N. Korea to restore military communication lines with S. Korea: officials

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By Sam Kim, Kim Hyun
SEOUL, March 20 (Yonhap) -- North Korea will restore its military communication
lines with South Korea on their east coast starting Saturday, officials here
said, as a joint South Korea-U.S. defense exercise came to an end.
The lines -- a few of the last remaining channels between the divided states --
were cut off last week as part of North Korea's protest over the Key Resolve and
Foal Eagle exercise that ended Friday.
The North notified the South of its decision to reopen the lines through the
inter-Korean joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong,
South Korean officials said.
South Korean defense ministry spokesman Won Tae-jae initially said the notice had
been received by fax, but other officials said it was hand-delivered to South
Korean officials at the Kaesong complex.
The lines on the east coast will start working as of 8:00 a.m. Saturday, Won
said, adding similar lines on the west coast remain out of operation due largely
to technical problems.
"We hope that the lines will be restored as scheduled and notified by the North,"
South Korea's Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyoun said.
Despite North Korea's move, tension persists on the Korean Peninsula as hundreds
of South Koreans working at the complex near the west coast remain barred from
returning home in the third time that the North has unilaterally restricted
cross-border traffic during the exercise.
The planned reconnection of lines also comes amid the detention of two U.S.
journalists, who were being held by North Korea after they reportedly approached
the border between China and North Korea on the Chinese side.
North Korea has yet to retract its warning that it would not guarantee the safety
of South Korean passenger planes flying over its eastern waters during the March
9-20 joint exercise.
Pyongyang considers the annual military drill as a prelude to invasion, even
though Seoul and Washington say it is purely defensive.
North Korea has also warned it will retaliate against anyone trying to intercept
a rocket that it plans to launch between April 4-8 from the east coast. Neighbors
believe the launch could be a cover to test-fire a ballistic missile capable of
reaching Alaska.
South and North Korea remain in a state of conflict after the 1950-53 Korean War
ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
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