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| A group of South Korean politicians wave to people on a train at Dorasan Station in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, before it leaves for the North's northwestern city of Sinuiju for inter-Korean railway inspections Nov. 30. / Yonhap |
Kim Jong-un may attend groundbreaking ceremony for inter-Korean railway
By Lee Min-hyung
The two Koreas held working-level talks Thursday for a joint event to celebrate the projected start of work to reconnect inter-Korean railways and roads.
They agreed to hold a ceremony Dec. 26 at Panmun Station near the North's border city of Gaeseong.
"Both sides reached a consensus to invite 100 people on each side for the event, and other details will be discussed with each other," the Ministry of Unification said in a statement.
Officials from the unification ministry said it was seeking the consent of Washington to hold the joint ceremony because the event could violate U.S. sanctions on North Korea. They added that the ceremony would be a symbolic message to the international community.
A four-member South Korean delegation led by Kim Chang-su, deputy head of the joint liaison office in Gaeseong, met with its North Korean counterpart headed by Hwang Chung-song, director for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland, at the office in the North's border city of Gaeseong.
In particular, hopes are growing that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un may attend the event to celebrate symbolic inter-Korean reconciliation. If Kim attends, President Moon Jae-in may also participate.
"The two Koreas have a bond of sympathy over holding the groundbreaking ceremony for reconnecting roads and railways this year as well as their modernization," ministry spokesman Baik Tae-hyun said. "We delivered our basic plans to the North, and both delegations will fine-tune their differences on the project during the meeting."
The South will finish inspecting 800 kilometers of the North's eastern rail network from Mount Geumgang to the Tumen River by Dec. 17.
President Moon and Kim reached an agreement on the inter-Korean rail project during their first summit, April 27. The agreement came against the backdrop of the ongoing inter-Korean reconciliation.
The two Koreas believe reconnecting the railway and roads will serve as a milestone in their ongoing peace momentum.
To speed up the joint project, Moon and Kim reached a consensus on holding a groundbreaking ceremony for the project no later than the end of the year during their latest summit in Pyongyang.
The groundbreaking ceremony will likely help the two Koreas accelerate their joint drive for unification at a time when Washington and Pyongyang have hit a deadlock in their denuclearization talks. If both sides continue failing to make progress in their dialogue, this will have a negative impact on inter-Korean relations.
Kim was supposed to visit Seoul this year, but the ongoing U.S.-North Korea impasse has put the brakes on that plan.
This is because he will have nothing to gain from a trip here right now, as he is likely to be under intense pressure to give more details regarding the North's denuclearization.
Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said in a lecture Tuesday that the groundbreaking ceremony would be a symbolic move to show the North it will have a bright future ahead once it carries out denuclearization.
Hurdles remain over sanctions
Despite the joint pledge, the railway project has in recent months hit a snag after the United Nations Command refused to give permission to the South in August to send a train across the military demarcation line for an inspection of the North's train tracks amid concerns over a possible breach of sanctions.
But last month, the U.N. Security Council offered sanctions exemption for the project after continued requests from the government.
The two Koreas have since made rapid progress in the project by pushing ahead with the joint railway inspection, laying the groundwork for them to hold the groundbreaking ceremony this year.
Seoul hopes the joint railway project will help keep the regime at the dialogue table to boost its pledge for denuclearization.
