hankyoreh

Park Sang-don (in the gray jacket on the left)

South and North Korea are “in agreement about the need for another survey that is more detailed and precise” on the North Korean sections of the Gyeongui (Seoul–Sinuiju) and East Sea railroad lines, said Im Jong-il, a co-leader of the South Korean team of an inter-Korean survey of the East Sea line, on Dec. 17. Im is the head of the Railroad Construction Division at South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.

After completing a 10-day survey of the North Korean section of the East Sea line, the first such survey since the division of the Korean Peninsula, Im returned to South Korea by passing through Customs, Immigration, and Quarantine (CIQ) at Goseong, Gangwon Province, on Dec. 17.

“The condition of the railroad tracks [on the East Sea Line] is about the same as [the North Korean section of] the Gyeongui Line,” Im said.

“There has been a lot of wear and tear on the Mt. Kumgang railroad tracks, which were laid in 1997. We averaged a speed of 30kph on the way to the Tumen River but seemed to speed up a little when we reached the stretch between Rajin and Chongjin,” Im said.

Following the survey of the North Korean section of the Gyeongui Line, which lasted from Nov. 30 to Dec. 5, Im said that “things haven’t gotten any better, but they don’t seem to have gotten much worse, either,” comparing his observations to what he saw during a test run between Kaesong and Sinuiju in Dec. 2007.

“During our trip, the survey team went as far as the Korea Russia Friendship Bridge over the Tumen River at the end of the East Sea Line, near the North Korea-Russia border. There probably aren’t any other people [from South Korea] who have been there. It was a really powerful and emotional moment for us all,” Im said.

The other co-leader of the survey team was Park Sang-don, head of the Second Dialogue Division at the Inter-Korean Dialogue Office at South Korea’s Ministry of Unification. “I think many people dream of this railroad becoming a path connecting the Korean Peninsula with the greater Asian continent,” Park said.

On Dec. 18, the Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) employees will be heading to Panmun Station in Kaesong to take back the six South Korean railroad cars used in the joint survey and return them to South Korea.

“After the joint survey, we’ll be working on drafting a master plan and organizing additional surveys. On Dec. 26, a groundbreaking for the modernization and connection of roads and railways on the Gyeongui and East Sea lines is scheduled to be held as an inter-Korean joint event,” said Unification Ministry Spokesperson Baik Tae-hyun. The South Korean government is planning to send an advance team to North Korea for the groundbreaking within this week.

By Lee Je-hun, senior staff writer

Please direct comments or questions to [english@hani.co.kr]