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North, South Korea set up military hotlines

Posted on: Wednesday, 10 August 2005, 03:57 CDT

DORASAN, South Korea (Reuters) - North and South Korea successfully tested a hotline on Wednesday aimed at helping avoid naval confrontations in the Yellow Sea by allowing direct contact between the two militaries.

The two Koreas, which remain technically at war, agreed last month to confidence-building steps, including setting up hotlines and completing the removal of propaganda signs on both sides of the heavily militarized border dividing the peninsula.

The military communications office, set up just south of the Demilitarized Zone, consists of phones and fax machines directly linked to a similar office on the North's side of the DMZ.

"How is the transmission rate? Your transmission has come through fine," South Korea Navy officer Choi Don-rim said by telephone to North Korean soldiers during a test.

Reflecting their difficult ties, the two Koreas do not have direct postal services and have only recently established the first private phone line in 60 years.

"This marks the completion of measures to avoid clashes in the Yellow Sea," Choi told reporters.

Naval clashes in rich fishing grounds off the Yellow Sea in past years have killed or wounded scores of sailors on both sides and severely strained ties between the neighbors.

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun has said the potential for such clashes remains the biggest threat to stability on the Korean peninsula.

The majority of the North Korea's 1.2 million soldiers are deployed near the border against South Korea's 690,000 troops. The United States reinforces the South with about 32,000 troops.

North and South Korea remain technically at war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a full peace treaty.

Source: REUTERS

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