xela: I find this very counter-intuitive, but I'm sure that nothing else can possibly work!
unkx80: It seems to me that the Gokyo Shumyo has quite a few themes that are repeated across several problems. For example, the two-stone edge squeeze seems to appear in a number of problems. This diagonal move on the first line seems to be another example.
xela: This way white connects out safely. (Bonus question: is necessary for the connection? I can't see why--but it's usually not a coincidence when stones like that appear in these problems...)