North And South Korea Agree To Improve Ties, Open Communication Channels

North and South Korea exchanged messages Tuesday in communication channels that have been dormant for more than a year and agreed to improve ties -- positive steps but ones that still leave any resumption of stalled negotiations to rid the North of its nuclear weapons long way off.

Liaison officials from the Koreas had phone conversations via three channels including a military hotline and agreed to talk twice a day in two of them as they did in the past, Seoul officials said.

The rivals use the channels to lay their positions on issues and even propose broader dialogue, and the links are also critical to preventing any accidental clashes along their disputed sea boundary.

While the resumption of communication could help ease tensions across the world's most heavily fortified border, it's only a small first step and Pyongyang is unlikely to revive vigorous cooperation programs with Seoul or get back to the nuclear talks led by the United States anytime soon.

Some experts say North Korea is aiming for improved ties with South Korea in the hopes it will persuade the US to make concessions when its larger nuclear diplomacy with Washington eventually resumes.

Those efforts have been stalled for more than two years amid wrangling over punishing US-led sanctions on the North. During the diplomatic impasse, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has threatened to enlarge his nuclear arsenal if the US doesn't abandon its hostile policy, an apparent reference to the sanctions.

But he still maintains his self-imposed moratorium on powerful weapons tests, a sign that he doesn't want to completely derail the diplomacy with Washington.

On Tuesday, the two Koreas announced their leaders -- Kim and South Korean President Moon Jae-in -- have traded personal letters several times since April and decided in those exchanges to resume communication in the channels.

Moon's office said the two leaders agreed to “restore mutual confidence and develop their relationships again as soon as possible”.

The North's state media, for its part, said Kim and Moon agreed to “make a big stride in recovering the mutual trust and promoting reconciliation by restoring the cutoff inter-Korean communication liaison lines”.

Tuesday's resumption of communication comes on the 68h anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War that pitted South Korea and US-led UN forces against North Korea and China. That armistice has yet to be replaced with a peace treaty, leaving the Korean Peninsula in a technical state of war, with about 28,500 US troops still stationed in South Korea.

North Korea occasionally cuts off communication in the channels -- by not replying to South Korean phone calls or faxes -- in times of tensions with Seoul and Washington.

The most recent cutoff came in June of last year in protest of what North Korea called the South's failure to stop activists from floating anti-Pyongyang leaflets across their border. An angry North Korea later blew up an empty, South Korean-built liaison office just north of the countries' border.

Many experts said the provocative action signaled the North was frustrated that Seoul failed to revive lucrative joint-Korean projects that gave the North badly needed foreign currency and persuade the US to ease the sanctions.

Those sanctions have battered the North's already depleted economy, as have mismanagement, damage from storms last summer, and border shutdowns during the coronavirus pandemic.

Kim in recent speeches called for his people to brace for prolonged COVID-19 restrictions. While his remarks may indicate that the economic situation could worsen, outside monitoring groups haven't seen signs of mass starvation or social chaos in the country of 26 million people.

“North Korea knows it has to sit down for talks with the Biden administration one day. It thinks South Korea still has an effective value...to make Biden move” in a direction that it favors, said Nam Sung-Wook, a professor at Korea University.

“North Korea can also build up an (international image) that it's willing to continue dialogue” with the outside world.

Still, Nam said the restoration of the communication channels likely won't lead to a dramatic improvement in ties, such as a summit, either between South and North Korea or North Korea and the United States.

According to Moon's office, the recent letters exchanged between Moon and Kim didn't discuss holding a summit or phone talks between them.

Moon, who espouses greater reconciliation with North Korea, earlier shuttled between Pyongyang and Washington to facilitate a 2018 summit between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump -- the first such meeting between the countries leaders.

But North Korea abruptly gave a cold shoulder to Moon after a second proposed Kim-Trump summit fell apart in early 2019 after Trump rebuffed Kim's push to win extensive sanctions relief in return for dismantling his main nuclear complex.

Since taking office in January, the administration of US President Joe Biden has called on North Korea to return to a negotiating table. But last month senior North Korean officials, including Kim's powerful sister, dismissed prospects for an early resumption of the talks.

Some experts think North Korea may be compelled to reach out to the US or South Korea if its economic difficulties worsen. By taking steps to improve relations with Seoul now, the North may be preparing for that moment.

Park Won Gon, a professor of North Korea studies at Seoul's Ewha Woman's University, cautioned against reading too much into what the communication channels' restoration means about the North's economic difficulties. He cited reports that North Korea is still refusing to receive aid even from China, its major ally, due to worries that aid deliveries could spread the virus.

He said North Korea may be hoping that warming ties will help South Korean liberals who support better ties with the North to win next March's presidential elections.