In this Nov 30, 2018 file photo, a ROK train runs on the rail track, which the two Koreas hope to eventually use as an international transport link, near to the border village of Panmunjom in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, in Paju, the Republic of Korea. (AHN YOUNG-JOON / AP)
SEOUL — The Republic of Korea (ROK) has decided to launch the construction of the southern section of the inter-Korean railway along the east coast of the Korean Peninsula.
It will be pursued speedily without a preliminary feasibility study as it was designated as an inter-Korean cooperative project
The inter-Korean exchange and cooperation consultative committee was chaired by Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, deciding to start the reconnection of a 110.9-km railway from the eastern coastal city of Gangneung to the border town of Jejin, local media reported Thursday.
It will be pursued speedily without a preliminary feasibility study as it was designated as an inter-Korean cooperative project.
The Gangneung-Jejin railroad is the ROK’s section of the Donghae Bukbu Line, which was built during the 1910-1945 Japanese colonization of the peninsula but was severed during the 1950-1953 Korean War.
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The Donghae Bukbu Line construction project was pursued since 2000, and ROK’s President Moon Jae-in and Kim Jong Un, top leader of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), agreed in their first summit on April 27, 2018, to reconnect inter-Korean railways and roads along the eastern and western peninsula.
The ROK and the DPRK held a groundbreaking ceremony for the inter-Korean railway reconnection project in December 2018, but construction works had been delayed amid the international sanctions toward Pyongyang.
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The Moon government hoped to re-link the railways across the inter-Korean border, eventually connected to Europe through the Trans-China Railway (TCR) and the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR).
