According to reports, the South Korean government is planning to create a new office in a city near the China-North Korea border in order to enhance inter-Korean communication and collaboration, amid signals that the North may be willing to ease its hard border lockdown in the near future.

It was announced on Thursday that the South-North Korea Exchanges and Cooperation Support Association, which is controlled by the Unification Ministry, planned to create its first overseas bureau in a Chinese city near North Korea's border, according to a statement from the ministry.

"There are several private groups that operate in the border region between North Korea and China. Under the condition of anonymity, a ministry official explained that the planned office's mission is to "defend South Korean groups and businesspeople and assist their activities."

South-North Korea Exchanges and Cooperation Support Association currently has only one overseas office, which is located in Seoul, according to a decision made last week by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The money will come from the inter-Korean cooperation fund and will amount to approximately 338 million won ($280,000).

The ministry stated that the specific site and schedule for the new office have not yet been determined, but that it is actively seeking a suitable facility in one of the border cities.

The idea comes at a time when trains crossed the border between North Korea and China for the first time in over two years, following the closing of the border due to the epidemic. It was an indication that the North may be preparing to gradually reopen its border for commerce with China, Pyongyang's most important ally and the source of about 90 percent of the North's exports.

The self-imposed pandemic border closure has all but eliminated South Korean nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), other groups, from bringing relief and products into the North over the Chinese border. However, with increasing evidence that the border may be partially reopened, numerous humanitarian organizations are preparing to deliver aid to the nation.

While there have been requests for greater assistance for nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) working in border areas, analysts have expressed reservations about the timing and usefulness of establishing such an office at a time when inter-Korean ties remain tense. With back-to-back missile launches this month, the North has escalated tensions on the peninsula, the most recent of which was a test-firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile in contravention of United Nations resolutions.

Between now and June 2020, Pyongyang still hasn't offered an apology or accepted responsibility for destroying the joint liaison office, which had been established to facilitate exchanges and contacts between the two Koreas.

In my opinion, there is no rationale for the establishment of a new office with a function identical to that of the joint liaison office that the North unilaterally demolished. Park Won-gon, professor of North Korean studies at Ewha Women's University, stated that the problem of recent missile launches and the demolition of the joint liaison office "hasn't been settled yet."

"While the office might be established in preparation for the future and to provide help for non-governmental organizations (NGOs), it will be impossible to really execute it at this time because the North continues to maintain tight COVID-19 limitations," says the author.