By Kim Rahn and Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporters
President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il also came up with a package of agreements for the promotion of social and cultural cooperation at their just concluded inter-Korean summit.
One of the key agreements is the reconnection of the railroads in the South and North, which will allow South Koreans to travel to China by train to watch for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
It will be the first time for South Korean citizens to go abroad by land since the Korean Peninsula was divided into two after the Korean War in 1950-1953.
According to the agreement, cheering squads from South Korea will be allowed to use North Korea's railway to go to Beijing next year. North Korean squads may take the trains as well at Gaeseong Station.
The railroad between Seoul and Sineuiju, a town near the North Korea-China border was cut during the war but was reconnected in as far as Gaeseong in 2003 following an agreement made at the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. A pilot cross-border operation was conducted last May, but no commercial operations have been made yet.
Seoul and Pyongyang also agreed to operate direct flights between Seoul and Mt. Baekdu on the North Korea-China border to promote South Koreans' trips to the North.
The decision on the operation of direct flights was first reached in 2005 after the North decided to allow trips to Mt. Baekdu. The South provided asphalt pitch to the North for the repair of runways at the airport there but the project has been pending due to various reasons including the North's nuclear programs.
The two leaders also reached an agreement on humanitarian cooperation as well as exchanges and cooperation in the social and cultural sectors.
They vowed to facilitate the reunion of displaced families between the South and the North.
There has been some progress on this issue as the two Koreas have held 15 rounds of face-to-face reunions for some 15,000 displaced family members and six rounds of video conferences for 3,000 people.
But it has become an urgent issue as the first generation is getting older and every year, 4,000 to 5,000 displaced family members die.
To tackle the issue, the agreements include the project to hold more video conferences and seek more cooperation once a family reunion center is completed at Mt. Geumgang in the North.
Also, they agreed on mutual assistance in the event of natural disasters such as floods and drought.
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