N. Korean officials back at Gaeseong liaison office after abrupt pullout last week
- 5 years ago
개성연락사무소에 북측 인원 일부 복귀... "연락대표 접촉 정상 운영"
North Korea has made a surprise comeback to the inter-Korean liaison office in Gaeseong this morning.
The move comes just three days after North Korea's unilateral withdrawal from the liaison office... last Friday.
Arirang's Unification Ministry correspondent, Kan Hyeong-woo has our top story.
North Korean officials are now back at the inter-Korean joint liaison office at Gaeseong... after the regime suddenly decided last Friday to pull them all out.
The South Korean government welcomed the North's decision to return to the communication channel facility.
"South and North Korea held a meeting in the morning of both sides' communication representatives. Moving forward, we plan to continue to run the inter-Korean joint liaison office as usual."
According to Seoul's Unification Ministry on Monday,... four or five North Korean officials showed up at the office this morning and told the South Koreans that they had come to work as usual. That's fewer than the 10 people the North normally sends but,... the two sides' representatives in charge of communicating with each other met at 9:30AM and had a brief conversation.
In that meeting, the North said it has every intention of carrying out inter-Korean projects in accordance with the agreements signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
They held another round of talks at 3PM as usual.
Seoul's Unification Ministry says North Korea has not clarified why it withdrew its staff from the liaison office last Friday or why it sent them back on Monday.
When they left on Friday, the North Korean officials said simply that it was a decision made by those higher up.
The two Koreas opened the joint liaison office last September in a bid to boost exchanges by having a round-the-clock communication channel.
But the weekly meetings between both sides' directors haven't been held since early March after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump failed to reach an agreement at the Hanoi summit in late February.
Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News
North Korea has made a surprise comeback to the inter-Korean liaison office in Gaeseong this morning.
The move comes just three days after North Korea's unilateral withdrawal from the liaison office... last Friday.
Arirang's Unification Ministry correspondent, Kan Hyeong-woo has our top story.
North Korean officials are now back at the inter-Korean joint liaison office at Gaeseong... after the regime suddenly decided last Friday to pull them all out.
The South Korean government welcomed the North's decision to return to the communication channel facility.
"South and North Korea held a meeting in the morning of both sides' communication representatives. Moving forward, we plan to continue to run the inter-Korean joint liaison office as usual."
According to Seoul's Unification Ministry on Monday,... four or five North Korean officials showed up at the office this morning and told the South Koreans that they had come to work as usual. That's fewer than the 10 people the North normally sends but,... the two sides' representatives in charge of communicating with each other met at 9:30AM and had a brief conversation.
In that meeting, the North said it has every intention of carrying out inter-Korean projects in accordance with the agreements signed by President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
They held another round of talks at 3PM as usual.
Seoul's Unification Ministry says North Korea has not clarified why it withdrew its staff from the liaison office last Friday or why it sent them back on Monday.
When they left on Friday, the North Korean officials said simply that it was a decision made by those higher up.
The two Koreas opened the joint liaison office last September in a bid to boost exchanges by having a round-the-clock communication channel.
But the weekly meetings between both sides' directors haven't been held since early March after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump failed to reach an agreement at the Hanoi summit in late February.
Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News