Kim Jong Un Says He's Willing to Restore Inter-Korean Hotline Starting in October - Report

Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) reported Thursday morning that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was willing to restore the inter-Korean hotline with the South as early as next month.

However, Kim rejected US proposals for dialogue, calling them a cover for its hostile attitude toward the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

The hotline isn't like the fictional "red phone" direct line on the president's desk seen in Cold War films: in fact, it's 48 different communication lines. Further, the lines were never truly severed, but during periods of cooler relations officials on either side refused to answer or use them, including the line at the peace village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone.

That said, after relations hit a new low in 2020, the North sent an unmistakable message of disapproval by blowing up their joint liaison office in Kaesong, a city just north of the border.

The line was most recently restored to use in late July, but broken again just days later when South Korea began military drills with the United States.

Speaking at the second session of the Supreme People's Assembly, Kim said it was up to South Korea as to whether it would continue their 71-year military standoff or choose to foster new relations with the DPRK. He reassured the South that his country has no reasons to provoke or hurt the South. However, he said the South should end its hostilities before seeking an end-of-war declaration.

Kim's statements follow South Korean President Moon Jae-in's comments at the United Nations General Assembly last week in which he renewed a proposal for declaring an end to the Korean War that began in 1950. While a ceasefire was signed in 1953, no permanent peace treaty was arrived at, resulting in the creation of the DMZ that divides the two nations and the stationing of 28,000 US troops in South Korea.

Kim Yo Jong, Deputy Department Director of the Publicity and Information Department of the Workers' Party of Korea, also said earlier this week that the socialist state remains open to an inter-Korean summit with leaders from the Republic of Korea, as the South is officially known, but only if mutual “respect” and “impartiality” are guaranteed and the South drops its double-standards.

Moon and Kim discussed an end-of-war declaration during a historic rapprochement in 2018 that led to the relaxation of military tensions and opening of new cultural and trade ties. However, after parallel talks between Kim and then-US President Donald Trump fell apart, and Moon refused to back away from his alliance with the US, inter-Korean relations soon soured.

The United Nations Security Council said Wednesday that it would meet the following day to discuss the topic of North Korea. The UN has called on the socialist state to give up its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, but Pyongyang says it needs them to guarantee its security in the absence of a peace treaty with the US and removal of American troops and weapons from the peninsula.

However, the DPRK has in recent years tested short-range weapons not barred by UN resolutions, including most recently a hypersonic glide vehicle, KCNA reported on Wednesday.