By Lee Min-hyung
The United States and North Korea have reconnected a military hotline at the inter-Korean border village of Panmunjeom to rearrange schedules for talks on the repatriation of the remains of U.S. soldiers.
The hotline was severed by North Korea in 2013 amid inter-Korean tensions.
On Thursday, the North said it wanted to restore the military communication line with the United Nations Command (UNC) to discuss the repatriation issue, and the latter agreed, according to sources.
“On Thursday morning, the North sent its intent to reconnect the telephone line that can be directly connected to the UNC,” a diplomatic source said Friday. “The regime asked for the South to convey the message to the UNC and carry out technical preparations for the restoration of the hotline.”
Officials from the two countries were scheduled to hold talks Thursday on returning the remains of U.S. soldiers killed during the 1950-53 Korean War. With the North Korean delegation failing to show up without giving notice, concerns have surfaced over a possible crack in their ongoing denuclearization talks.
“Upon restoring the hotline, the North called the UNC to explain that the regime remains ill-prepared for the talks,” said the source. “Pyongyang also suggested the two countries hold general-level military talks on Sunday (to discuss the agenda).”
The U.S. also accepted the proposal from the North, and agreed to hold the dialogue on Sunday at the inter-Korean border town.
U.S. State Department official Heather Nauert said in a statement that the North contacted the U.S. mid-day on Thursday and “offered to meet on Sunday.” She said Washington “will be ready” for the delayed meeting.
Last month, U.S. Forces Korea (USFK) sent 100 wooden coffins to the truce village for the war remains. The U.S. also prepared 158 metal coffins at its air base in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, and they will take the remains back home.
The repatriation of the war remains is part of a follow-up measure to last month's historic summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
On the sidelines of the June 12 summit in Singapore, both sides agreed to return prisoners and remains of the war.
Last weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the country plans to conduct the dialogue with the North possibly on Thursday, hinting at the possibility that the meeting can be delayed for a couple of days.
At that time, the U.S. diplomat held a meeting with Kim Yong-chol, vice chairman of the North's ruling party, to narrow the differences on their ongoing denuclearization dialogue. His third visit to Pyongyang came as Washington hopes to speed up denuclearization on the Korean Peninsula following the historic summit where only a few comprehensive peace agreements were made between the two sides.