SEOUL (Reuters) -North Korea said on Monday it will restore severed inter-Korean hotlines starting Monday but urged South Korea to step up efforts to improve relations, state media KCNA reported.

       North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expressed his willingness last week to reactivate the hotlines https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nkoreas-kim-expresses-willingness-restore-inter-korean-hotline-kcna-2021-09-29, which North Korea cut off in early August https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/nkorea-says-us-skorea-face-security-threats-with-military-drills-2021-08-09 in protest against joint South Korea-U.S. military exercises, just days after reopening them for the first time in a year.

       The official KCNA news agency said the lines will be reconnected on Monday at 9:00 a.m. (1200 GMT) but called for Seoul to fulfil its "tasks" to recover strained cross-border ties, without elaborating.

       Kim had urged South Korea to abandon its "delusion" over what it calls North Korean military provocations.

       "The South Korean authorities should make positive efforts to put the north-south ties on a right track and settle the important tasks which must be prioritised to open up the bright prospect in the future," KCNA said.

       (Reporting by Hyonhee Shin; Editing by Daniel Wallis)