South Korea approved 612 contacts between South and North Koreans in 2019, the Ministry of Unification (MOU) told NK News on Thursday, despite an impasse between the two countries lasting for most of the year.

Though inter-Korean relations hit major turbulence in the wake of the failed Hanoi summit last February, the MOU data indicated that contact between the two countries was nevertheless frequent in 2019.

In 2018, for example, when inter-Korean diplomacy broke out following the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics, the MOU logged only around 15% more contact between the two countries: 707 contacts in total.

South Korean citizens and