north korea has restored communication hotlines with south korea at the same time as urging seoul to step up efforts to improve ties. pyongyang cut off the lines in early augustjust days after reopening them for the first time in a year in protest againstjoint military exercises involving south korea and the united states. laura bicker is following events from seoul. these hotlines are on and off again. they were switched on just briefly in august as a gesture of goodwill according to a state media released and then they were cut off again when south korea took part in those joint military exercises. today at 9 en local time communication between north and south korea was once again restored. there are many of these hotlines that include fax lines and the go between various different departments. the point of them is to avoid rising tension and accidental clashes between the military and there are 2 calls, 1 in the morning and 1 at night, but they have not been happening regularly for over a year. in the state media release