President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un / Korea Times file

Inter-Korean military hotlines are back to normal operation after a 13-month suspension, the defense ministry confirmed Tuesday, saying the two Koreas will resume regular daily calls via the communication lines.

Earlier in the day, the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae and the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) announced that the two sides agreed to reopen all direct communication lines at 10 a.m. as part of efforts to improve inter-Korean relations.

"South and North Korean military authorities restored military communication lines and put them back to normal operations from 10 a.m. Tuesday, to implement agreements by the leaders," the ministry said in a release. "Phone calls and faxing to exchange documents now operate normally."

The restoration came 413 days after Pyongyang cut off the lines in June last year in protest over Seoul's supposed failure to stop activists from sending anti-Pyongyang propaganda leaflets into the communist nation.

Starting Tuesday afternoon, the two sides will also resume their regular phone calls twice a day -- at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m., the ministry said.

They had made the regular calls via their eastern and western communication lines.

"The western communication line works well, but some technical problems were found in the eastern liaison line, so we've continued work to restore it," the ministry added.

Ship-to-ship radio links between the two Koreas, via the global merchant marine communication network, are also operating normally, according to ministry officials.