China News Agency, Seoul, April 27, Title: "Panmendian Declaration" signed two years of "ambitions" for railway cooperation in South Korea Exhibition

　　China News Agency reporter Zeng Nai

　　The 27th is the second anniversary of the signing of the "Panmendian Declaration". South Korea ’s Minister of Unification Kim Il-Smelt announced a blueprint for railway planning: “The repair of the rail line in the northern part of the East China Sea will be initiated, and North-South cooperation will be promoted.”

　　On that day, Jinye Iron and more than 150 South Korean officials visited Goseong-gun, Gangwon-do, and held a commemorative event beside an abandoned railway. Behind them, the sign marked "Zhujin Station" was somewhat stripped of paint, and the railroad tracks were rusty and overgrown with weeds.

　　It is located in the eastern part of the Korean Peninsula and near the border between Korea and North Korea. It was the route of the "East Sea Line" that passed through the peninsula in the 1930s. It connects Gangneung, South Korea, and Luojin, North Korea. Since the outbreak of the Korean War, the Korean-Korean railway was interrupted. Although the two sides conducted trial operation in 2007, it was not open to traffic for several decades. The "Donghai Line" from Jiangling to Zhujin in South Korea is also interrupted.

　　Gold Smelter said on the 27th that repairing the "East Sea Line" rail line in South Korea will open a "new era" in the East Sea of ​​the peninsula. Governor Chong Wenxun of Gangwon-do said, "This will become a symbol of peace between North and South."

　　South Korea ’s Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Jin Xianmei introduced that it will strive to start the construction of the railroad track between Jiangling and Zhujin in a two-year period, with a total length of 110.9 kilometers. "Not only can promote the balanced development of the Korean region, but also prepare for the docking of the Korean and Korean railways."

　　This railway "ambition" has a long history.

　　Two years ago, the South Korean and Korean leaders reached a consensus on connecting the North-South Railway in the "Panmendian Declaration". In November 2018, South Korean trains entered North Korea after a lapse of ten years, and the two sides launched a joint railway inspection. At the end of the same year, South Korea and the DPRK held a groundbreaking ceremony for the railway-road connection project. Officials from both sides opened the Panmunjom Station in North Korea and jointly unveiled a green sign with the words Seoul and Pyongyang in different directions.

　　But the project did not start after "breaking the ground". Especially after the DPRK-US summit in Hanoi in February 2019, the DPRK-US dialogue and the ROK-DPRK cooperation reached an impasse. Although South Korean officials have stated on many occasions to "restart economic cooperation between Korea and North Korea", there has been no substantial progress in North-South cooperation.

　　The turnaround appeared last week. After the ruling party in South Korea won the parliamentary election, the Ministry of Unification announced that the railway construction in the northern part of the East China Sea in South Korea was determined as a cooperative project between South Korea and North Korea. This means that part of the investigation work can be eliminated and the start time can be shortened.

　　According to an analysis by the Korean Minority Daily, if the South Korean side connects the Jiangling to Zhujin section of the railway, it can penetrate the South Korean capital and Gangwon-do, and there will be no "broken road" in the "Donghai Line" in South Korea. "East Asia Daily" predicts that if the DPRK restarts the "Donghai Line" docking, it may be possible to depart from Busan, South Korea, and reach London, England via North Korea, China, and Russia along the railway.

　　However, railway cooperation is no easy task.

　　When the Korean and Korean railways conducted joint inspections in 2018, the United Nations-led "United Nations Command" had refused to cross Korean borders until the United Nations sanctions exemption from the DPRK was initiated. South Korean experts also said after the inspection that due to the long-abandonment, the track could not achieve high-speed travel, and South Korea and North Korea had technical difficulties in rail docking.

　　"In order to connect the North-South Railway, South Korea must first do what it can do." South Korean President Wen Zaiyin said on the 27th that in the past two years, he deeply realized that "peace will not come overnight," expectation and disappointment, but every little Steps are all efforts to advance peace.

　　He said that the failure to accelerate the implementation of the "Panmendian Declaration" is not a lack of will, but a failure to surpass the existing international constraints. "Under realistic conditions, do what you can."

　　Wen Zaiyin expressed the hope that the Korean and Koreans can proceed from the cooperation to fight against the epidemic and promote the reunion of separated families and joint excavation of remains. (Finish)