ROK, DPRK hold talks over cross-border road connection

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Officials of the Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) met Thursday to discuss cooperation in modernizing and connecting roads across their border, Yonhap reported, citing a unification ministry official.

According to the official, the meeting was held at the joint liaison office in the DPRK's border city Kaesong, attended by senior transportation officials of the two countries.

"They exchanged views on issues of mutual concern, including road-related technologies."

Is Korea's railway connection just another symbolic moment?

Following their first summit in April at the border truce village of Panmunjom, ROK President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un agreed to modernize and eventually re-connect railways and roads along the western and eastern Korean Peninsula.

Moon and Kim agreed during their Pyongyang summit in September to hold the groundbreaking ceremony before the end of this year for rail and road connections.

The two sides, thus, held a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for the road and railway connection project last December, while the actual construction is yet to be launched amid ongoing denuclearization talks and existing multilayered sanctions on the DPRK.

The ROK has reportedly completed its consultations with the United Nations Security Council on sanctions exemption for equipment that need to be taken to the DPRK for such joint surveys, Yonhap added.