A direct phone network linking Seoul with North Korea’s Gaesong Industrial Complex is expected to be launched in late December.

President Nam Joong-soo of KT, a major South Korean telecom provider, said the network would kick off with the opening of a KT branch at the industrial complex on December 28th.

So far, inter-Korean communication including that for the Hyundai Asan Mt. Geumgang tourism project has used satellite-based international phone networks that are routed through Japan.

The telecom company said the new network would allow for direct phone calls between the two Koreas at a cost of 40 U.S. cents per minute. It added that South Korean enterprises will be able to install phone service inside the complex with a one-hundred dollar start-up fee and a basic charge of ten dollars a month.