ROK, DPRK to hold ceremony for rail, road reconnection

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The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed Thursday to hold a groundbreaking ceremony later this month to inaugurate work on reconnecting railways and roads between the two Koreas that have been cut since the Korean War.

The ROK unification ministry, cited by ROK state media Yonhap News, announced that the ceremony will be held at the Panmun Station near the DPRK's border town of Kaesong on December 26. Earlier in the day, the two sides held a working-level talk which took place at their liaison office in Kaesong.

Kim Chang-su, a deputy chief of the liaison office of the ROK and Hwang Chung-song, a senior DPRK official on the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Country, participated in the talk.

The agreement on transport links came during talks in the border village of Panmunjom following the third summit this year between ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK leader Kim Jong Un.

An ROK train prepares to travel across the border into the DPRK at Dorasan station in Paju, ROK, November 30, 2018. /VCG Photo

As part of the project, the two sides have been conducting a joint railway inspection since last month to check the condition of the DPRK's railways. It was reported that the two sides originally planned to finish the inspections before the ceremony, but later on decided that the event could take place before their completion.

For fear that the event may be in violation of sanctions imposed by the U.S., the ROK unification ministry said that they have been closely coordinating with the U.S. over the ceremony. "[We are] preparing to make sure that we cause no concerns to the international community," the unification ministry was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.

(Top image: An ROK soldier stands next to the rails that lead to the DPRK, inside the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas in Paju, ROK, November 30, 2018. /VCG Photo)