North Korea reopened its Red Cross hotline with South Korea at their joint truce village on Wednesday as promised. Liaison officials of the two countries made their first contact in nearly eight months on the hotline installed at Panmunjom. North Korea had shut down the line in May last year after South Korea condemned the country for the deadly sinking of its warship. The reopening of the hotline comes as North Korea steps up its charm offensive toward South Korea despite tension that soared after the North shelled a South Korean border island on November 23, killing two marines and two civilians. Earlier this week, the North announced it would reopen the Panmunjom Red Cross hotline and the Consultative Office for North-South Economic Cooperation in its western border town of Kaesong, proposing that the sides quickly resume cross-border dialogue. South Korea has dismissed the offers as insincere, demanding the North first take actions that account for the sinking and the shelling.