After nearly two months of silence, North Korea began answering calls from South Korea on inter-Korean hotlines on Monday, according to Seoul’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) and Ministry of National Defense (MND).

The ministries confirmed that calls were successfully made at 9 a.m. KST through the North-South joint liaison office channel and east and west coast military hotlines. The restoration of the communication lines "lays the foundation for stabilizing the situation on the Korean Peninsula and restoring inter-Korean relations," according to the MOU.