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RoK, DPRK reopen aviation hotline

The Republic of Korea (RoK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) re-opened their aviation hotline on October 18 after a request from the DPRK.
The Republic of Korea (RoK) and the Democratic People's Republic ofKorea (DPRK) re-opened their aviation hotline on October 18 after arequest from the DPRK.

According to Chun Hae-Sung, aspokesman for the RoK’s Unification Ministry, officials successfullymade a test call at 9.am between the airports in Pyongyang andIncheon.

The aviation hotline between the twocountries was cut off in May by the DPRK after Seoul announced a rangeof penalties on Pyongyang for the March sinking of the RoK’swarship the Cheonan. The RoK blamed the incident on the DPRK, however,the DPRK denied any involvement.

Chun Hae-Sungsaid the DPRK had proposed reviving the communications link, whichconnects the peninsula’s principal international airports.

Earlier, on October 14, the DPRK also proposed talks around resuming cross-border tourism programmes.

Both sides are scheduled to hold Red Cross talks and re-commence thereunions of families divided by the civil war decades ago, at the end ofthis month/.
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