Seoul–Pyongyang hotline

The Seoul–Pyongyang hotline allows the leaders of North and South Korea to communicate directly. It was agreed to, in principle, at the 4 July 1972 Joint Communiqué between the two states and began operation on 18 August 1972 as telephone lines between Seoul and Pyongyang were connected for the first time since the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. The Red Cross maintains the link.

North Korea disconnected the hotline between 11 March and 3 July 2013, when it withdrew from the 1953 armistice and voided non-aggression pacts with South Korea. This was in response to rising tension between North Korea, South Korea, and the United States. According to a government official from South Korea on 11 March 2013 a call was placed "at 9 a.m. and there was no response". The line had been disconnected five times before 2013. North Korea reopened the hotline on 7 June 2013.