North, South Korea open joint liaison office in border area

Published On: September 14, 2018 03:00 PM NPT By: Agencies

Photo Courtesy: Agencies

SEOUL, Sept 14: North and South Korea held a ceremony on Friday to open a joint liaison office in the border city of Kaesong in the North, the South's Unification Ministry said, another development that would help further dialogue between the divided Koreas.

The liaison office, borne out of an agreement at a historic inter-Korean summit in April, is designed to keep the two Koreas in constant contact with each other and expected to become a regular consultation channel for improvement in inter-Korean relations.

"With the opening of the liaison office, the South and North are now equipped with a system through which the two sides can communicate for 365 days" and around the clock, Unification Minister Cho Myoung Gyon told reporters before heading to Kaesong for the opening ceremony.

Cho added that with the opening of the office, projects for realizing a peaceful Korean Peninsula can now be closely pursued with North Korea.

About 50 people from each from the North and South were expected to attend Friday's ceremony, including Cho and Ri Son Gwon, head of the Committee for Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, a North Korean state agency in charge of handling inter-Korean affairs.

The establishment of the office comes less than a week before South Korean President Moon Jae In and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hold a summit in Pyongyang, their third summit since those in April and May.

The office is located in a facility in the Kaesong industrial park used for a joint economic cooperation project between the two Koreas. The industrial park was shuttered in February 2016 amid worsening ties between the North and South.

About 20 officials from South Korean government agencies are slated to man the liaison office, with North Korea assigning staff of an equivalent size. The North and South Korean heads of the office are to hold a meeting every week.

The office will also be used as a venue for inter-Korean consultations. Electricity to power the facility will be supplied by the South.

South Korea had planned to open the office by the end of August. The delay had led to speculation that the United States was concerned that goods supplied to operate the office might violate economic sanctions on North Korea.