SEOUL - Officials from South and North Korea discussed establishing a direct telephone link between their respective leaders, Mr Moon Jae In and Mr Kim Jong Un, on Saturday (April 7), according to Yonhap news agency.

The two sides also discussed other communication issues ahead of a historic summit between Mr Moon and Mr Kim scheduled for later this month.

The meet at the North Korean side of the "truce village" of Panmunjom on the border was attended by three working-level officials from the South and three or four of their counterparts from the North, according to officials from the South.

Among the intense discussions that lasted for three hours were the questions of where to put the hotline, how to operate it, and technical measures to prevent possible wiretapping.

If installed, the hotline between Mr Moon and Mr Kim will be the first of its kind between the two Koreas, which technically remain in a state of war.

The meeting came in the wake of a separate working-level dialogue on Thursday to iron out details of the April 27 summit between the two leaders, such as security measures and protocols for the duo.

Another round of talks is slated to be held next week to finalise issues pertaining to the hotline, while the date for the leaders' first telephone conversation is expected to be fixed at a high-level meeting on April 18 or later, according to the South Korean officials.