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Head of North Korea delegation Ri Son Gwon and South Korean Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon in Kaesong on September 14, 2018. Reuters
South Korea has just opened a liaison office which is de facto its first embassy in North Korea. This office is located in Kaesong, near the inter-Korean border, in the heart of a former joint industrial zone that Seoul closed two years ago, following nuclear and ballistic tests North Korea. This inauguration today is one more sign of the relaxation initiated this year by the two enemy brothers ...
From our correspondent in Seoul , Frédéric Ojardias
For the first time since the Korean War (70 years ago), South Korean and North Korean officials will be able to meet and communicate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They will no longer need to use the old telephone or fax lines, lines often cut during the dispute between North and South.
In this de facto embassy, some 20 South Koreans and as many North Koreans will work permanently. The liaison office will discuss many cooperation projects, for example in the cross-border transport sector, said Seoul. This opening is a very tangible sign of the inter-Korean rapprochement initiated this year. But without progress on the nuclear issue , the projects overseen by the office will not be numerous.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in will visit Pyongyang next Tuesday. And he will seek to convince North Korean leader Kim Jong-un to resume denuclearization talks with the United States.