South Korean train starts joint survey of North Korean railways

A train carrying a team of South Korean officials that will inspect railway sections in the North with their North Korean counterparts passes a section of the Gyeongui Line at the demilitarized zone in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, Friday. / Joint Press Corps

By Kim Bo-eun, Joint Press Corps

A South Korean train with a sign reading "Seoul to Sinuiju" crossed into the North, Friday, for a long-stalled joint inspection of railway sections there. The inspections are preparations for a project to connect the railways of the Koreas, as agreed between leaders of the South and North at their summits this year.

Over the 18-day inspection of the lines on the west and east coast (called the Gyeongui and Donghae lines, respectively, in South Korea), the train will travel a total of 2,600 kilometers.

It is the first time in a decade a South Korean train has traveled on rail tracks in the North. A freight train that ran from Dorasan Station in the South to Panmun Station in the North was stopped on Nov. 28, 2008, after inter-Korean relations became strained.

This will be the first time a South Korean train will run on tracks from Mount Geumgang to the Tumen River since the Koreas became divided in 1945.

A locomotive and six carriages from the South departed Dorasan Station, where an event was held to see off the officials departing for the inspection. At Panmun Station, a North Korean locomotive took over to pull the South Korean carriages.

Twenty-eight South Korean officials including people from the unification, and land, infrastructure and transport ministries will inspect the 400-kilometer section from Gaeseong to Sinuiju through Dec. 5. Officials will inspect the 800 kilometers from Mount Geumgang to the Tumen River from Dec. 8 through 17.

Visual examinations and inspections using equipment will be conducted, according to Lim Jong-il, the director of the land ministry's railway construction division, who leads the team. Lim was also part of an inter-Korean inspection team in 2007.

During the inspection officials will work, eat and sleep on the train.

The train carries 55,000 liters of diesel, as the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) exempted sanctions on North Korea that ban the entry of fuel into the country.

Unification ministry deputy spokesman Eugene Lee said the fuel will be used to run and power the train, as it will serve as living quarters for officials during the inspection. She said any remaining fuel will be brought back to the South.

Meanwhile, Minister of Unification Cho Myoung-gyon said the government will aim for a groundbreaking ceremony to connect the railways of the Koreas to take place within this year, as earlier agreed at the third inter-Korean summit in September.

"The government will make preparations so that the ceremony will take place within the year, as leaders of the South and North agreed," he said at the event at Dorasan Station.

There had been concerns that the ceremony could be pushed back, as the plan for North Korean railway inspections had been stalled for months. However, with the 18-day inspection kicking off, it appears holding the ceremony before the end of the year could be possible.

A day earlier, a unification ministry official said South Korea will check with the U.S. on whether holding the groundbreaking ceremony involves any violations of sanctions on the North.

At Dorasan, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mee said "Today's ceremony will be a flare that signals the beginning of co-prosperity of the South and North, and will become a catalyst that expands the economic boundaries of the Korean Peninsula, which was isolated like an island, to Eurasia."

The ceremony was attended by lawmakers representing the ruling and opposition parties.

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