North and South Korea discuss linking railways

North and South Korea held talks on Tuesday on connecting the railways that run across their border, a physical link that would transform the relationship between the two sides of the divided peninsula.

The discussions, the first on the issue for a decade, took place in the truce village of Panmunjom in the demilitarised zone that divides the countries.

The two sides agreed to conduct a joint-study “at an early date” on modernising the railways that run through their border, Yonhap News Agency reported the South’s unification ministry as saying.

A rail line already exists from Seoul to Pyongyang and on to Sinuiju on the Chinese border.

Linking the two systems and modernising the North’s ageing rail infrastructure would give trade-dependent South Korea a land route to the markets of China, Russia and Europe.

But doing so would represent a fundamental change on the peninsula: there has been no direct civilian communication between the two Koreas since their division was sealed by the 1953 armistice that ended the Korean War — not even post.

Despite the diplomatic warming on the peninsula, with summits between the North’s leader, Kim Jong-un, and the South’s President Moon Jae-in and Donald Trump of the US, Pyongyang remains under heavy sanctions over its nuclear and missile programmes.

Any practical steps would only become possible after such measures were eased, South Korea’s chief delegate Kim Jeong-ryeol said.

“But we can thoroughly research and study various projects we can pursue after the sanctions are lifted,” he said.

In an earlier period of rapprochement, the South built a station at Dorasan, just south of the demilitarised zone, with platforms marked for nonexistent services to Pyongyang.

On the eastern side of the peninsula, railways could connect South Korea’s port city of Busan to Europe via the North and Russia.

Kim and Moon agreed to “adopt practical steps towards the connection” of the railways at their first summit, in April.

Moon has also shared his vision of linking the interKorean lines to trans-Siberian railways, offering a route to Europe, saying it would bring “huge economic benefits” to Seoul and Pyongyang, as well as Russia.