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US-North Korea live updates: Trump taunts Kim Jong-un over nuclear button hours before Pyongyang reopens South Korea hotline

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US downplays talks especially if they do not take steps to ban North's nuclear weapons

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The Independent Online

Key Points

North Korea reopened its border hotline with South Korea hours after Donald Trump mocked Kim Jong-un by saying he has a "bigger and more powerful" nuclear button.

The North Korean dictator ordered the hotline at the truce village of Panmunjom to be reopened at 6.30am.

Officials from the two Koreas exchanged their names and examined their communications lines to make sure they were working during a 20-minute conversation, Seoul's Unification Ministry said.

The hotline was shut down by North Korea in February 2016 in retaliation against the closing of a border factory town the two Koreas jointly operated.

Live Updates

North Korea reopens communications channel with South Korea

North Korea has reopened a long-closed border hotline with South Korea for the first time in nearly two years
Welcome to The Independent's live blog on the latest updates and international reaction after North Korea reopened its long-closed border hotline with South Korea.
China has welcomed moves by North and South Korea to use next month's Winter Olympics as an opportunity for talks.
 
Geng Shuang, a spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, said he hopes the rivals will try to "meet each other halfway."
 
He said China hopes "all sides concerned will seize this positive turn of events." 
 
Mr Geng also commented on Donald Trump's tweet, in which he boasted he had a bigger and more powerful "nuclear button" on his desk, by urging the countries to "maintain restraint" and say things that are "conducive to alleviating the situation." 
This morning, South Korea says it began preliminary contacts with North Korea on the reopened cross-border communication system. 

The South's Unification Ministry said the two Koreas were communicating via the channel at the border village of Panmunjom. 

The statement said officials were first trying to examine whether the communicating lines were working well. 
South Korea welcomed the North's decision to restore the cross-border hotline.
 
The South's Unification Ministry said it will try to use the communication channel to discuss its offer to hold high-level talks on how to cooperate with the North during next month's Winter Olympics in the South. 
 
On Tuesday, Seoul proposed the rivals meet at Panmunjom on 9 January, but Pyongyang is yet to responded to the offer. 
 

Donald Trump threateneds North Korea with nuclear war

Donald Trump has threatened North Korea with a nuclear strike, boasting of America’s superior capabilities

Donald Trump might just have sent his most dangerous tweet yet. But it’s not going anywhere

Donald Trump's tweet threatening nuclear war probably won't ever be removed from Twitter, despite the chance it could bring about destruction to the world.

Donald Trump doesn't actually have a nuclear button

Donald Trump boasted that he had a bigger and more powerful "nuclear button" than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un does — but the president doesn't actually have a physical button
Kim Jong-un's New Year speech hints at a willingness for re-engagement with the South, experts at The Economic Intelligence Unit have said. 
 
Anwita Basu, North Korea analyst at the EIU, said: "We believe that there are a number of potential channels of engagement, at the economic, diplomatic and cultural levels, and participation by North Korea in the 2018 Pyeongchang Winter Olympics represents a low-hanging fruit in improving inter-Korean relations.

"The same applies for the reopening of the hotline. We have gone so far as to say that there could be a possibility of the joint economic freezone in Kaesong to be reopened later this year, but that could eventually prove too optimistic.
 
"It is important to note that despite our positive view, we do not think talks between the two leaders is likely just yet."

Agathe L’Homme, South Korea analyst at the EIU added: "The border hotline opening also supports our view that, in the context of Donald Trump's aggressive rhetoric towards North Korea, South Korea's efforts to re-engage with the North continue to provide a useful, and much needed, channel for de-escalation.
 
"China will also strongly support South Korea's engagement efforts."
Theresa May refused to be drawn on Donald Trump's boast that he had a bigger and more powerful “nuclear button” than North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
 
Mr Trump tweeted that he had a “much bigger & more powerful” nuclear button after Mr Kim warned “the whole territory of the US is within the range of our nuclear strike”.
 
The Prime Minister, who was visiting homeowners who had benefited from stamp duty reforms in Wokingham, was asked whether she was “concerned about this rhetoric” from Mr Trump.
 
Ms May said: “We've consistently said that the programme that North Korea has in relation to nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles is reckless.
 
“This is illegal and we are working with the international community, including with the United States, to bring as much political and economic pressure to bear on North Korea to see them change course.”

North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch

North Korea announces intercontinental missile launch

  • 1/13

    Pyongyang residents react after the news of the successful launch of the new intercontinental ballistic missile

    AFP/Getty Images

  • 2/13

    North Korea's leader Kim Jong Un signing an order to test-fire the newly developed inter-continental ballistic missile

    KRT via AP Video

  • 3/13

    A news broadcast displays Kim Jong Un's signed document

    AP

  • 4/13

    People cheer as they watch the news broadcast announcing Kim Jong Un's order to test-fire the new inter-continental ballistic missile

    AFP/Getty Images

  • 5/13

    Residents react after the document signing

    AP

  • 6/13

    Pyongyang residents celebrate Kim Jong Un's announcement

    AFP/Getty

  • 7/13

    Cheering Pyongyang residents react

    AP

  • 8/13

    To counter North Korea's missile test, South Korea fired missiles into the East Sea

    The Defence Ministry/Yonhap via REUTERS

  • 9/13

    The Hyunmu-2 missiles firing during the drill

    South Korean Defense Ministry vi

  • 10/13

    The exercise was carried out in an attempt to counter Kim Jong Un's order

    South Korea Defense Ministry via AP

  • 11/13

    The South Korean army continue to carry out military exercises

    AP

  • 12/13

    Where K-9 self-propelled howitzers were taking part in a drill

    Rex Features

  • 13/13

    US soldiers are also present in the border city of Paju

    AFP/Getty Images

The North's decision to open the border phone line came a day after South Korea proposed high-level discussions amid a tense standoff over North Korea's missile and nuclear programmes.

  • Read more

North Korea reopens hotline with South Korea

It followed Mr Kim's New Year address, in which he said he was open to speaking with the South and would consider sending a delegation to the Winter Olympics to be held just across the border in Pyeongchang in February.

Hours before the communications channel was reopened, Mr Trump, who has mocked Mr Kim as "Little Rocket Man", again ridiculed the North Korean dictator on Twitter.

"Will someone from his depleted and food starved regime please inform him that I too have a Nuclear Button, but it is a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!" Mr Trump tweeted.

Kim Jong-un signals 'path to dialogue open' with South as he warns US of 'nuclear button'

Mr Kim's latest announcement, which was read by a senior Pyongyang official on state TV, followed a South Korean offer on Tuesday of high-level talks with North Korea to find ways to cooperate on February's Winter Olympics in the South and discuss other inter-Korean issues. 

Read more

Ri Son-Gwon, chairman of the state-run Committee for the Peaceful Reunification, cited Mr Kim as welcoming South Korea's overture and ordering officials to reopen the communications. Mr Ri also quoted Mr Kim as ordering officials to promptly take substantial measures with South Korea out of a "sincere stand and honest attitude," according to the North's state TV and news agency. 

US officials said Washington would not take any talks between North and South Korea seriously if they did not contribute to denuclearising North Korea.

Nikki Haley, the US ambassador to the United Nations, warned North Korea against staging another missile test and said Washington was hearing reports Pyongyang might be preparing to fire another missile.

A spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Geng Shuang, said both sides should seize the Olympics as an opportunity to improve ties and make concrete efforts towards alleviating tensions.

"All relevant sides should grab hold of this positive trend in the Korean peninsula and move in the same direction," Mr Geng said.

Additional reporting by agencies

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