As Trump taunts Kim, N Korea speaks with Seoul over hotline

Bloomberg

North Korea contacted authorities in Seoul over a hotline for the first time in about two years, paving the way for a thaw during the Winter Olympics despite US President Donald Trump’s fresh taunts at Kim Jong Un.
Officials from both countries spoke several times on Wednesday to conduct technical checks before agreeing to stop for the day, according to Lee Yeon-du, an official with South Korea’s Unification Ministry. President Moon Jae-in has proposed holding talks January 9 at the border village of Panmunjom, which would be the first formal gathering between the two sides since 2015.
The move shows further progress after Kim called for improved relations with South Korea in a New Year’s Day address. Tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program had threatened to hang over the Games in Pyeongchang, a city about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from the border dividing the Korean Peninsula.
The detente between the two Koreas progressed even as Trump continued a war of words with Kim, who warned that the nuclear button is “always on my desk.” The US president responded, saying on Twitter that he had “a much bigger & more powerful one than his, and my Button works!”
While defense analysts believe Kim has as many as 60 nuclear bombs and missiles that can reach Washington, doubts remain over North Korea’s ability to miniaturize a warhead and deliver it safely across the Pacific. Trump has codes to launch as many as 800 nuclear missiles in 10 minutes, said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Washington-based Arms Control Association.
“Trump’s reckless, juvenile Twitter taunts and threats against the nuclear-armed North Korean regime diminish US credibility and increase risk of miscalculation that could lead to a catastrophic war,” Kimball said by email.
The president has expressed doubts about Kim’s pre-Olympics overtures, with an administration official
saying North Korea is aiming to drive a wedge in the US-South Korean alliance. The US wants to avoid anything that might undermine its pressure campaign of sanctions and military threats to halt Kim’s nuclear program.
“We are very skeptical of Kim Jong Un’s sincerity in sitting down and having talks,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert told reporters in Washington.