North Korea pulls out from joint liaison office with South Korea
Tokyo, Mar 22 (UNI): North Korea has informed Seoul that it was withdrawing from a joint liaison office near the demilitarised zone with South Korea, which was established after a historic inter-Korean summit last year, the South Korean Ministry of Unification said in a press release on Friday.
"The North today ... pulled out of the South-North Joint Liaison Office, notifying through liaison officer contact that the 'North side is pulling out with instructions from the superior authority.' The North added that it 'will not mind the South remaining in the office,' and that it will 'notify further practical matters in the future,'" the statement read.
The South Korean government expressed regret over Pyongyang's decision to pull out from the liaison office and urged North Korea to "return soon so that the South-North Joint Liaison Office be in operation as agreed by the two sides."
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to establish the office at their April 2018 summit, signaling a rapprochement between the two countries. The office, which opened in the North Korean border city of Kaesong last September, allowed North and South Korean officials to communicate on a regular basis.
Following North Korea's announcement on Friday, the South Korean National Security Council (NSC) held an emergency meeting to discuss its neighbor's surprise decision.
"Today, on March 22, the [South Korean] National Security Council held a meeting during which the NSC members discussed the situation of North Korea's withdrawal from the South-North Joint Liaison Office and related measures," the NSC said in a statement.
The Korean Peninsula has been split into two nations with drastically different political and economic systems since 1948. Last year, North and South Korea made significant strides toward improving their antagonistic relations as Moon and Kim held three inter-Korean summits.
Image: Screengrab from YouTube
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