Editing North Korea–South Korea relations (section)

== Moon–Kim diplomacy 2019–2022 ==
[[File:President Trump Meets with Chairman Kim Jong Un (48164813552).jpg|thumb|Trump, Kim and Moon at the demilitarized zone.]]

===2019===
On 30 June, Kim and Moon [[2019 Koreas–United States DMZ Summit|met again]] in the DMZ, joined by US President [[Donald Trump]] who initiated the meeting.<ref name="washingtonpost.com">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/06/30/trumps-press-secretary-bruised-after-jostling-with-north-korea-security-over-media-report-says/|title=Trump's press secretary bruised after jostling with North Korea security over media, report says|first=Hannah|last=Knowles|date=30 June 2019|newspaper=[[The Washington Post]]}}</ref> The three held a [[2019 North Korea–United States DMZ Summit|meeting]] at the Inter-Korean House of Freedom.<ref name="washingtonpost.com"/> Meanwhile, North Korea conducted a series of short–range missile tests, and the US and South Korea took part in joint military drills in August. On 16 August 2019, North Korea's ruling party made a statement criticizing the South for participating in the drills and for buying US military hardware, calling it a "grave provocation" and saying there would be no more negotiation.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/16/north-korea-fires-missiles-coast-says-talks-impudent-south/ |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/08/16/north-korea-fires-missiles-coast-says-talks-impudent-south/ |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live|title=North Korea 'fires missiles off coast' and says talks with 'impudent' South are over|first=Nicola|last=Smith|work=[[The Daily Telegraph|The Telegraph]]|date=16 August 2019}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

On 5 August, South Korea's president Moon Jae-in spoke during a meeting with his senior aides at the presidential Blue House in Seoul, discussing Japan's imposed trade restrictions to Korea as a result of historical issues.<ref name="TONG-HYUNG">{{Cite web|last=TONG-HYUNG|first=KIM|date=5 August 2019|title=Moon calls for 'peace economy' with N. Korea, slams Japan|url=https://apnews.com/article/f09bce1130ec432fada58c58dc6e1f74|website=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> Moon then withdrew South Korea from an intelligence-sharing agreement with Japan, seeking a breakthrough with North Korea in the process, but opted against it at the last minute.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Kelly|first=Robert E|date=2 December 2019|title=Moon Jae-in's foreign policy reorientation|url=https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/moon-jae-s-foreign-policy-reorientation}}</ref> In a meeting at Seoul's presidential Blue House in August 2019, amid an escalating trade row between South Korea and Japan, Moon expressed his willingness to cooperate economically with North Korea to overtake Japan's economy.<ref name="TONG-HYUNG"/><ref>{{Cite web|last=Lee|first=Joyce|date=5 August 2019|title=South Korea says can overtake Japan through economic cooperation with North Korea|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-southkorea-japan-labourers-northkorea/south-korea-says-can-overtake-japan-through-economic-cooperation-with-north-korea-idUKKCN1UV0PD|website=[[Reuters]]}}</ref>

On 15 October, North and South Korea played a [[FIFA World Cup]] qualifier in Pyongyang, their first football match in the North in 30 years. The game was played [[behind closed doors (sport)|behind closed doors]] with attendance open only to a total of 100 North Korean government personnel; no fans or South Korean media were allowed into the stadium, and the game was not broadcast live. No goals were scored.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/oct/16/north-south-korea-world-cup-qualifier|title=No fans, no media and no goals as Koreas play out World Cup qualifier in empty stadium|work=[[The Guardian]]|date=16 October 2019}}</ref> Meanwhile, Kim and Moon continued to have a close, respectful relationship.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nknews.org/2019/10/kim-jong-un-sends-condolences-to-south-korean-president-over-mothers-passing/|title=Kim Jong Un sends condolences to South Korean President over mother's passing|first=Colin|last=Zwirko|publisher=[[NK News]]|date=31 October 2019}}</ref>

