Joint Railway Surveys

[Anchor Lead]

South and North Korea have agreed to launch joint railway surveys this Friday. The survey will cover some 2,600 kilometers of rail in the North - stretching all the way to Tumen River - over 18 days.

[Pkg]

A joint inter-Korean survey of North Korean railways is on... kicking off this Friday. It's set to run for 18 days. After some delay, the North responded to the South's proposal this week to conduct the surveys after the U.N. Security Council granted an exemption from sanctions related to the surveys over the weekend. A South Korean locomotive will depart from Dorasan Station at 8:30 a.m. carrying 28 South Korean officials in six cars. When it arrives at Panmun Station in the North, a North Korean locomotive will take over the cars to begin the railway surveys in earnest. After a six-day survey of a 400km section of the Gyeongui Line between Kaesong and Sinuiju, the officials will travel eastward to conduct a ten-day survey of an 800km section of the Donghae Line. The surveys will inspect a total of 1,200km of rail. Overall, the train will travel a total of 2,600km. The project carries special meaning in that it will inspect North Korea's railway system and set the stage for its modernization.

[Soundbite] Baek Tae-hyun(Spokesperson, Ministry of Unification) : "If the surveys are conducted efficiently, the North will be able to grasp the current condition of its railways and we will use the data for further modernization."

Although the project will begin four months later than initially planned, it's on track to be completed by mid-December... making possible a ribbon-cutting ceremony by year's end. However, even if the railway connection project is launched this year, its success will largely depend on the progress of the North's denuclearization talks as it will require the lifting of sanctions against North Korea.