This picture released by the presidential Blue house on April 20 shows a telephone placed on the desk of South Korean President Moon Jae-in for direct conversation with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. [Courtesy of the presidential Blue House]
SEOUL -- South and North Korea set up a direct hotline between their leaders Friday, a week ahead of a groundbreaking summit, signaling an era of dialogue that would end the absence of high-level communication across the heavily armed border.
A telephone line was put into operation successfully at the offices of South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un after a brief test run, Moon's office said. The two leaders would have their historic first telephone conversation before their summit next Friday in the truce village of Panmunjom.
"The connection was smooth and in great shape. It was like calling from next door," a presidential official told reporters, adding South and North Korean officials made calls alternately to check the line for four minutes and 19 seconds,
The telephone, which sits right on Moon's desk on the third floor of his president Blue House, carried great symbolic meaning because the two Koreas can avoid accidental conflicts or discuss crucial security issues any time between their leaders.
Afer a landmark 2000 summit between South Korea's late president Kim Dae-jung and North Korea's late leader Kim Jong-il, an inter-Korean hotline was set up at the offices of South Korea's spy agency and its North Korean counterpart, but it was never used.
Under Kim's sudden peace overture that began in January, Pyongyang reopened cross-border hotlines which were cut off at the height of cross-border tensions caused the North's nuclear and ballistic missile tests.
reporter
Lim Chang-won
cwlim34@ajunews.com
