09/12/2018, 09.35
KOREA
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Inter-Korean liaison office opens in Kaesong: 24 hours of non-stop dialogue

The inauguration next September 14th. 20 South Koreans and between 15 and 20 North Koreans will work there. The opening was scheduled for August, but the slowdown in the dialogues with Washington made it slip.

Seoul (AsiaNews / Agencies) - A non-stop communications channel between the two Koreas. This is the purpose of the new inter-Korean  connection and communications office is slated for inauguration September 14th in Kaesong and was announced today by the South Korean Ministry of Unification.

The office will be inaugurated in the city of Kaesong, on the north side of the border that divides the peninsula. About 50-60 people from both Koreas will participate in the opening ceremony. The office will be operational from the end of the inauguration.

20 South Korean officials and between 15 and 20 North Koreans will work in the office. The purpose of the new body is to encourage cross-border exchanges and contact.

"The liaison office - says the ministry in today's press release - will become a channel of communication and consultation active 24 hours a day to advance inter-Korean relations, ease military tensions and establish peace on the Korean peninsula".

The opening of the liaison office is part of the commitments made by the two Koreas in the Panmunjon Declaration, signed on 27 April by Kim Jong-un and the South Korean president Moon Jae-in.

The office should have become operational in August, but the stalemate in dialogue between Pyongyang and Washington delayed the inauguration.

North Korea recently reaffirmed its commitment to denuclearization in a letter from Kim Jong-un to Trump, in which the leader asked the US president to meet for a second summit.

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