Seoul to provide North with cross-border communication equipment

(ATTN: RECASTS lead; UPDATES with more details in para 3, bottom)
By Tony Chang
SEOUL, Oct. 21 (Yonhap) -- Seoul plans to provide North Korea with optical cables
and other equipment worth 2 billion won (US$1.7 million) to modernize an
inter-Korean military communication line, the Unification Ministry here said
Wednesday.
Ministry spokesperson Lee Jong-joo said the two Koreas agreed to upgrade their
military line, running across the border along the East Sea, which has been
malfunctioning.
"We encountered much difficulty in communications due to the worn-out equipment,
experiencing some 30 cases of miscommunication just last month," Lee said at a
press briefing.
Seoul will provide the needed equipment to the North, and both sides will begin
equipment maintenance and upgrades at their respective sides starting Oct. 28,
Lee said. The upgrades are expected to take about one to two months, she said.
The military line near the East Sea is the main communication channel used in
exchanging lists of people who travel in and out of the Kaesong industrial
complex in the North and others who travel across the border by land.
"The two Koreas will respectively carry out the line upgrades at their sides and
later connect them at the military demarcation line. We should be able to
complete the operation before the severe cold approaches," Lee said.
The two Koreas had reached a tentative agreement to upgrade the communication
line in 2007, but the project was deferred after their relations soured following
the inauguration of Seoul's conservative administration last year.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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