Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, July 27th (International Observation) South Korea and North Korea resume communications, and the situation on the peninsula appears hopeful
Xinhua News Agency reporter
South Korea and North Korea both announced on the 27th that the two countries have decided to resume all communication lines from 10 am that day. This is the first time that the communication line between South Korea and North Korea was cut off by North Korea on June 9 last year due to the deterioration of relations. The two sides have restarted the communication line after a lapse of 13 months.
Analysts believe that this move by South Korea and North Korea has released the willingness to improve relations, is conducive to breaking the current deadlock in North-South relations and negotiations on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula, and brings hope to the situation on the peninsula.
Mutual demand
Park Soo-hyun, Chief Secretary of National Communications at the Blue House of the Presidential Office of South Korea, told the media that since April this year, the leaders of South Korea and North Korea have communicated on improving North-South relations through the exchange of letters on many occasions. The two sides agreed to first restore the previously interrupted North-South communications. line. The communiqué issued by the North Korean Central News Agency also stated that the leaders of the DPRK and South Korea have exchanged letters on many occasions recently, reaching an agreement on restoring the cut-off communication channels between North and South Korea, restoring mutual trust, and seeking reconciliation.
Kim Yong-hyun, a professor at Dongguk University in South Korea, said that from the exchange of letters between the leaders of the two sides since April, both South and North Korea are willing to get rid of the deadlock and are moving in the direction of changing the status quo.
Analysts believe that South Korea and North Korea are approaching each other because both sides have the actual need to restore and develop bilateral relations. At present, the North Korean economy is facing difficulties due to the impact of the new crown epidemic that hinders external relations, natural disasters and international sanctions. Since the beginning of this year, the Workers’ Party of Korea has convened the Eighth National Congress and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the Eighth Central Committee. While publicly acknowledging economic difficulties, it also proposed in its foreign policy that “we must improve the country’s strategic position and initiative, and actively create a favorable external environment.” , In order to serve the development of the country.
With regard to South Korea, President Moon Jae-in has less than one year left in his term, but his relationship with North Korea, which he attaches the most importance to and manages his efforts, has been stuck in a deadlock. Liu Tiancong, deputy director of the Korean Peninsula Research Center of the China Institute of Contemporary International Relations, pointed out that the diplomatic “anticlimax” with North Korea may even “have a head but no tail”, making Moon Jae-in and the South Korean ruling party very anxious. They are eager to resume the dialogue between South Korea and North Korea. Furthermore, during the remaining term of the current government, “do some practical things and successfully conclude, leaving the political legacy of diplomacy with North Korea.”
Bring hope
Both South Korea and North Korea gave positive comments on the full restoration of communications. The KCNA Communiqué stated that the restoration of communications will play a positive role in improving and developing relations between the DPRK and South Korea. Park Soo-hyun said that the South Korean side expects that the restoration of the North-South communication line will play a positive role in improving and developing relations between South Korea and North Korea.
Liu Tiancong believes that the South Korean and North Korean move is of great positive significance to the improvement of the situation on the peninsula. It can effectively ease the political atmosphere on the peninsula, improve the regional security environment, and greatly reduce the risk of conflict caused by confrontation and disconnection.
With the resumption of communication between South Korea and North Korea, public opinion expects that the two sides can use this as an opportunity to restart bilateral dialogue and establish mutual trust and cooperation. Yonhap News Agency reported that, based on past conditions, after Korea and North Korea resume contact channels, high-level talks between the two sides and other types of communication will begin one after another, and the speed of improvement of bilateral relations can often be increased.
However, because North Korea strictly controls the border to prevent the import of the new crown epidemic, the two sides are also facing many practical difficulties in resuming contact. A person from the Ministry of Unification of South Korea said that if the channel for dialogue is to be restored, the constraint of the new crown epidemic needs to be resolved flexibly and tactfully. Due to the limited face-to-face contact, the South Korean side will establish a video conferencing system for dialogue and consultation between South Korea and North Korea.
In addition, some analysts believe that South Korea has played an important intermediary role in the previous interactions between the leaders of North Korea and the United States. The reopening of communication channels between South Korea and North Korea this time may also be a prelude for North Korea to ease relations with the United States through South Korea.
Yonhap News Agency believes that for fundamental progress in relations between South Korea and North Korea, a dialogue between North Korea and the United States is indispensable. The United States has repeatedly emphasized the necessity of dialogue to North Korea, and the resumption of dialogue between North Korea and the United States is expected to accelerate the pace in the future. (Participating reporters: Du Baiyu, Tian Ming, Sun Yiran, Jiang Yaping, Hong Kerun, Yu Rong)
(Editor in charge: Ma Changyan)