High-voltage power lines linking the two Koreas have been reconnected for the first time since the North cut them in May 1948.

Construction on the 16-kilometer-long power lines connecting the substations of the South’s Munsan and the North’s Gaesong began in April, at a total cost of 35 billion won.

The reconnected lines can provide up to 100-thousand kilowatts of power to firms at the Gaesong Industrial Complex. With a transformer upgrade, they will be able to supply up to 200-thousand kilowatts.

At the completion ceremony on Thursday, South Korean Minister of Commerce, Industry and Energy Kim Young-ju spoke of the reconnected power lines' historic importance, saying that, along with recently relinked inter-Korean railways, they would serve as arteries between the South and the North.