South North restore inter-Korea hotline in small reconciliation step

South Korea says the two Koreas have restored a stalled communication channel after weeks of a hiatus in a small reconciliation step.

Monday's restoration of an inter-Korean hotline came three days after North Korea said it had test-fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in the fourth round of weapons firings in recent weeks.

Seoul's Unification Ministry says liaison officials from the two Koreas exchanged messages over a cross-border communication channel on Monday morning.

Inter-Korean communication channels have been largely dormant for more than a year. The two Koreas briefly resumed communications over the channels for about two weeks this summer, but North Korea later refused to exchange messages again after Seoul staged annual military drills with Washington.

North Korea has recently resumed its first missile tests in six months but still offered conditional talks with Seoul in what some experts say is an attempt to extract outside concessions.

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