Page 303 - 2018 Defense White Paper

| Operation of Inter-Korean Military Communication Lines | To support inter-Korean exchange

and cooperation projects, South and North Korea have put a communication system in place within
the joint administrative areas of the Eastern and Western Transportation Corridors. Following the
agreement to install hotlines linking military situation rooms on September 17, 2002, a communication

line was set up in the Western Transportation Corridor on September 24 and in the Eastern
Transportation Corridor on December 5, 2003. However, the communication line in the Eastern
Transportation Corridor was destroyed in a forest f ire in November 2010. Since the shutdown of

the Gaesong Industrial Complex, the military
communication line between both sides was
severed in February 2016 and closed for nearly 2

years as North Korea blocked it in the Western
Transportation Corridor. On January 9, 2018,
the two sides met for senior-level talks where they
agreed to restore the military communication

line. As a result, the communication line in
Working-level contact for Inter-Korean communication
the Western Transportation Corridor was channels (June 2018)

reconnected. However, the line has only been
operational for fixed-line communication because of problems such as obsolescence. Subsequently, on
th
June 14, 2018, during the “8 Inter-Korean General Off icer-level Military Talks,” the two sides agreed
to reinstall the damaged line in the Eastern Transportation Corridor and fully restore the obsolete line

in the Western Transportation Corridor. A working-level contact for communication was held on June
25 to discuss practical measures for the restoration of military communication lines.
The military authorities of the two Koreas completed the restoration of the line in the Western

Transportation Corridor on July 16, 2018, and the line in the Eastern Transportation Corridor on
Chapter 7
August 15, 2018. 12) These two lines have been normalized and are now fully functional. With the
normalization of the military communication lines, the MND can provide support toward a large

gamut of exchange and cooperation activities between the two Koreas including the establishment
of a joint liaison off ice, reunions of separated families, and projects for modernizing inter-Korean

12) As part of steps toward the normalization of military communication lines, the ROK government provided North
Korea with necessary equipment and supplies, which was exceptionally approved by the UN Security Council
(UNSC) Sanctions Committee on North Korea on July 14, 2018.

Section 2 Military Assurance for Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation and Resolution of the ROK POW Issue 301