The recently modernized military communications channel between South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) is officially in operation starting Wednesday, Seoul's Ministry of Unification told Xinhua.
The military hotline across the heavily armored border was under construction last week, as old copper cable occasionally created technical hitches, sometimes causing a delay in exchanges between the two sides, the ministry said.
The copper cable lines were replaced with optical fiber cable lines.
The two sides had three days of a trial period, the ministry said.
South Korea in October provided the DPRK with facilities to modernize the communications line, and the two sides began the construction in December.
The two sides agreed to modernize the line in late 2007, but the construction has been put off since the relations got sour after South Korean President Lee Myung-bak took office in February 2008 with what is often called a hard-line policy toward the DPRK.
Revamped military hotline between S.Korea, DPRK in operation
