ROK, DPRK agree to conduct joint railway inspection

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The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) have agreed to conduct a joint inspection on railways across the border from November 30, Seoul's unification ministry said Wednesday.

The joint survey would last for 18 days from Friday on railways across the heavily-armed inter-Korean border.

The inspection on DPRK's railways along the eastern coast would mark the first since the Korean Peninsula was divided with the armistice agreement that suspended the 1950-53 Korean War.

The peninsula remains in a technical state of war because of the armistice agreement.

The two Koreas originally planned to carry out the joint survey in late July, but it was delayed for about four months as the U.S.-led United Nations (UN) Command disapproved of it. The UN Command handles military affairs inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) dividing the peninsula.

Consultation for the joint survey was resumed this week as the United Nations granted a sanctions exemption over the weekend to the railway inspection between the two Koreas.

ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un shake hands at the truce village of Panmunjom inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas, April 27, 2018. /VCG Photo

The inspection would be part of the efforts to implement the Panmunjom Declaration, which ROK President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un signed during their first summit at the border village of Panmunjom in April.

Under the Panmunjom Declaration, the two sides agreed to modernize and eventually connect railways and roads across the inter-Korean border.

Following their third summit in Pyongyang in September, Moon and Kim agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony within this year to connect railways across the border.

Source(s): Xinhua News Agency