Direct communication line between two Koreas to be established Friday

남북정상 '핫라인' 오늘 개통 + 문 대통령, 한 비핵화 조건에 미군 철수 요구 없어

The South Korean government is making some of the final preparations for the upcoming inter-Korean summit -- now exactly a week away.
That includes the new hotline for the leaders.
We now turn to our Cha Sang-mi at the Blue House for the latest updates.
Sang-mi, tell us how the preparations are going.

Hi Devin, on the presidential table today,... a hotline will be hooked up that'll link President Moon Jae-in directly with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

"One end of the hotline will be at the South Korean presidential office... and on the North Korean side it'll be at the State Affairs Commission, an executive body headed by Kim Jong-un."

The Blue House spokesperson Kim Eui-kyeom at a press briefing (on Friday) said working-level officials from the two sides will conduct a test call before connecting the line today, but the exact time of those events has not yet been set since Pyongyang's busy with the plenary meeting of its central committee.

Kim also said that President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un will speak on the phone prior to the summit next Friday.

That phone line could represent a big step for the two Koreas. Sang-mi, we know that the Blue House has now made public the list of officials who will accompany President Moon to the summit. Tell us more about them.

That's right Devin, the top office announced six key aides who will accompany President Moon Jae-in at the inter-Korean summit next Friday.
They are Chief Secretary Im Jong-seok,... National Security Adviser Chung Eui-yong,... National Intelligence Service Chief ( )Suh Hoon,... Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon,... Defense Minister Song Young-moo,... and Foreign Affairs Minister Kang Kyung-wha.

The spokesperson, however, pointed out that who will sit at the actual summit table will depend on the number of aides accompanying Kim Jong-un.
The Blue House added that two summit situation rooms will be up and running early next week -- one at the truce village of Panmunjom and the other at the main press center located in the KINTEX exhibition and convention center in Goyang, Gyeonggi-do Province, some 30 kilometers south of Panmunjom.
Back to you Devin.