S. Korean officials begin work without N. Koreans at Gaeseong liaison office

The two Koreas opened a joint liaison office at Gaeseong last September to keep the door of communication open 24-7.But after only six months,... Pyeongyang has pulled out its staff from the facility,... leaving just South Korean officials there.Kan Hyeong-woo reports. There won't be any regular communication between the two Koreas at the joint liaison office at Gaeseong... at least for the time being. South Korean officials began working on Monday as usual at the office... without their North Korean counterparts after Pyeongyang abruptly withdrew its personnel last Friday.Despite the North's sudden pullout,.. the Unification Ministry's deputy chief of the liaison office expressed the South Korean government's will to keep hope alive."Although the North withdrew from the joint liaison office,... the embers of hope are still there. So we are showing up at work as usual to keep them alive." Kim added North Korea cooperated well with the administrative process needed for South Korean officials to cross the border,... which could be seen as an indication Pyeongyang isn't about to shut down the channel entirely. North Korean officials left the facility last Friday without giving a clear reason,... only saying the decision was made by an order from those higher up.The two Koreas opened the joint liaison office last September in a bid to amp up inter-Korean exchanges by running an open communication channel around the clock. But the weekly meetings between both sides' directors haven't been held since early March after North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and U.S. President Donald Trump failed to reach an agreement at the Hanoi summit in late February. Kan Hyeong-woo, Arirang News