DATE=8/29/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=KOREAS / D-M-Z MINES (L-O)
NUMBER=2-265931
BYLINE=ALISHA RYU
DATELINE=HONG KONG
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: North and South Korea say they will start
work in mid-September on a groundbreaking rail and
highway projects that will connect the two Koreas for
the first time in 50 years. But South Korean
officials are said to be worried about whether the
work can begin on time. As VOA's Alisha Ryu reports,
the biggest obstacle builders face is the array of
landmines that need to be cleared from the border area
before construction can begin.
TEXT: The Seoul-Shinuiju railroad, as well as the
proposed site for a new four-lane highway to link
North and South Korea, run along an area inside the
Demilitarized Zone (D-M-Z) - still the world's most
heavily defended Cold War frontier. Unofficial
military data indicate that more than one million
mines are buried throughout the four-kilometer wide D-
M-Z that separates the communist North from the South.
About 100-thousand mines are thought to have been
planted in and around the area of the proposed inter-
Korean transport projects.
South Korea's Defense Ministry says it wants to clear
the area of all mines by a self-imposed November
deadline.
Under the ministry's plan, 15-meter long plastic pipes
filled with dynamite and detonators will be inserted
into suspected sites to blow up the surface mines.
Specially-designed bulldozers will unearth mines
buried deeper underground. Some three thousand
soldiers from mine disposal units will then be sent in
to ensure that no mines are left behind.
But given the sheer number of mines that need to be
removed, some officials inside the ministry are
reportedly concerned about the ministry's ability to
keep up with proposed schedules.
They worry that hurried projects could endanger worker
safety and lead to shoddy construction work which
could result in bigger disasters later on.
The joint rail and highway project is the result of
recent moves by North and South Korea to improve
relations and work toward reunification. The two
sides are still technically at war - having signed an
armed truce, but no peace treaty, at the end of the
Korean War in 1953. (Signed)
NEB/HK/AR/JO
29-Aug-2000 05:16 AM LOC (29-Aug-2000 0916 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
