hankyoreh

A North Korean train on Thursday returned to its point of departure on a reconnected track along the east coast, crossing across the heavily armed border after its brief stay here.

At the same time, a South Korean train returned to the South in the west of the Korean Peninsula.

Earlier in the day, the two trains, one carrying 100 South Koreans and the other 50 North Koreans, crossed the Military Demarcation Line (MDL) dividing the two countries for the first time in more than half a century. Crowds cheered when the trains showed up at the stations.

"It took more than half a century to cross this short, approximately 20-kilometer distance. We have to prevent anyone from blocking the railways. They were so hard to reconnect," Kim Yong-sam, North Korea's railway minister, said in a luncheon speech after arriving here.

In response, South Korean Construction Minister Lee Yong-sup hailed the test run of the cross-border railways, suggesting South and North Korea cooperate in promoting the mutual interest and prosperity of the Korean people.

At 11:30 a.m., Lee, who led the 100-member delegation to North Korea Thursday morning, boarded the North Korean train in Kumgangsan Station near the scenic Mount Geumgang resort for a test run on a 25.6-kilometer track in the eastern section of the peninsula.

At the same time, Kwon Ho-ung, chief councilor of the North Korean Cabinet, who had led the 50-member delegation to the South, boarded the South Korean train at Munsan Station in the western side of the peninsula on a restored 27.3-kilometer track, along with his South Korean counterpart, Lee Jae-joung.

Before the trains departed, South and North Korea held ceremonies to mark the historic event at Kumgangsan and Munsan stations, respectively.

"I hope it will contribute to forming a joint economic community and making balanced development on the Korean Peninsula.

A new curtain of peace has been raised on the peninsula," Lee said in a commemorative speech.

In his speech, Kwon said that North Korea will make every effort to make sure that the "train of unification" runs along a "track" of inter-Korean collaboration, with its emphasis on peace and understanding.

"Right at this moment, however, the challenge from divisive forces inside and outside is continuing. We should not waiver or be derailed from the track of national sovereignty and inter-Korean collaboration," Kwon said.

Firecrackers exploded and spectators waved white-and-blue Korean "unification" flags as the train pulled out to make the historic crossing of the world's most heavily fortified border.

But a small group of South Koreans whose relatives have allegedly been abducted by North Korea staged a protest outside the Munsan station, demanding Seoul do more to bring their loved ones home.

Government figures show that 485 South Koreans have been abducted to North Korea since the end of the Korean War, and that 548 South Korean soldiers were taken prisoner by the North during the three-year conflict. Pyongyang denies holding any South Korean against his or her will, claiming the ones there defected voluntarily.

Civic organizations representing the families of abduction victims claim that as many as 80,000 people were kidnapped during the war.

The one-time test run came only after North Korea reluctantly agreed to provide military security arrangements last week. The tracks have been set to undergo tests since they were restored in 2003, while a set of parallel roads has been in use since 2005 for South Koreans traveling to the North. In May 2006, North Korea abruptly called off the scheduled test runs, apparently under pressure from its hard-line military. The cancellation led to the mothballing of an economic accord in which North Korea would receive US$80 million worth of light industry raw materials from the South in return for its natural resources.

North Korea's subsequent missile and nuclear weapons tests further clouded hopes of implementing the agreement.

The reconnection of roads and train lines severed during the 1950-53 Korean War was one of the tangible inter-Korean rapprochement projects agreed upon following the historic summit between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in 2000.

South Korea hopes to use the restored railways to help North Korean workers commute to a joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong as well as to transport South Korean tourists to the North's scenic Mount Geumgang.

The Gyeongui (Seoul-Sinuiju) line cutting across the western section of the border was severed on June 12 in 1951, while the Donghae (East Coast) line crossing the eastern side was cut shortly after the outbreak of the Korean War. South and North Korea used radio communication between Dorasan Station in the South and Panmun Station in the North for the western rail line, and between the South's Jejin Station and the North's Kamho Station for the eastern one. The stations are closest ones to the border on both sides.

In March, the two Koreas agreed to put humanitarian and economic inter-Korean projects back on track just days after North Korea promised to take the first steps toward its nuclear dismantlement in return for energy aid and other concessions from the other five members of the six-party talks.

South and North Korea are still technically at war, as the Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty.
JEJIN STATION, South Korea, May 17 (Yonhap)