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Inter-Korean Railway to Be Completed by Sept.

2003-06-11

South Korea expects to put a cross-border railway across the western section of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) into operation by the end of September, a senior official at the Ministry of Unification said on Tuesday (June 10).

During a radio program earlier in the day, Cho Myoung-gyun, chief of the ministry's inter-Korean exchanges and cooperation bureau, said the Gyeongui Line, which links Seoul to North Korea's northwestern city of Sinuiju via Pyongyang, could open by the end of the third quarter given no unforeseen events.

After returning home Monday from three days of working-level talks in Gaeseong in the North, Cho also said the Donghae line on the eastern side of the DMZ could be open by the end of the year.

The talks resulted in an agreement between the Koreas to lay two separate sets of rails across the military demarcation line (MDL) Saturday in a ceremony to mark the reconnection of two cross-border railways severed since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

South Korea has completed most of the work on a 12-kilometer section of the Gyeongui Line on its side, including a 1.8-kilometer stretch within the DMZ, while the North has finished 2.2 kilometers of a 15.3-kilometer section on its side.

For the Donghae line, the two Koreas have completed construction of the railroad bed and are set to lay tracks to reconnect the initial 27.5 kilometers of the line.

However, the possibility exists that the projects could be postponed due to the continuing tension over North Korea's standoff with the United States over its nuclear weapons program.

Source : www.korea.net