Technical glitches delay S. Korean trips to North

SEOUL, Sept. 14 (Yonhap) -- South Koreans' trips to the North were briefly
delayed Monday morning by technical glitches in an aged inter-Korean hotline,
officials said, which Pyongyang previously demanded Seoul replace.

North Korea approved the trips belatedly by phone instead of by fax, the
customary means of inter-Korean communication, which did not function in the
morning, said Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung.
"It appears to be a technical problem," Chun said in a press briefing. The
approval, usually given before 8 a.m., came at 9:30 a.m., he added.
Hundreds of South Korean workers traveling to a joint industrial park, located in
the North's western border town of Kaesong, began their trips an hour after they
were initially scheduled. The delay was the first since border traffic was
normalized this month.
The hotline in the western district was established in 2002 to assure the safety
of South Koreans crossing the heavily fortified border to the North and prevent
the recurrence of inter-Korean naval clashes in the Yellow Sea that claimed
scores of lives on both sides in 1999 and 2002.
North Korea suspended the line in May last year, citing technical problems in
aging copper-made cables. Pyongyang demanded optic cable replacements from Seoul
at that time, but new cables were not provided as inter-Korean political
relations deteriorated.
Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said no decision has yet been made on whether
to provide new optic cables.
The Koreas have another military hotline in the eastern district that opened in
2003. The eastern channel is mostly used for communication for tourists visiting
the scenic Mount Kumgang resort on the North's east coast, a joint project that
was suspended after a shooting incident last year.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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