SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas have agreed to jointly study ways to improve North Korea’s outdated railways and link them with…
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — The rival Koreas have agreed to jointly study ways to improve North Korea’s outdated railways and link them with the South, as they continued to take conciliatory steps amid global efforts to resolve the standoff over the North’s nuclear weapons.
North Korea’s state media on Wednesday acknowledged inter-Korean discussions on „issues arising in reconnecting, updating and using the railways on the east and west coasts,“ but did not describe that South Korea would be sending officials and experts to examine the country’s aging rail system.
The agreement Tuesday to start joint inspections of North Korea’s railways on July 24 was apparently as far as the rivals could go at the moment. The vows to upgrade the North’s railways and roads will remain purely aspirational until international sanctions against North Korea are lifted and the South is freed to take material steps.
The talks at the border village of Panmunjom were the latest to discuss ways to carry out peace commitments made by North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in.
During their April 27 summit, when they issued a vague commitment to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula, Kim and Moon expressed a desire to modernize North Korea’s railways and roads and reconnect them with the South. The Koreas are to hold another meeting on Thursday to discuss roads.
South Korean officials say better transport would greatly improve North Korea’s economy by facilitating trade and tourism. It may also provide the South with cheaper ways to move goods in and out of China and Russia. However, some experts say updating North Korean trains, which creak slowly along rails that were first laid in the early 20th century, would require a massive effort that could take decades and tens of billions of dollars. It might be impossible to embark on such projects unless North Korea denuclearizes, which isn’t a sure thing.
