Two Koreas to begin and end Panmunjom hotline simultaneously following Pyongyang's time change
- 6 years ago
Over the weekend, North Korea changed its time zone back to the same as South Korea's, so now the two sides can make their daily calls on the hotline at Panmunjom... as scheduled.
The North had been 30 minutes behind the South since 2015.
According to the unification ministry in Seoul, the North Korean side called the South at 9:03 this morning.
In contrast, for the past three years the North was not taking the daily phone call at 9, and they could only make contact once it reached 9:30.
They also have a regular call scheduled at 4 p.m. to mark the end of the day.
It was at the inter-Korean summit last month that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he would be moving the clocks forward.
Seoul's unification ministry said the (quote) "abnormal" operation of the hotline has now come to an end.
The North had been 30 minutes behind the South since 2015.
According to the unification ministry in Seoul, the North Korean side called the South at 9:03 this morning.
In contrast, for the past three years the North was not taking the daily phone call at 9, and they could only make contact once it reached 9:30.
They also have a regular call scheduled at 4 p.m. to mark the end of the day.
It was at the inter-Korean summit last month that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said he would be moving the clocks forward.
Seoul's unification ministry said the (quote) "abnormal" operation of the hotline has now come to an end.