Groundbreaking ceremony for South Korea-North Korea railway and road connection project
A special train carrying about 100 South Koreans has arrived at Panmun Station in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, where the event will be held at 10am local time.
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A cargo train enters Panmun Station in the border town of Kaesong, North Korea. (Photo: AFP/VNA) |
A special train carrying about 100 South Koreans, including Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee, Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, parliamentary leaders, railway and road officials and experts, headed to Panmun Station in the North Korean border town of Kaesong, where the event will be held at 10 a.m. local time.
Previously, on December 24, the South Korean side issued a press release saying, "This groundbreaking ceremony demonstrates the willingness to cooperate in promoting the project to modernize and connect inter-Korean railways and roads."
Officials from the United Nations and neighboring countries, including Russia, China and Mongolia, also witnessed the event, which is the beginning of an ambitious plan to connect the inter-Korean railway with the Trans-Siberian Railway to form a transport route from South Korea to Europe.
In April, South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un agreed to connect railways and roads between the two Koreas during their summit at the truce village of Panmunjom. They then agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the project before the end of the year at their September meeting.
Before agreeing to conduct a joint survey of the eastern roads of North Korea, earlier this month, the two sides completed an 18-day survey of the eastern and western railways of North Korea./.
