Saturday, April 5, 2025

Koreas broke ground on railways but sanctions block project

Date:

Share post:

Seoul: North and South Korea broke ground on Wednesday on an ambitious project to modernise North Korean railways and roads and connect them with the South, but without progress in nuclear negotiations, trains won’t be crossing the border anytime soon.
The ceremony at the North Korean border town of Kaesong came weeks after the Koreas conducted a joint survey on the northern railway sections they hope to someday link with the South.
It’s one of several peace gestures agreed between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in as they push ahead with engagement amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.
But beyond on-site reviews and ceremonies, the Koreas cannot move much further along without the removal of US-led sanctions against the North.
A South Korean train carrying about 100 people — including government officials, lawmakers and aging relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War — rolled into the North Korean border town of Kaesong, where they were greeted by North Koreans including Ri Son Gwon, who heads an agency dealing with inter-Korean affairs.
North and South Korean officials signed a wooden railroad tie, unveiled a new signboard and observed a ceremonial connecting of northern and southern tracks at Kaesong’s Panmun Station, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Officials from China and Russia were also invited to witness the symbolic start of an ambitious project Seoul hopes will one day link South Korea with the Trans-China and Trans-Siberian railways.
Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, also attended, according to the South Korean ministry.
The Seoul government plans to conduct further surveys on North Korean railways and roads before drawing up a detailed blueprint for the project.
Actual construction will proceed depending on the progress in the North’s denuclearisation and the state of sanctions against the country, the ministry said.
Even if the North takes concrete steps toward denuclearisation and gains sanctions relief, some experts say updating North Korean rail network could take decades and massive investment. Seoul said it received an exemption to sanctions from the U.N. Security Council to proceed with Wednesday’s ceremony as it involved South Korean transport vehicles and goods.
The Koreas’ joint survey of North Korean railways in November, which also required UN approval, marked the first time a South Korean train traveled on North Korean tracks.
The Koreas in December 2007 began freight services between South Korea’s Munsan Station in Paju and the North’s Panmun Station to support operations at a now-shuttered joint factory park in Kaesong. The South used the trains to move construction materials north, while clothing and shoes made at the factory park were sent south. (AP)

Related articles

Centre seeking answers to queries on ILP: Paul

SHILLONG, April 4: Amid the long-pending demand to implement the Inner Line Permit in Meghalaya, the Centre has...

My suspension from VPP was ‘premeditated’, says Adelbert

SHILLONG, April 4: North Shillong MLA Adelbert Nongrum on Friday said his suspension from the Voice of the...

All-party committee to consult stakeholders on railway projects

Hynniewtrep land will burn if govt brings rlys, pressure groups warn SHILLONG, April 4: The all-party committee headed by...

HYC threatens to block NEIGRIHMS recruitment

SHILLONG, April 4: The Hynniewtrep Youth Council (HYC) on Friday announced that it will not allow NEIGRIHMS to...