|
Korean trains cross border
17/05/2007 07:25 - (SA)
|
|
|
 |
|
| A North Korean train carrying North Koreans and South Koreans runs to the South during the first rail journey through the border dividing the two Koreas in more than half a century. (Jo Yong-Hak, AP) |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Munsan Station, South Korea - Trains from North and South Korea crossed the heavily fortified border for the first time since the 1950-53 war on Thursday, in what both sides described as a milestone for reconciliation.
One train from the capitalist South crossed the Military Demarcation Line at 12:17 (03:17 GMT) in the west of the peninsula. A second train from the communist North traversed the border along the east coast minutes later.
"A new chapter for peace is opening in Korean history," the South's Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung said just before the historic trips.
"This will be a turning point for overcoming the legacy of the Cold War era, tearing down the wall of division and opening a new era for peace and reunification."
His Northern counterpart Kwon Ho-Ung, in an apparent reference to the United States, said the peninsula's division had been "forced upon us by foreign forces".
He said both sides would strive "to ensure that the train for reunification driven by the North and South rushes forward along the track for peace and solidarity".
The Iron Horse gallops again!
Relatives of people kidnapped by the North staged a small protest at Munsan Station north of Seoul, accusing the government of ignoring their plight.
But officials at the station would let nothing ruin the celebration as they saw the train off. Firecrackers exploded and crowds waves white and blue Korean "reunification" flags.
"The Iron Horse gallops again!" read one message.
The five-car train left Munsan for Kaesong in the North along a 27km stretch of track. The second train left Mount Kumgang Station in the North for the South's Jejin Station on a 25km track.
Each train carried 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans.
The northbound train slowed to a crawl as it neared a high fence topped with barbed wire at the edge of the four-kilometre-wide Demilitarised Zone which bisects the peninsula.
A gate was swung shut again after it passed and crossed the border in the middle of the zone.
Test runs
The trips are only one-off test runs since the North refuses to give a longer-lasting security guarantee.
The South wants a regular service to serve an inter-Korean industrial estate at Kaesong and a tourist resort at Mount Kumgang. Cross-border roads alongside the railways opened in 2005.
The project was agreed at a 2000 summit, the first and only one between two nations still technically at war. Workers have spent years re-laying the track, with the South footing the bill for work in the North, and clearing minefields.
A planned test run last year was cancelled by the North at the last minute.
Relations soured further after the North's missile launches last July and nuclear test in October. But ties improved after the North agreed in principle at six-nation negotiations in February to scrap its atomic programmes.
- AFP
|
