 Inter-Korean cargo train service: An engineer on a train shakes hands with Unification Minister Lee Jaejoung while others applaud at Dorasan Station, Monday, a day before the start of inter-Korean cargo train services between Munsan in Gyeonggi Province and the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in the North. / Korea Times Photo by Cho Young-ho |
By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter
Freight trains will run every day across the heavily fortified border between South and North Korea from Tuesday, using the reconnected western rail link, for the first time in more than 50 years.
The freight service, agreed upon at the inter-Korean prime ministers' talks last month following the summit between the leaders of South and North Korea in October, will connect South Korea with the joint industrial complex in Gaeseong, in the North.
Earlier this month, the militaries of both Koreas signed a written security guarantee for the cross-border service at working-level talks in the truce village of Panmunjeom, clearing a major hurdle for the agreement.
The new service is expected to slash the cost of transporting products to and from the business complex, just north of the border, considered a major achievement of Seoul's ``sunshine'' policy of engaging the North over the past decade.
Previously, trucks moved raw materials and finished goods back and forth across the border.
More than 23 South Korean firms are operating in the economic zone, dubbed a testing ground for mixing South Korean capitalism and technology with North Korea's cheap labor.
Trains will run daily on weekdays from the Dorasan Station in Munsan to Panmun Station, carrying up to 10,000 tons of cargo on each run. The train service begins at 9 a.m. and returns from the North Korean station at 2 p.m.
The original agreement was to connect a 25 kilometer section of track from Munsan to Bondgong in the North, next to the industrial complex, but the plan was modified because of the lack of loading facilities at Bongdong Station, according to Unification Ministry officials.
A ceremony marking the historic cross-border train operation is to be held at the Panmun Station with the attendance of some 180 South and North Korean officials, they said. Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung and his North Korean counterpart Kwon Ho-eung will attend the ceremony.
The first train today will depart Munsan Station at 7 a.m. and arrive at Panmun Station around 8:40 a.m. after crossing the Military Demarcation Line, they said.
The 12-car train will depart carrying boundary stones and other construction materials and return with goods including shoes, clothes and watches from the industrial complex, the officials said.
In May, two trains crossed the border in a one-off test run. South Korea has been pushing for a regular rail link between the two countries and wants to widen links with North Korea and China. North Korea, however, has been reluctant to accept the idea.
The two Koreas are technically still at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr
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