North and South Korea on Wednesday reopened a cross-border hotline which had been shut down since 2016, forging ahead with peace overtures despite taunts from US President Donald Trump who said he has a “much bigger” nuclear button than Kim Jong-Un.
The hotline was restored at 0630 GMT after Seoul proposed high-level talks in response to an olive branch from the North's leader, who has offered to send a team to next month's Winter Olympics in the South.
“The phone conversation lasted 20 minutes,” a South Korean Unification Ministry official told AFP, adding details were not known immediately.
Kim's overtures to the South marked a rare softening in tone. Tensions have surged in recent months following a flurry of North Korean missile launches and its most powerful nuclear test yet.
- AFP
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