South Korean President Lee Jae-myung greets soldiers stationed in Yeoncheon County, near the border with North Korea, June 13, 2025. (Lee Jae-myung via Facebook)
South Korean President Lee Jae-myung said Sunday that his administration would usher in “a new era of reconciliation” with North Korea and work to restore long-defunct emergency communication channels with the regime.
Lee, who was inaugurated this month, said in a Facebook post that he intends to “put an end to wasteful hostile actions and resume conversation and cooperation.”
“In recent years, we have been returning to the cold tensions of the past,” he wrote. “I am deeply concerned about the communication and discourse between the South and North that were cut off, as well as the aggravated tension and anxiety near the border.”
The first step to easing tensions on the Korean Peninsula is restoring inter-Korean communication lines, Lee said.
No concrete plans have yet been finalized for reopening those channels, a spokeswoman for the Ministry of Unification said by phone Monday. South Korean government officials routinely speak to the media on condition of anonymity.
The two Koreas have several emergency communication lines that have been repeatedly cut and reconnected, depending on political conditions.
During President Yook Suk Yeol’s administration in 2023, North Korea stopped answering the South’s routine daily calls that verified the lines were operational.
Tensions between Yoon, a member of South Korea’s largest conservative party, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un regularly escalated as both sides responded to perceived provocations with military shows of force.
Yoon warned that Pyongyang’s ballistic missile tests would prompt stronger trilateral military cooperation with the United States and Japan – two countries the North considers threats to its sovereignty.
North Korea has also cut communications during the administrations of Democratic Party presidents, who generally advocate for engagement with Pyongyang.
In 2020, during President Moon Jae-in’s term, the North severed communications over propaganda leaflets sent across the border by South Korean activities using balloons.
Lee has signaled a shift away from his predecessor’s hardline stance. On Wednesday, he ordered the military to stop propaganda loudspeakers along the inter-Korean border in an effort to rebuild trust.
The next day, North Korea stopped broadcasting propaganda from its own loudspeakers, said South Korea’s Ministry of National Defense.
On Saturday, Lee’s office said it had begun reviewing whether to fine activists who send anti-North Korean leaflets across the border, calling the practice “unlawful,” according to a news release that day.
