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Koreas hold talks on connecting railways
SEOUL, June 26, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – North and South Korea held talks Tuesday
on connecting the railways that run across their border, a physical link that
would transform the relationship between the two sides of the divided
peninsula.
The discussions, the first on the issue for 10 years, took place in the
truce village of Panmunjom in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the two
countries.
The two sides agreed to conduct a joint-study “at an early date” on
modernising the railways that run through their border, Yonhap reported the
South’s Unification Ministry as saying.
A rail line already exists from Seoul to Pyongyang and on to Sinuiju on
the Chinese border, originally built by Japan in the early 20th century, long
before the Korean War and decades of division.
Linking the two systems — and modernising the North’s ageing rail
infrastructure — would give trade-dependent South Korea a land route to the
markets of China, Russia and on to Europe.
But doing so would represent a fundamental change on the peninsula: there
has been no direct civilian communication between the two Koreas since their
division was sealed by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War — not
even post.
Despite the diplomatic warming on the peninsula, with summits between the
North’s leader Kim Jong Un and both the South’s President Moon Jae-in and
Donald Trump of the US, Pyongyang remains under heavy sanctions over its
nuclear and missile programmes.
Any practical steps would only become possible after such measures are
eased, South Korea’s chief delegate Kim Jeong-ryeol acknowledged as he set
off for the meeting.
“But we can thoroughly research and study various projects we can pursue
after the sanctions are lifted,” he added.
During an earlier period of rapprochement, the South built a gleaming
station at Dorasan, just south of the Demilitarized Zone, with platforms
marked for non-existent services to the North’s capital.
On the eastern side of the peninsula, railways could connect South Korea’s
port city of Busan to Europe via the North and Russia.
Kim and Moon agreed to “adopt practical steps towards the connection” of
the railways at their first summit in April.
Moon has also shared his vision of linking the inter-Korean lines to
trans-Siberian railways, offering a route to Europe, saying it would bring
“huge economic benefits” to Seoul and Pyongyang as well as Russia.
But freedom of movement for North Korean civilians could threaten the grip
on power of the ruling Workers’ Party, which imposes tight controls on the
population.
The rapprochement on the Korean peninsula was triggered earlier this year
when Kim decided to send athletes, cheerleaders and his sister as an envoy to
the Winter Olympics in the South.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1821 hrs