By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
Military hot lines between South and North Korea opened Wednesday after being connected using fiber-optic cables, the Ministry of Unification announced.
The lines will be used when the two sides need to exchange lists of visitors and discuss whether to approve departures to and from North Korea, a ministry official said.
"South and North Korea are expected to exchange information on border-crossings in a prompt and stable way," the official said, requesting anonymity.
The two Koreas have had difficulties discussing the approval of border-crossings owing to outdated cooper cable hot lines, which often delayed visits to the joint Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North by South Koreans.
The lines are considered a key channel between the militaries of the two sides, which still technically remain at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice not a peace treaty.
The South provided the North with some 850 million won ($714,000) worth of communications equipment to modernize the cross-border lines. Construction began on Dec. 1.
ksy@koreatimes.co.kr
