朝鲜计划恢复边界热线交流

South Korea says North Korea is planning to restore a cross-border communications channel Wednesday.

The South's Unification Ministry says the North's state-run radio station made the announcement in a broadcast earlier in the day. The channel, based in the border village of Panmunjom, located in the demilitarized zone that separates the bitter rivals, will be restored sometime after 3 p.m. local time (0600 GMT).

The reopening of the hotline is the first significant sign that both sides are ready to re-engage diplomatically after years of rising tensions over North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile program. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un used his annual New Year's Day address to call for direct talks with Seoul and to announce his willingness to send a negotiating team to South Korea before the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang next month.

Seoul responded Tuesday by offering to hold talks with North Korean diplomats on January 9, in Panmunjom. The meeting would be the first high-level talks between Seoul and Pyongyang since December 2017.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has welcomed Kim's suggestion of bilateral talks, but insists that any improvements on inter-Korean relations must occur in tandem with Pyongyang's abandonment of its nuclear weapons program.

韩国说，朝鲜计划星期三恢复双方的边界交流渠道。

韩国统一部说，朝鲜的国家广播电台星期三早些时候做出了宣布。这个交流渠道位于分割南北两方非军事区的板门店村，预计当地时间星期三下午3点左右恢复。

朝鲜的核武器以及弹道导弹计划引起多年来的紧张关系不断加剧。热线的恢复是双方愿意进行外交接触的第一个重大信号。朝鲜领导人金正恩在他的新年讲话中呼吁与韩国直接对话，并宣布他愿意在下个月韩国平昌冬季奥运会举行之前派遣一个谈判小组前往韩国。

韩国星期二做出回应，提出1月9号在板门店与朝鲜外交官会谈。这将是2017年12月以来首尔和平壤的第一次高层会谈。

韩国总统文在寅欢迎金正恩有关举行双边会谈的建议，但是坚持说，在朝鲜半岛双方关系的任何改善之前，平壤必须首先放弃它的核武器计划。