Trump: North Korea resumes contact with South Korea thanks to US toughness

"When all the 'experts' failed, who would have thought that talks would take place between North and South Korea if I had not been tough, strong and ready to use all my power against Pyongyang. It's foolish, but having dialogue is a good thing,"ReutersQuoting US President Donald Trump's statement today on Twitter.

North and South Korea yesterday reconnected their hotline after two years, communicating at the border village of Panmunjom. The two sides talked for 20 minutes to ensure the hotline was working properly.

Future inter-Korean talks will focus on sending North Korean athletes to the Winter Olympics in the town of PyeongChang,Korea next month.

In his New Year's address, Kim Jong-un left the door open for dialogue with South Korea and said the two sides should reduce tensions. South Korea welcomed the resumption of the border hotline, saying it created an environment that would allow the two sides to communicate at all times.

South and North Korea have not communicated with each other since February 2016, when Pyongyang cut off the hotline in protest at Seoul's closure of an industrial complex that employed North Korean workers.