Moon, Kim exchanged multiple letters since Moon reached out first in April

The correspondence between the two was reportedly what NIS chief Park Jie-won was referring to when he said in June that there had been "meaningful communication" with North Korea

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (Yonhap photo archives)

North Korea’s decision to restore lines of communication with the South 413 days after severing them was reportedly based on correspondence between the two leaders that began in April. They’ve exchanged letters on more than ten occasions since then.

High-ranking officials in the South Korean government familiar with inter-Korean relations told the Hankyoreh on Tuesday that South Korean President Moon Jae-in sent the first letter in the correspondence around the third anniversary of the Panmunjom Declaration on April 27. Moon received a reply from North Korean leader Kim Jong-un before the South Korea-US summit in Washington on May 21.

Park Soo-hyun, the Blue House’s senior secretary for public communication, acknowledged Tuesday that Moon and Kim had exchanged letters “several times since April.” That was echoed by North Korea’s state-run Korean Central News Agency, which said the two leaders had exchanged letters several times recently.

A key member of the ruling Democratic Party told the Hankyoreh on Tuesday that Moon and Kim had apparently exchanged letters ten times.

Following correspondence between the two leaders, South Korea’s National Intelligence Service (NIS) and North Korea’s United Front Department reportedly handled most of the technical discussion about restoring the hotlines.

The correspondence between Moon and Kim was reportedly what NIS chief Park Jie-won was referring to when he told the National Assembly’s Intelligence Committee on June 9 that there had recently been “meaningful communication” with North Korea.

But Moon and Kim’s letters reportedly didn’t touch upon sensitive issues such as easing economic sanctions on North Korea.

“The two leaders discussed issues resulting from the longstanding rupture in inter-Korean relations and agreed that quickly restoring trust and repairing relations are necessary for peace on the Korean Peninsula,” a senior official at the Blue House said.

The official added that Moon and Kim had expressed their sympathy for the ongoing suffering that COVID-19 has brought on both sides of the border and their hope for a quick resolution to that suffering.

By Seo Young-ji, staff reporter

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