both sides confirm the first call was between the director of china's taiwan affairs office, zhang zhijun, and the head of taiwan's mainland affairs council, andrew hsia. chinese president xi jinping and taiwan's president ma ying-jeou agreed to open the hotline last month. both sides say the hotline is the fruit of cross-strait exchanges based on the concept that the mainland and taiwan belong to one china. cross-strait relations are a key campaign issue in the run-up to the presidential election in taiwan next month. an opinion poll suggests tsai ing-wen from the democratic progressive party has a strong lead. the party rejects the one-china policy. a spokesperson for the taiwan affairs office in beijing has stressed the importance of the one china policy. >> translator: the cross-strait dialogue mechanism could even collapse without a consensus on the one china policy. >>> north korea's state-run media says a key diplomat and close aid to kim jong-un has died in a traffic accident. the reports a state funeral will be held. the korean central news agency says kim died on tuesday at the