Our top story this afternoon..
South and North Korea are holding working-level military talks for restoring their communication lines.
For more, let's connect to our Park Hee-jun.
Hee-jun, what are we hearing so far?
Ji-yoon.
The inter-Korean military talks began at around 10AM, Korea time -- a couple of hours ago.
They're being held at the CIQ, or the Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine Office located in Paju, Gyeonggi-do Province,... just south of the inter-Korean border.
The South Korean delegation is led by Army Colonel Cho Yong-geun,... and the North Korean delegation by Colonel Om Chang-nam.
They're a follow-up to the general-level negotiations held earlier this month.
The two sides are said to be discussing fully reconnecting their military communications channels in the East Sea and West Sea districts.
The West Sea channel was severed in 2016 after the shutdown of the inter-Korean Kaesong Industrial Complex.
It was restored in January for the PyeongChang Winter Olympics,... but it's only capable of phone communication -- that is verbal messages only.
The optic cable lines need to be recovered for the two sides to exchange faxes.
As for the East Sea communication lines,... they were suspended in 2011 amid military tensions.
On top of that,... they were later destroyed in a wildfire.
The two sides are also likely to talk about reactivating a naval communication line, that hasn't been used for a decade.
These lines, once restored,... will help the two Koreas avoid possible military conflict, caused by misunderstandings.
These talks are the first of their kind in several years,... since the deadly attack on the South Korean warship Cheonan in 2010 and the shelling of Yeonpyeong-do Island later in the same year.
The talks are part of ongoing efforts by the two Koreas to implement the Panmunjom Declaration from the April 27th inter-Korean summit, which includes reducing military tension and building trust.
The discussions have even more meaning as today marks the 68th anniversary of the start of the Korean War.
That's all I have for now.
Back to you, Ji-yoon.
