they were functioning then in june of last year they were cut off because they were unhappy about propaganda booms. then in july of this year they were reinstated an there was much optimism along with some revelations that the leaders of the two koreas had actually been exchanging letters for a few months but then that only lasted a matter of days before north korea cut the lines off again because the u.s. and south korea had joint military drills. so there is optimism from seoul. they welcome the fact that these have been reinstated but no one knows how long they will actually last. we heard from the south korean side what their official said on the line. he said, quote, it s been a while and i m glad that the communication line has been restored like this. i hope that the interkorean relations can develop into a new era as the communication line