The 2019 South Korea Defense White Paper does not label North Korea as an "enemy" or "threat" for the first time in history. While not explicitly calling North Korea an enemy, the paper mentions that North Korea's weapons of mass destruction threaten peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2 February 2021|title=Defense White Paper Avoids Directly Referring to N. Korea as Enemy|url=https://world.kbs.co.kr/service/news_view.htm?lang=e&Seq_Code=159313}}</ref>

===2020===
On 9 June 2020, North Korea began cutting off all of its communication lines with South Korea. This came after Pyongyang had repeatedly warned Seoul regarding matters such as the failure of the South to stop North Korean expatriate activists from sending anti-regime propaganda leaflets across the border. The [[Korean Central News Agency]] described it as "the first step of the determination to completely shut down all contact means with South Korea and get rid of unnecessary things".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://time.com/5850431/north-korea-cuts-communication-leaflets/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200609051842/https://time.com/5850431/north-korea-cuts-communication-leaflets/|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 June 2020|title=North Korea Says It Is Cutting Communication Ties With the South Over Anti-Kim Leaflets|magazine=Time|date=8 June 2020|access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> The sister of Kim Jong Un, Kim Yo Jong, as well as the Vice Chair of the Central Committee of the ruling [[Workers' Party of Korea]], [[Kim Yong-chol|Kim Yong Chol]], stated that North Korea had begun to treat South Korea as its enemy.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea/north-korea-says-it-will-sever-hotlines-with-south-korea-kcna-idUSKBN23F2UG|title=North Korea to sever hotlines with South Korea in first step to cut contact|work=[[Reuters]]|date=8 June 2020|access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref> A week prior to these actions, Kim Yo Jong had called North Korean defectors "human scum" and "mongrel dogs". The severing of communication lines substantially diminished the agreements that were made in 2018.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/north-korea-cutting-communication-channels-south-korea/|title=North Korea cuts communication channels with South as tension mounts|work=[[CBS News]]|date=9 June 2020|access-date=13 June 2020}}</ref>

On 13 June, Kim Yo Jong warned that "before long, a tragic scene of the useless North-South joint liaison office completely collapsed would be seen." On 16 June, the North threatened to return troops that had been withdrawn from the border to posts where they had been previously stationed. Later that day, the joint liaison office in Kaesong was blown up by the North Korean government. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Korean delegation had departed from the building in January.<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/16/world/asia/north-korea-explosion-liaison-office.html North Korea Blows Up Liaison Office Shared With South Korea], ''[[The New York Times]]'', Choe Sang-hun, 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.</ref> On 5 June 2020, the North Korean foreign minister [[Ri Son-gwon|Ri Son Gwon]] said that prospects for peace between North and South Korea, and the U.S., had "faded away into a dark nightmare".<ref>[https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/world/asia/korea-nuclear-trump-kim.html Two Years After Trump-Kim Meeting, Little to Show for Personal Diplomacy], ''[[The New York Times]]'', David E. Sanger and Choe Sang-hun, 12 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.</ref> On 21 June 2020, South Korea urged North Korea to not send propaganda leaflets across the border. The request followed the North's statement that it was ready to send 12 million leaflets, which could potentially become the largest psychological campaign against South Korea.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/b0d2d82dbcbe823f49d4e4d8fa5e432a|title= S Korea urges North not to send leaflets amid high tensions |access-date=21 June 2020|work=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref>

On 14 December 2020, the South Korean parliament passed a law which criminalized the launching of propaganda leaflets into North Korea.<ref name=propagandaban>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-northkorea-southkorea/south-korea-bans-anti-north-leaflets-defector-says-he-wont-stop-idUSKBN28O1OI|title=South Korea bans anti-North leaflets; defector says he won't stop|first=Hyonhee|last=Shin|publisher=[[Reuters]]|date=14 December 2020|access-date=16 April 2021}}</ref> This ban applies to not only the large amount of balloon propaganda leaflets which have been sent into North Korea over the years, but also leaflets that have been sent in bottles in rivers which run along the Korean border.<ref name=propagandaban /> Violators of the law, which went into effect three months after it was approved,<ref name=propagandaban /> face up to three years in prison or 30 million won ($27,400) in fines.<ref name=propagandaban />

