Koreas likely to discuss hotline between Moon and N.K. leader this week

ASTANA. KAZINFORM - South and North Korea are expected to discuss ways to set up an inter-Korean hotline at the offices of their leaders at working-level talks to be held over the weekend, Seoul officials said Wednesday, Yonhap reports.

The two sides will hold talks on communications Saturday on the northern side of the border truce village of Panmunjom to prepare for an inter-Korean summit on April 27, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

"Officials are expected to discuss technical aspects of the hotline in order to make such a communication line possible," Baik Tae-hyun, the ministry spokesman, told a press briefing.

The establishment of the hotline at the offices of President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is one of the inter-Korean agreements reached during South Korean special envoys' visit to Pyongyang last month.

Late on Tuesday, North Korea proposed that the two Koreas hold working-level talks to discuss protocol, security and media coverage on Thursday instead of Wednesday on the southern side of Panmunjom.

The upcoming summit will be held at the border village for the first time. Previous summits were held in 2000 and 2007 in Pyongyang.

It will, if held, make Kim the first North Korean leader to cross the inter-Korean border at least since the end of the 1950-53 Korean War.