Railway Ceremony

[Anchor Lead]

South and North Korea have agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for the railroad connection project on December 26 in line with the agreement reached at the latest inter-Korean summit. However, it will likely take some time before the project kicks off in earnest.

[Pkg]

Panmun Station in the city of Kaesong is the first North Korean train station on the Gyeongui Line. Located about seven kilometers from Dorasan Station of South Korea, it's just a stone's throw away from the Kaesong Industrial Complex. This is where South and North Korea have agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for their joint railroad project on December 26. Around one hundred people from each side will attend the ceremony. The two Koreas have agreed to continue the discussion of who will be invited. The South and the North agreed to hold a groundbreaking ceremony by the end of this year at the September inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang. However, there are still many hurdles to overcome before the project is launched in earnest. The biggest obstacle is of course the international sanctions against North Korea. That's the reason President Moon Jae-in called it a "launch ceremony" rather than a "groundbreaking" one.

[Soundbite] Moon Jae-in(President (Dec. 2)) : "I believe we will be able to hold a ‘launch ceremony’ to mark the beginning of the project."

Other stumbling blocks include difficulties in conducting an in-depth inspection of the northern side of the railroad due to time constraints, and the fact that the two Koreas have yet to begin discussions of the scope of modernization of North Korea's railroads.

[Soundbite] Ahn Byung-min(Korea Transport Inst.) : "At least there must be a basic plan before the project kicks off. Even after the inspection is over, there will be numerous hurdles ahead."

At a South Korea-U.S. working group meeting slated for next week, the South Korean government plans to discuss the meaning of the groundbreaking ceremony and the transportation of construction materials to the North.