===2021===
In February–March 2021, South Korea continued to omit North Korea's "enemy" status from the South Korean military's White Paper after downgrading the status of Japan.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2021/02/88ee18239cdf-s-korea-downgrades-japans-status-in-defense-white-paper.html|title=South Korea "downgrades" Japan's status in defense white paper|publisher=[[Kyodo News]]|language=en|date=2 February 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2021/02/02/south-korea-downgrades-japans-status-in-defense-white-paper.html|title=South Korea "downgrades" Japan's status in defense white paper|newspaper=[[The Jakarta Post]]|date=2 February 2021}}</ref>

In a statement made on 4 October 2021, South Korea's [[Ministry of Unification|Unification Ministry]] announced that communication lines between North and South Korea have been restored. The reopening followed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's vow to restart communication with South Korea. The two countries' militaries have also restored their hotline along the east and west coasts, according to the South Korean Defense Ministry.<ref>{{Cite web|author=Jake Kwon and Maija Ehlinger|title=North Korea reopens communication and military hotline with South|url=https://www.cnn.com/2021/10/03/asia/north-korea-south-korea-intl/index.html|access-date=7 October 2021|website=[[CNN]]|date=3 October 2021 }}</ref>

===Artistic depictions===
''[[Crash Landing on You]]'' ({{Korean|사랑의 불시착||Sarangui Bulsichak|Sarangŭi pulshich'ak|lit="Love's Emergency Landing"}}) was a 2019–2020 South Korean [[Korean drama|television series]] directed by Lee Jeong-hyeo and featuring [[Hyun Bin]], [[Son Ye-jin]], [[Kim Jung-hyun (actor, born 1990)|Kim Jung-hyun]], and [[Seo Ji-hye]]. It is about a South Korean woman who accidentally crash-lands in North Korea. It aired on [[TVN (South Korean TV channel)|tvN]] in South Korea and on [[Netflix]] worldwide from 14 December 2019 to 16 February 2020.<ref name=crashes>{{cite web
|url=https://www.straitstimes.com/lifestyle/entertainment/cross-border-love-story-crash-landing-on-you-crashes-south-korea-tv-ratings
|title=Cross-border love story 'Crash Landing on You' crashes South Korea TV ratings
|access-date=16 February 2020
|date=16 February 2020
|work=[[The Straits Times]]}}</ref><ref name=conversation0220>{{cite web
|url=http://theconversation.com/crash-landing-on-you-korean-drama-crosses-the-north-south-divide-132140
|title=Crash Landing on You: Korean drama crosses the north-south divide
|access-date=26 February 2020
|last=Son
|first=Sarah A.
|date=25 February 2020
|publisher=[[The Conversation (website)|The Conversation]]
}}</ref>

''[[Ashfall (film)|Ashfall]]'' ({{korean|hangul=백두산|hanja=白頭山|rr=Baekdusan}}), also known as: ''Mount Paektu'', was a 2019 South Korean [[action film]] directed by Lee Hae-jun and Kim Byung-seo, starring [[Lee Byung-hun]], [[Ha Jung-woo]], [[Ma Dong-seok]], [[Bae Suzy]] and [[Jeon Hye-jin (actress, born 1976)|Jeon Hye-jin]]. The film was released in December 2019 in South Korea.<ref>{{Cite news|url= https://n.news.naver.com/entertain/article/609/0000205715|script-title=ko:총 겨눈 이병헌vs하정우 '백두산' 폭발급 긴장감 |date=20 November 2019|newspaper=[[Naver]]|access-date=22 November 2019|language=ko}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://mengnews.joins.com/view.aspx?aid=3070512|title='Ashfall' brings new threat to Seoul: a volcano: Disaster movie asks what people will do to protect their loved ones|date=20 November 2019|newspaper=[[Korea JoongAng Daily]]|access-date=25 November 2019|language=en}}</ref> In the film, the volcano of Baekdu Mountain suddenly erupts, causing severe earthquakes in both North and South Korea.