The Seoul–Pyongyang hotline, also known as Inter–Korean hotline, is a series of over 40 telephone lines that connect

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''no ...

and

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

. Most of them run through the

Panmunjom Panmunjom, also known as Panmunjeom, now located in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea or Kaesong, North Hwanghae Province, North Korea, was a village just north of the ''de facto'' border between North and South Korea, where the 1953 Korean ...

Joint Security Area The Joint Security Area (JSA, often referred to as the Truce Village or Panmunjom) is the only portion of the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) where North and South Korean forces stand face-to-face. The JSA is used by the two Koreas for dipl ...

(JSA) within the

Korean Demilitarized Zone The Korean Demilitarized Zone ( Korean: ; Hanbando Bimujang Jidae) is a strip of land running across the Korean Peninsula near the 38th parallel north. The demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border barrier that divides the peninsula roughly in ha ...

(DMZ) and are maintained by the

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a Humanitarianism, humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million Volunteering, volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure re ...

Configuration

The border hotline in the Panmunjom area has terminals located in the Freedom House at the South Korean side and in the Panmungak building at the North Korean side. The terminals consist of a computer screen with red and green telephone handsets. In total, there are 33 telecommunication lines between North and South Korea that run through Panmunjom. Five of them are used for daily communications, 21 for negotiations between the two countries, two for handling air traffic, two for sea transport and three for economic co-operation. Additionally, there are 15 telephone lines which run outside Panmunjom because of geographical reasons. These include lines between military authorities and for the inter-Korean railroad between

Dorasan Station Dorasan station is a railway station situated on the Gyeongui Line, which used to connect North Korea and South Korea and has since been restored. Dorasan station is located approximately 650 meters (710 yards) from the southern boundary of the ...

in the South and Panmun Station in the North.Electrospaces.net
The hotlines between North and South Korea
February 14, 2018

History

The first hotline was established in September 1971 to allow the

and South Korean Red Crosses to negotiate. Further lines were agreed to, in principle, at the 4 July 1972 Joint Communiqué between the two states and began operation on 18 August 1972. More lines were established throughout the 1990s and 2000s. The hotlines were unilaterally disconnected by North Korea eight times: in 1976, 1980, 1996, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2016, and 2021. Each time, the lines were reconnected again after some time. In 2013, North Korea disconnected the hotline between 11 March and 3 July, when it withdrew from the 1953 armistice and voided non-aggression pacts with South Korea. This was in response to rising tension between North Korea, South Korea, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. According to a government official from South Korea on 11 March 2013 a call was placed "at 9 a.m. and there was no response". North Korea reopened the hotline on 7 June 2013. In February 2016, North Korea cut off the hotline communications after South Korea suspended the cooperation between both countries in the

Kaesong Industrial Region The Kaesŏng Industrial Region (KIR) or Kaesŏng Industrial Zone (KIZ) is a special administrative industrial region of North Korea (DPRK). It was formed in 2002 from part of the Kaesŏng Directly-Governed City. On 10 February 2016, it was tem ...

as a response to a nuclear weapons test by the North. After Kim Jong-un's New Year's address, the hotline was reopened again on January 3, 2018. On April 20, 2018, a hotline connecting President

Moon Jae-in Moon Jae-in (; ; born 24 January 1953) is a South Korean former politician, civil servant and lawyer who served as the 12th president of South Korea between 2017 and 2022. Prior to his presidency, he served as Senior Secretary for Civil Affairs an ...

to North Korean leader

Kim Jong-un Kim Jong-un (; , ; born 8 January 1982) is a North Korean politician who has been Supreme Leader of North Korea since 2011 and the leader of the Workers' Party of Korea (WPK) since 2012. He is a son of Kim Jong-il, who was North Korea's se ...

was installed, one week ahead of their historic April 27 summit. The direct communication line was set up between Moon's office at

Cheong Wa Dae Cheong Wa Dae ( ko, 청와대; Hanja: ; ), also known as the Blue House, is a public park that formerly served as the executive office and official residence of the president of South Korea from 1948 to 2022. It is located in the Jongno distr ...

and Kim's office at the State Affairs Commission. In September 2021, North Korean leader

offered to restore the Inter-Korean hotline after it severed the connection in early August of 2021, in protest against joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises. On 4 October 2021 South Korea’s Unification Ministry confirmed the restoration of the hotline, saying that it "laid the ground for bringing the relations between the two Koreas back on track".

References

External links

The hotlines between North and South Korea
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seoul-Pyongyang hotline Communications in Korea North Korea–South Korea relations 1971 establishments in North Korea 1971 establishments in South Korea Communication circuits Hotline between countries

Configuration

History

See also

References

External links