DATE=8/24/2000 TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT TITLE=NORTH / SOUTH KOREA RAIL ROAD (L-ONLY) NUMBER=2-265819 BYLINE=HYUN-SUNG KHANG DATELINE=SEOUL CONTENT= VOICED AT: INTRO: North and South Korea have agreed to build a four-lane highway and reconnect railroad tracks that will cross the heavily armed border dividing the two countries. As Hyun-Sung Khang reports from the Seoul, the South Korean government is hoping the transport links will stimulate trade between the two Cold War enemies. TEXT: Work will begin on the road and rail links next month. South Korean officials say the project will take a year to complete and cost an estimated 140- million dollars. The decision to add the four-lane expressway comes on top of an earlier agreement to reconnect a severed railroad track. The rail line was cut shortly before the beginning of the Korean war in 1950. The new line will connect the two Korean capitals and then continue on to Sinuiju, a town on the North's border with China. The road and rail link will cross the world's most heavily defended border that divides the two Koreas. Both countries are mobilizing the military to clear the estimated one-million undetonated land mines in the border area. The South Korean government says the transport links will accelerate economic exchanges between the two Koreas. The new expressway and rail line will
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