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Groundbreaking for inter-Korean roads and railways within 2019
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Two Koreas deliberate methods for progress on relieving UN sanctions
South and North Korea discussed the kinds of people-to-people exchange that could be part of road cooperation, including North Korean officials taking a tour of South Korean roads, South Korea’s Unification Ministry said on Jan. 31. During a working-level meeting about road cooperation held at their Joint Liaison Office in Kaesong on Thursday, South and North Korea exchanged technical documents, including road standards used by the two sides, the Unification Ministry said. Representatives from the two sides also discussed a range of issues related to road cooperation, including the question of on-site road inspections along the East Sea, North Korean officials inspecting South Korean road facilities and road cooperation through people-to-people exchange. “We agreed to carry out more a detailed discussion soon either through a face-to-face meeting or correspondence,” said an official from the Unification Ministry. Three officials from both sides attended the working-level meeting, including Baek Seung-geun, director of the road bureau at South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, and Kim Gi-chol, deputy director of North Korea’s Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection. One notable aspect of the working-level meeting was the announcement of deliberations about North Korean officials inspecting South Korean road facilities and about people-to-people exchange. If North Korean officials end up touring South Korean road facilities, it would be the first time that has happened. Even though a groundbreaking ceremony has already been held for the project to modernize North Korea’s roads and railways, the UN and US’ punitive sanctions on North Korea prevent the actual construction project from moving forward. As such, the current deliberations seem aimed at making progress by doing everything that can be done in advance. On Jan. 30, the South Korean government received a sanctions waiver from the UN Security Council Sanctions Committee on North Korea for a list of items necessary for the joint road inspection, including vehicles and fuel, an official from the Unification Ministry announced. The delayed joint inspection of North Korean roads along the East Sea is expected to take place before long. Following South and North Korea’s agreement in the Apr. 27 Panmunjom Declaration to modernize North Korea’s roads and railroads on the Gyeongui (Seoul-Sinuiju) Line and on the East Sea Line, the two sides carried out an inspection of North Korean roads on the route toward Sinuiju in Aug. 2018. But the two sides still haven’t scheduled a joint inspection of North Korean roads along the East Sea. Leading up to the groundbreaking for the road and railroad modernization project on Dec. 26, 2018, a visual inspection was carried out on the North Korean side of the East Sea Line for three days (Dec. 21-23) without the use of any special equipment. By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]
