In a major move to improve communications along the demilitarized zone, North and South Korea have opened the joint liaison office in Kaesong on Friday. This move comes just days before the third Kim-Moon summit between the nations’ respective leaders.

The liaison office was said to be facing a possible delay in the fact of US opposition, with the State Department saying that providing electricity and functioning heat to such an office might amount to a violation of US energy sanctions.

The office was originally imagined as primarily facilitating South Korean corporations’ operations at Kaesong Industrial Park. Now though, it will also serve as a de facto joint embassy for both nations, allowing for a direct permanent diplomatic link.

South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun says both nations will have a permanent set of negotiation representatives at the office, and will hold weekly meetings on advancing diplomatic progress between the two.