Test Run Draws Divided Reactions
By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
When South and North Korean trains crossed the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) for the first time in more than 50 years on Thursday, most non-governmental organizations expressed hope that it would lead to renewed reconciliation and reunification of the two countries.
Members of groups who left their hometowns in the North and came to the South during the 1950-53 Korean War were overwhelmed by the historical event and wished they could visit their hometowns by train.
``It's a temporary move, but I'm touched,'' Kim Man-song, president of a North Korean displaced people's group, said. ``I hope people like us will soon be allowed to visit our hometowns by taking the train.''
Civic groups that have supported the North also said it was a meaningful action toward the two countries' reconciliation and stronger economic ties.
Lee Yong-sun, general manager of the Korean Sharing Movement, said that a bigger development plan should be discussed between the two countries not to make the test train operation merely a one-time performance.
But the test run has also stirred much controversy and many have criticized it, claiming it was a sheer political plot without any efforts to solve urgent problems such as South Korean abductees, war prisoners and North Korean defectors.
The Committee for Democratization of North Korea issued a statement, saying that the test run was of no use and became a ``political pre-show'' to give immense support to the Kim Jong-il dictatorship.
Before the launching ceremony at Munsan Station in the South, a group of 30 people, who are families of South Korean abductees in the North, held a surprise demonstration and issued a statement. The protest was stopped by riot police.
``The true reconciliation should have begun from the return of abductees and war prisoners to their home by the train,'' the statement said.
Choi Sung-yong, president of a group of abducted family members said, ``We don't oppose the test run itself. But at least, the two countries should be responsible for informing us about our missing family members.''
Another group of conservatives held a picket protest outside the main venue of the ceremony. It read, ``Without the abolition of nuclear weapons, it is meaningless to run a train.''