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Koreas Reopen Hot Line

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The New York Times

Published: March 21, 2009

SEOUL, South Korea - North Korea said Friday it has reopened a military hot line with the South ahead of the North's widely expected missile launch early next month.

News of the hot line's reopening came the same day North Korea closed its border with the South for the third time in recent days.

The hot line, the only telephone link between the two Koreas, reopened the same day U.S. and South Korean troops ended annual military exercises that Pyongyang has called preparations for an invasion.

North Korea stopped responding to calls on the hot line at the start of the exercises on March 9. That happened amid a wave of belligerent rhetoric from the North before what it says will be the launching of a communications satellite into orbit between April 4 and 8. Neighboring governments say the launch is a cover for testing the North's ballistic missile technology.

The hot line was cut to protest Seoul's decision to hold 12 days of joint military exercises with U.S. troops across South Korea at a time of heightened tension on the peninsula.

The hot line is the only means of quick communication between the two Koreas and is vital for coordinating the passage of people and goods across their border - one of the most heavily fortified in the world.

The two countries technically remain at war because their three-year conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty, in 1953.

North Korea also said Friday that it will convene its newly elected Parliament on April 9 for a meeting at which Kim Jong-il is expected to be elected to another five-year term as the country's leader.

Kim, 67, has ruled North Korea since the death of his father, Kim Il-Sung, in 1994.

The Supreme People's Assembly meets only a few times a year to pass bills vetted by the ruling Workers' Party of Korea, which Kim heads.

The Parliament also approves Cabinet appointments and government budget bills.

MISSING JOURNALISTS

There was no word Friday on two U.S. journalists said to have been detained by North Korean border guards on Tuesday morning. Laura Ling, a Chinese-American, and Euna Lee, a Korean-American, were reporting on conditions faced by North Korean refugees in China. Their Chinese guide, an ethnic Korean, also is missing.

The New York Times

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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