South Korean Unification Minister Lee In-young urged North Korea to restore severed cross-border communication lines and reopen a now-destroyed joint liaison office as part of a process of thawing chilled inter-Korean relations.

Lee made the remarks at an opening ceremony for a tourism support center in the border truce village of Panmunjeom on Wednesday, also marking the resumption of tours to the center after more than a year of suspension due to African swine fever and COVID-19.

In a three-point proposal for peace, the minister expressed hope for the restoration of severed communication lines between the South's Freedom House and the North's Panmungak in the truce village, and the liaison office.

Angered by anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns by defector groups in the South, North Korea cut all cross-border communication and blew up the liaison office in its border town of Gaeseong in June.

Lee suggested the two Koreas resume reunions of war-separated families at Panmumjeom, as well as pursue safe methods of contact amid the COVID-19 pandemic, such as virtual reunions and the exchange of letters.

The minister also urged Pyongyang to allow people from the two sides to freely move around in the truce village.