In this photo provided by the North Korean government, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un waves to participants in a workshop of the commanders and political officers of the Korean People's Army, in Pyongyang, North Korea, July 27. AP-Yonhap
The recent restoration of long-severed communication hotlines between Seoul and Pyongyang was initiated at a request by North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, South Korea's spy agency said in a parliamentary briefing Tuesday.
"(The restoration) was what Chairman Kim Jong-un requested," the National Intelligence Service (NIS) was quoted by Kim Byung-kee and Ha Tae-keung, senior members of the parliamentary intelligence committee, as saying during a parliamentary briefing.
A week earlier, Cheong Wa Dae announced that the two Koreas reopened direct cross-border liaison hotlines and were resuming inter-Korean communications. The liaison hotlines were disconnected by the North about 13 months ago in protest of propaganda leaflets coming in from the South.
"Through the (reconnected) communication lines, South and North Korea are regularly talking on the phone twice every day," the NIS was quoted as saying during the briefing.
"Since April, the two leaders, through two rounds of letter exchanges, have expressed commitment to recovering trust and improving relations between the two Koreas," the NIS also said of the background of the recent decision to resume inter-Korean communication.
The resumption also reflects the North's "expectations for our government to play a role in reviving North Korea-U.S. relations in the future," according to the spy agency.
