South Korea starts work on landmark border railway

South Korea starts work on landmark border railway
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

IMJINGAK (SOUTH KOREA), SEPT 18: South Korea's President Kim Dae-Jung on Monday inaugurated work on a rail link through the heavily fortified border with North Korea, declaring it would mark "the end of Cold War hostility and confrontation."

The President said the rebuilding of the main Seoul-Pyongyang line would be a new landmark in the peace process set underway by his historic summit with the North's Supreme leader Kim Jong-Il in June. Kim Dae-Jung pressed a button and fireworks went off along the Imjingak bridge, a symbol of the Cold War between capitalist South and communist North Korea as it is one of the main entrances into the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ).

A fake steam locomotive -- carrying a banner "The iron horse wishes to run again" -- ran about 100 metres on the tracks and stopped just before the bridge as hundreds of government leaders, diplomats and representatives of families divided by the 1950-53 Korean War clapped. No North Korean officials were present and South Korea's Opposition leader boycotted the event.

But Kim said in a speech: "We are beginning the work of merging the divided country into one." When the two Kims met in Pyongyang in June, they vowed to work to end the long decades of enmity since the 1950-53 Korean War. "Today's groundbreaking for the restoration of the railroad will begin a new age of reconciliation, cooperation and prosperity," the President added. "The restoration project will send a message to the world that the Cold War has ended and peace set in. It will be a milestone, marking the end of Cold-War hostility and confrontation."

South Korea is to rebuild a 12 kilometre stretch of track between Musan, just north of Seoul, and Changdan in the middle of the DMZ, the world's most intensely fortified frontier.

The line links Seoul with Pyongyang and beyond that leads to the North Korean border with China. Kim Dae-Jung hopes it will eventually become an "iron silk road" when it is linked to the Trans-Siberian railway. The South also plans a four lane highway alongside six kilometres of the track.

It aims to have its side ready by next September at a cost of about 54.7 billion won. South Korean soldiers will soon remove Cold War reinforced concrete walls, electrified wire, anti-tank barriers and clear tens of thousands of mines for the construction. The North has also pledged to rebuild a 12km stretch on its side of the border.

Kim Jong-Il has reportedly said he will throw tens of thousands of soldiers into the work. But no details have been given on when construction will start on the North's side. The rival government has also failed to answer proposals from the South on how to run the railway. "There have been no agreements yet on whether the two Koreas will establish a joint railway station at the military demarcation line and how to operate the reconnected railway," said a transport ministry official. Defence ministers from the two sides are to discuss the railway project when they meet for the first time on the South Korean resort island of Cheju on September 25-26.