2 Koreas restore hotline despite North’s missile tests

By HYUNG-JIN KIM
Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea says the two Koreas have restored a stalled communication channel after a hiatus in a small reconciliation step. The restoration of an inter-Korean hotline came three days after North Korea said it had test-fired a newly developed anti-aircraft missile in the fourth round of weapons firings in recent weeks. Seoul’s Unification Ministry says liaison officials from the two Koreas exchanged messages over a cross-border communication channel on Monday morning. North Korea resumed missile tests in September after six months but still offered conditional talks with Seoul in what some experts say is an attempt to extract outside concessions.