hankyoreh

By Kim Chang-soo
Na Hye-seok was one of the first Korean women to embrace art and journalism from progressive perspective. She received her artistic inspiration on a trip to Europe. In 1927, Na Hye-seok was able to travel by train from the Korean Peninsula to Manchuria, then Moscow, and to her final destination of Paris. But the train that made Na’s trip to Paris possible stopped operation after the breakout of the Korean War in 1950.
The division of the Korean Peninsula made continental Asia inaccessible by land for South Koreans. This has been a barrier to the imaginations of post-war generations. If we assume that we are able, even today, to travel freely from the Korean Peninsula to Siberia and to Europe, the artistic and philosophical inspirations would have changed the quality of our lives, just as it changed Na Hye-seok’s.
In the Inter-Korean Basic Agreement (1992), the Noh Tae-woo Administration reached an agreement with North Korea to reconnect the railroads and other land routes. In 2007 there was a test run and at the Inter-Korean Summit Meeting in the October of that year, an agreement was reached to install a railroad from Gaesong to Sinuiju. But after Lee Myung-bak became president in 2008, the railroad reconnection program was abandoned. The iron-horse still hopes to run again.
The railroad connection to the continent is a complement to maritime transportation. 99.9% of all raw materials that are consumed in Korea are brought by maritime transportation. It can be said that securing a land supply route is very important for long term national well-being. We must prepare against blockade of one of our major sea-lanes such as the East China Sea, the Strait of Malacca, and the Arabian Sea. The best way to do this is diversifying our supply routes and it is natural for this goal to become part of national strategy.
President Lee’s ‘Ocean-going Navy’ strategy is having difficulty gathering the popular approval that it requires. The same criticism can be made of the naval base at Gangjeong Village in Jeju.
Reconnecting the railroads to the continent will stimulate and expand cooperation in Northeast Asia, an economically vibrant area. The total GDP of Northeast Asia accounts for 17% of global GDP, and is one of the three major trade regions along with North America and Europe. It is expected that Northeast Asia’s portion of world trade will rise to 30% by year 2020.
Currently, China is running short of ports, and is unable to process cargo in time. If the railway networks of China and Korea are connected, China could utilize South Korean ports. In addition, it would increase cooperation between Korea and northeastern region of China.
Reconnecting the railroads would allow cheap utilization of resources in Siberia and Central Asia. The area covered by the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) holds 5.6% of the world‘s total oil reserves, 40.1% of natural gas, and 23.4% of coal.
If freight from Japan, North Korea, China, Russia, Mongolia, and Europe is transported on the Trans-Korea Railway (TKR), the Korean Peninsula could become the center of logistics for Northeast Asia.
3 countries Consortium of South and North Korea, and Russia Consortium was formed to make Busan and Najin logistics bases, starting by modernizing the railways connecting Najin of North Korea and Khasan of Russia. But after the start of the Lee Administration, the railway project was abandoned and the international consortium has not been able to perform as well. As a result, the participating companies of Korea are experiencing enormous financial losses for not fulfilling the terms of agreements. This is the same situation being experienced by those companies who took part in Mt. Geumgang Tourism project and small businesses of Gaesong in South Korean area near DMZ.
Reconnecting the railways will bring diverse benefits. A cultural community will be formed if roads are created and people come into contact. Creation of economic profits and broadening of exchange would form an iron silk road, and will contribute to formation of Northeast Asia Community. Numerous historical cases support this possibility.
European railroad networks served as a transportation network and became a stimulus for combining the economy, society, and culture of European countries. This quickened the establishment of the European Union (EU). In addition, the railroads of 19th century Germany contributed to the unification of feudal Germany. And, railroads of the 19th century United States quickened the bringing of unity in the United States, after the Civil War.
The development of North Korea’s extractive industries is very attractive to South Korea but without established railway system, it’s only a dream. The railway system would supply the South with natural resources safely and quickly from the North. The railway would also stimulate tourism, and increase social and cultural interaction between the two Koreas.
After the June 15 Inter-Korean Summit Meeting, on Sep. 18 of 2000, the opening ceremony of the Gyeongui Line was held. And during the seven years before the test run on May 17 2007, there were numerous obstacles. There was strong opposition from North Korean People’s Army (NKPA) to reconnecting the Inter-Korea railway. Currently, the NKPA has deployed four Corps along the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), and they transport their military supplies using the railways. If railways were reconnected, the supply routes of the NKPA would be used to transport goods from both North and the South.
But if trains are to cross the DMZ and what were formerly military supply routes for the NKPA are to be used for transportation of natural resources and other materials, it would result in easing of tension between the North and the South, as well as establishment of trust.
Kim Il-sung, former leader of North Korea, was fully aware of the economic benefits of railways. There was a case when Kim Il-sung mentioned that by creating a double lane track between Sinuiju and Gaesong, and engaging in transit trade between China and South Korea, it would bring annual profit of 400 million dollars.
Also, Kim Il-sung predicted that by transporting goods from northeastern China to the East Sea would bring one billion dollars of profit annually. Despite these facts, North Korea has not engaged in speeding up the railway reconnection due to security dilemmas.
In the October 4 Summit Declaration in 2007, the two Koreas agreed to repair the railroad between Sinuiju and Gaesong. And there was also discussion of sending Inter-Korean Cheerleading Group to the Beijing Olympics using the Gyeongui Line. It was change of posture by North Korea to move away from security anxiety and to pursue economic benefits, as well as to embrace social and cultural exchange with the South. But not a single step has been taken since. Plans to reconnect the railway have stopped along with exchange between the two Koreas.
Hyun Jung-hwa and Lee Bun-hee, table tennis stars from the South and the North, respectively, formed a single South-North Team and became world champions. Recently, a film was made with Hyun and Lee as the main characters, called ‘Korea’ and is waiting premiere. But the athletes themselves cannot see each other due restrictions put in place by their governments. It is hard not to say that it has been 5 years of running backwards.
　
Kim Chang-soo is Policy Coordinator at the Korea Peace Forum. This column was translated by Hankyoreh English intern Kim Joon-ki
　　　
The views presented in this column are the writer’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Hankyoreh.

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