The South Korean military says that the safety of South Koreans visiting North Korea is guaranteed even after the North cut inter-Korean military hotlines.

A military official said that South and North Korea can still communicate through fax messages for cross-border traffic of personnel and vehicles even though hotlines are not in use.

Fax messages regarding requests and permission of inter-Korean border passage are conveyed through both sides' respective military situation rooms, border quarantine and immigration offices, and management offices at the Gaeseong Industrial Complex.