Sanctions Exemption

[Anchor Lead]

The U.N. Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption for an inter-Korean project to excavate the remains of those killed in the Korean War. The project is expected to begin in April. Whether the sanctions relief can lead to more cross-border projects remains to be seen.

[Pkg]

The Arrowhead Ridge located in Cheorwon, Gangwon-do Province was a notorious battle site during the Korean War. Fierce battles continued in the area right up until the armistice and over 300 sets of remains are believed to be buried here. The UN Security Council has recently granted a sanctions exemption for the two Koreas to jointly excavate Korean War remains at this location. Following the greenlight from the UN, the excavation project is likely to begin in April as the two Koreas had agreed to last September.

[Soundbite] Choi Hyun-soo(Defense Ministry Spokeswoman) : "The existing plan to set up a joint excavation team by February and to carry out the project from April to October remains unchanged."

A similar project has already taken place between North Korea and the U.S. Once the inter-Korean excavation also kicks off, it's expected to help further build trust between the two Koreas and the United States. The Seoul government also expects the sanctions exemption will play a positive role in other inter-Korean exchanges as well such as a joint road survey, provision of the Tamiflu flu medicine to North Korea, and video correspondence for separated families across the border.

[Soundbite] Baik Tae-hyun(Unification Ministry Spokesman) : "Projects that obtained consensus from the U.S. during bilateral working group talks are in the process of gaining sanctions exemption and the results are coming forward."

However the issues of reopening the Gaeseong Industrial Complex and tourism at North Korea's Geumgangsan Mountain are connected to nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington and therefore will depend on the progress in the second North Korea-U.S. summit.