First regular train service connects N. S. Koreas

[Texpat]

The first regular train service between the two Koreas for over 50 years crossed the heavily fortified border on Tuesday, in the latest reconciliation project between the historic enemies.

A flower-decked locomotive pulling 10 container trucks crossed the frontier from South to North Korea at 8.30am (2330 GMT Monday), unification ministry spokeswoman Yang Jeong-Hwa said.

It was carrying mainly kerbstones for road-building, but the hope is that one day the railway will also see regular passengers.

The daily freight service is the first tangible achievement of an inter-Korean summit in October, which agreed on a variety of sweeping projects to promote peace and economic engagement.

The last regular rail operation was in 1951, during the 1950-53 Korean War.

"We are relinking the last vein that has been severed for 56 years," said Lee Chul, president of state operator Korail.

"It looks like a humble start but this is the first step to Europe through the trans-Siberian railway," he told reporters at Dorasan station, last stop on the South Korean side before the frontier.

Trains made one-off test runs across the border in May in what the South hailed as a highly symbolic event. But delays in obtaining safety guarantees from the North's military delayed the launch of a regular service.

Trains are restricted to a maximum speed of 60 kilometres (37 miles) per hour when traversing the closely guarded frontier.


The service will run once daily in each direction on weekdays. It will carry raw materials and manufactured goods between South Korea and the North Korean border city of Kaesong, site of a Seoul-funded industrial estate.

"This is a dream come true," said driver Shin Jang-Chul, who also drove one of the trains on the May 17 test runs.

"I'm happy to drive this train to the North where both my parents were born. I hope not only cargos but tourists as well will use this train to go back and forth."

South Korea's long-term plans include connecting the line to the Trans-China and Trans-Siberian railways. During the summit it offered help to restore the North's dilapidated railway system up to the border with China.

Apart from its symbolic value in linking two nations still technically at war, Seoul hopes the train will eventually slash transport costs to the Kaesong industrial complex.

Some 20,000 North Koreans earning about 60 dollars a month produce clothes, utensils, watches and other goods for South Korean firms. Seoul sees the complex as a model for projects to narrow the huge wealth gap in preparation for eventual reunification.

At present hundreds of trucks cross the border daily to move raw materials north to Kaesong and transport finished products back to the South.

The train will not at present go on to Bongdong, a station designed to serve the Kaesong complex, because loading and unloading facilities are still being built there.

Instead it will load and offload at the North Korean station of Panmun.
South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung was travelling to Panmun for a joint ceremony also involving his northern counterpart Kwon Ho-Ung. Some 170 others from the two sides were to take part.

First regular train service crosses inter-Korean border

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Great news. Hope the S. Koreans make close friends with their neighbors to the north.

[Silent Orchestra]

They should have put an atomic bomb on it.

North Korea is backwards. The people are likely very nice, but those in charge have run it into the ground. Their 'great leader' tells his people that he himself wrote The Sound of Music & that he got 15 holes in one on his first ever round of golf

If you want to see a startling dfifference between North & South Korea, look at a Google Earth shot of the two of them at night. The South is lit up like a Xmas tree & the North is as black as the night (although it is night - that's no defence, light bulbs come cheap nowadays).

Just another place that needs wiping off the mp.

[Texpat]

I agree the North is backward. I've seen a few documentaries on TV and it's startling.

I've also seen that Google Earth shot. Pretty amazing.

But I wish S Korea would make up it's mind about the North. Seems one month they love them, next month they hate them. It usually circles around some hair-brained statement the Great Leader makes.

Reunification would take a heavy burden off a lot of regional players.

[barbaro]

But I wish S Korea would make up it's mind about the North. Seems one month they love them, next month they hate them. It usually circles around some hair-brained statement the Great Leader makes.

There are South Korean national elections on Dec. 19th.

Kim Dae Jung (President before current Prez Roh) was secretly giving money to the North Koreans in attempt to make relations better - but the North Koreans didn't warm up to them. They only caused problems.

Roh stepped back a bit from Kim Dae Jung's "sunshine policy," but in the end, these two nations are slowly inching toward at least some trade, and some relations, etc.

Reunification? Hard to say. Someday, yes.

My lifetime? Who knows.

The South Korean Won (currency) may take a blow because of all of the costs of a future reunification.

Going slow, is the way many in the South want things to go.

[Texpat]

^Agreed.

They're not committed 100% rather testing the water.

But they seem schizo at times, simultaneously planning for war and promoting their sunshine policy. And this has been going on for decades.