UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has welcomed the reopening of a communication channel between Seoul and Pyongyang, calling it a "positive development."

Farhan Haq, spokesperson for the secretary-general, said in a briefing on Wednesday that it is always a positive development to have dialogue between South and North Korea, adding such initiatives will help end the nuclear crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

The spokesman said that the UN remains committed to ensuring the implementation of Security Council resolutions on the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and hopes that enhanced diplomatic initiatives will help to achieve that goal.

North Korea restored the hotline at the shared border village of Panmunjom earlier in the day following South Korea's call for high-level talks next week. The channel had been dormant for nearly two years due to tensions over the North's nuclear and ballistic missile programs.

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