The two Koreas have begun their first direct commercial phone service 60 years after national division.

Korea Telecom held a ceremony Wednesday at its office in Gaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea near the border.

Next year will see higher inter-Korean cooperation in information technology on the government level and in the private sector.

The new service will drastically cut phone charges between the complex and Seoul from 2.30 dollars a minute to just 40 cents.

In the ceremony, Information and Communications Minister Chin Dae-je made a test call to South Korea's easternmost islets of Dokdo, Vice Unification Minister Lee Bong-jo to the islets of the southwestern island Marado and KT President Nam Joong-soo to the westernmost island Baekryong.