Koreas to begin inspections for eastern tracks Saturday

Inspections of South and North Korean officials of the North’s eastern railway line will begin Saturday, after the Koreas completed checking the main western line on Wednesday.

From Saturday to Dec. 17, officials will check 800 kilometers of tracks from Mount Geumgang to the Tumen.

It will be the first time a South Korean train will run on this section of tracks since the Koreas were divided in 1945.

About two-thirds of the officials on the team will be exchanged for the eastern inspection, considering their condition, a unification ministry official said, Thursday. Officials who completed the examination of the western tracks returned to Seoul on Wednesday, and a new team will depart Seoul on Saturday.

“The officials will be exchanged, under the condition that the consistency of the project remains unchanged,” the official said.

The new team will first take a bus to the North and examine the tracks from Mount Geumgang Station to Anbyon Station by bus. From Anbyon, they will take the train.

The North reportedly requested South Korean officials examine that particular section by bus.

The South Korean trains that went to the North for the first inspection did not return, and headed straight from Pyongyang for Anbyon.