The lines were also meant to arrange diplomatic meetings, coordinate air and sea traffic, facilitate humanitarian discussions, minimise impacts from natural disasters and cooperate on economic issues.
But the isolated North has often cut the channels in times of strained ties, especially when negotiations aimed at dismantling its nuclear and missile programmes collapsed.
That dealt a further blow to efforts to persuade Kim to abandon nuclear weapons, and Moon's hopes of building peace with the erratic neighbour.
Before then, the hotlines were last cut in 2016 amid North Korean ballistic missile and nuclear tests.
When the lines were restored in 2018, liaison officials spoke mostly using desktop telephone consoles dating to the 1970s, each the size of a small refrigerator.
They would usually exchange brief greetings or notices, and fax machines were used to send detailed messages and documents, Seoul officials said.
The South Korean military has also released photos of its own small, olive-drab desktop phones labelled "two-sided inter-Korean hotline.". »
