working-level issues over our potential dispatch of the delegation."

    S. Korea offers to talk with North on Olympic cooperation President Trump to Kim Jong Un: My 'nuclear button' is 'much bigger' and 'more powerful' than yours Kim Jong Un issues a threat to America in his New Year's message

    The communication line was expected to be re-opened in the shared border village of Panmunjom at 3 p.m local time (1 a.m. ET).

    Ri called sending an Olympic delegation and the opening of inter-Korean talks a "meaningful start for improving North-South relations in the current situation."

    No inter-Korea discussions have been held through the communication channel at the border town since January 2016, when North Korea conducted its fourth nuclear test.

    South Korea on Tuesday offered to hold high-level discussions with their northern neighbor over sending a delegation to the 2018 Winter Olympics beginning in February. The 2018 Olympics are being held in Pyeongchang, South Korea.

    Kim first proposed the idea of sending a team to the Olympics in a wide-ranging Jan. 1 speech.

    PHOTO: President Donald Trump in New York City, Sept. 21, 2017. | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Sept. 3, 2017.AP
    President Donald Trump in New York City, Sept. 21, 2017. | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Sept. 3, 2017.

    South Korea's unification minister, Cho Myoung-gyon, proposed Tuesday in a televised speech that the two Koreas meet in Pyeongchang on Jan. 9. Ri did not make it clear whether that meeting will happen.

    The International Olympic Committee said on Tuesday it was willing to continue discussions about North Korea sending a delegation to the games. North Korea sent 31 athletes to the last Olympics, Rio's 2016 Summer Games. North Korea won seven medals, its highest total ever, including two golds.

    The overture by North Korea was seen as a way of driving a wedge between the U.S. and South Korea.

    Kim and President Donald Trump continued their war of words on Tuesday, with Trump responding to Kim's declaration of a completed nuclear arsenal, saying, "Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!"

    North Korean Leader Kim Jong Un just stated that the “Nuclear Button is on his desk at all times.” Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!

    — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 3, 2018

    Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., tweeted on Monday — in the wake of Kim's New Year's address — that he was "confident" the South Koreans would not meet with the North Koreans over going to the Olympics, and said the U.S. should boycott the Olympics if they did meet.

    Allowing Kim Jong Un’s North Korea to participate in #WinterOlympics would give legitimacy to the most illegitimate regime on the planet.

    I’m confident South Korea will reject this absurd overture and fully believe that if North Korea goes to the Winter Olympics, we do not.

    — Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) January 1, 2018

    • Star

    Add Interests Customize your news feed by choosing the topics that interest you.

    To save your interests across all devices Log In or Sign Up &raquo
    Source – abcnews.go.com

    Leave a Comment