Our top story this afternoon..<br />South and North Korea are holding working-level military talks for restoring their communication lines.<br />For more, let's connect to our Park Hee-jun.<br />Hee-jun, what are we hearing so far?<br /><br /> Ji-yoon.<br />The inter-Korean military talks began at around 10AM, Korea time -- a couple of hours ago.<br />They're being held at the CIQ, or the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Office located in Paju, Gyeonggi-do Province,... just south of the inter-Korean border.<br /><br /> The South Korean delegation is led by Army Colonel Cho Yong-geun,... and the North Korean delegation by Colonel Om Chang-nam.<br /><br />They're a follow-up to the general-level negotiations held earlier this month.<br />The two sides are said to be discussing fully reconnecting their military communications channels in the East Sea and West Sea districts.<br /> The West Sea channel was severed in 2016 after the shutdown of the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex.<br />It was restored in January for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics,... but it's only capable of phone communication -- that is verbal messages only.<br />The optic cable lines need to be recovered for the two sides to exchange faxes.<br />As for the East Sea communication lines,... they were suspended in 2011 amid military tensions.<br />On top of that,... they were later destroyed in a wildfire.<br />The two sides are also likely to talk about reactivating a naval communication line, that hasn't been used for a decade.<br />These lines, once restored,... will help the two Koreas avoid possible military conflict, caused by misunderstandings.<br /><br /> These talks are the first of their kind in several years,... since the deadly attack on the South Korean warship Cheonan in 2010 and the shelling of Yeonpyeong-do Island later in the same year.<br />The talks are part of ongoing efforts by the two Koreas to implement the Panmunjom Declaration from the April 27th inter-Korean summit, which includes reducing military tension and building trust.<br />The discussions have even more meaning as today marks the 68th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.<br /><br />That's all I have for now.<br />Back to you, Ji-yoon. <br />
