Seoul urged Pyongyang to restore the military hotlines in order to find the truth behind the shooting death of a South Korean fisheries official by North Korean troops near a western border island last month.

The call from Defense Ministry deputy spokesperson Col. Moon Hong-sik came on Friday, after the North held the South accountable for the September 22 incident, blaming the country for failing to exercise proper control over its citizen.

Unification Ministry deputy spokesperson Cho Hye-sil also gave a similar response when asked for the ministry's assessment.

The cross-border military hotlines were severed in June, after the North took issue with anti-Pyongyang leaflet campaigns by defector groups in the South.