South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea today restored a hotline at their truce village; nearly eight months after the latter unilaterally cut it off in protest. The unification ministry said the two sides spoke to each other for ten minutes via the restored Red Cross communication channel at the border village of Panmunjom.The DPRK severed the hotline after South Korea blamed it for the fatal sinking of a South Korean warship last March and suspended in May nearly all cross-border exchanges as part of punitive measures against Pyongyang despite its repeated denial of involvement.