Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday morning that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was willing to restore the inter-Korean hotline with the South as early as next month.

However, Kim rejected US proposals for dialogue, calling them a cover for its hostile attitude toward the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The hotline isn’t like the fictional “red phone” direct line on the president’s desk seen in Cold War films: in fact, it’s 48 different communication lines. Further, the lines were never truly severed, but during periods of cooler relations officials on either side refused to answer or use them, including the line at the peace village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone.

That said, after relations hit a new low in 2020, the North sent an unmistakable message of disapproval by blowing up their joint liaison office in Kaesong, a city just north of the border.

The line was most recently restored to use in late July, but broken again just days later when South Korea began military drills with the United States.

Speaking at the second session of the Supreme People’s Assembly, Kim said it was up to South Korea as to whether it would continue their 71-year military standoff or choose to foster new relations with the DPRK. He reassured the South that his country has no reasons to provoke or hurt the South. However, he said the South should end its hostilities before seeking an end-of-war declaration.

Kim’s statements follow South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s comments at the United Nations General Assembly last week in which he renewed a proposal for declaring an end to the Korean War that began in 1950. While a ceasefire was signed in 1953, no permanent peace treaty was arrived at, resulting in the creation of the DMZ that divides the two nations and the stationing of 28,000 US troops in South Korea.

Kim Yo Jong, Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers’ Party of Korea, also said earlier this week that the socialist state remains open to an inter-Korean summit with leaders from the Republic of Korea, as the South is officially known, but only if mutual “respect” and “impartiality” are guaranteed and the South drops its double-standards.

Source: Agencies