Border ceremony could lead to the reopening of road and train links between the two countries, officials hope

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

North and South Korea have held a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony they hope will lead to the resumption of road and rail links across their heavily armed border.

A delegation of 100 officials from the South, including the transport and unification ministers, made the two-hour train journey to attend Wednesday’s ceremony at Panmun station in the North Korean border town of Kaesong.

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The highly symbolic meeting came weeks after the two countries conducted a joint survey of sections of the North’s rail network that could one day provide direct services to the South. The survey marked the first time in a decade that a South Korean train had travelled on North Korean tracks, most of which date from the early 20th century.

“The groundbreaking ceremony is meaningful in that it demonstrates the Koreas’ willingness to actively cooperate on the modernisation and connection project of their railways and roads,” the South Korean transport ministry said in a statement carried by Yonhap news agency.

The project is the latest in a series of moves designed to improve bilateral relations agreed between the North’s leader Kim Jong-un and the South Korean president Moon Jae-in, a liberal who supports engagement with Pyongyang.

Progress on bilateral ties is continuing despite a deadlock in denuclearisation negotiations between North Korea and the US.

Kim made a vaguely worded commitment to denuclearise during his summit with Donald Trump in Singapore in June, but the countries have not held follow-up talks for several months.

Earlier this month the North warned that new US sanctions against senior figures in the regime were a “deliberate provocation” that could derail its attempts to denuclearise.

No date has been set for the start of construction work on the joint rail and road projects, with South Korea’s unification ministry stressing that the ceremony was an “expression of a commitment” and that the project’s success would depend on the North making progress on denuclearisation.

Construction work could also be held up by international sanctions against Pyongyang.

Seoul said it the UN security council had granted it an exemption from sanctions to facilitate Wednesday’s ceremony, which involved South Korean transport vehicles and materials.

Experts have also warned that the chasm between the state of transport infrastructure in the South and North means modernising and uniting road and rail links could take decades and require massive investment.

Kim admitted his country’s trains were in an “embarrassing” state in his first meeting with Moon in April.

Senior transport officials from Russia, China and Mongolia attended the groundbreaking, which could one day lead to a direct connection between the Korean peninsula and Europe via the Trans Siberian Railway.