Koreas Agree to Inter-Korea Railroad   10/15 06:13

   SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- North and South Korea continued their push for 
peace Monday with high-level talks that resulted in a host of agreements, 
including a plan by the rivals for a groundbreaking ceremony this year on an 
ambitious project to connect their railways and roads.

   The agreements come amid unease in Washington over the speed of inter-Korean 
engagement. Many outsiders believe that U.S.-led efforts to rid the North of 
its nuclear-tipped missiles are lagging significantly behind the Koreas' 
efforts to move past decades of bitter rivalry.

   A series of weapons tests by North Korea last year, and an exchange of 
insults and threats between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim 
Jong Un, had many on the Korean Peninsula fearing war. But there has since been 
a surprising peace initiative, with three inter-Korean summits and a June 
meeting in Singapore between Trump and Kim. The U.S. and North Korea are 
working on plans for a second such summit.

   Still, there is widespread skepticism that North Korea will disarm. And, 
despite the fanfare for the proposed railway and road projects, the Koreas 
cannot move much further along without the lifting of international sanctions 
against North Korea, which isn't likely to come before it takes firmer steps 
toward relinquishing its nuclear weapons and missiles.

   South Korea's Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with the North, 
said in a statement that the government will share details from Monday's 
meeting with the United States and other nations and will closely coordinate 
with them to avoid any friction over sanctions.

   The ministry said the rivals agreed Monday to hold general-level military 
talks soon to discuss reducing border tensions and setting up a joint military 
committee that's meant to maintain communication and avoid crises and 
accidental clashes.

   The Koreas also agreed to use their newly opened liaison office in the North 
Korean border town of Kaesong to host talks between sports officials in late 
October to discuss plans to send combined teams to the 2020 Summer Olympics and 
to make a push to co-host the 2032 Summer Games.

   And the two countries will hold Red Cross talks at North Korea's Diamond 
Mountain resort in November to set up video-conference meetings between aging 
relatives separated by the 1950-53 Korean War and potentially expand 
face-to-face reunions between them.

   Monday's talks at the border village of Panmunjom were aimed at finding ways 
to carry out peace agreements announced after a summit last month between South 
Korean President Moon Jae-in and Kim in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.

   South Korean Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon said it was meaningful 
that the Koreas are getting faster in reaching agreements as their diplomacy 
gains traction. His North Korean counterpart, Ri Son Gwon, who heads an agency 
dealing with inter-Korean affairs, said "no group and no force will be able to 
prevent the path toward peace, prosperity and our nation's unification."

   At the most recent summit between Moon and Kim, the two leaders committed to 
reviving economic cooperation when possible, voicing optimism that 
international sanctions could end and allow such activity.

   They also announced measures to reduce conventional military threats, such 
as creating buffer zones along their land and sea boundaries and a no-fly zone 
above the border, removing 11 front-line guard posts by December, and demining 
sections of the Demilitarized Zone.

   Moon has described inter-Korean engagement as crucial to resolving the 
nuclear standoff and is eager to restart joint economic projects held back by 
sanctions if the larger nuclear negotiations between the United States and 
North Korea begin yielding results.

   However, South Korea's enthusiasm for engagement with its rival appears to 
have created discomfort with the United States, a key ally.

   Moon's government last week walked back a proposal to lift some of its 
unilateral sanctions against North Korea following Trump's blunt retort that 
Seoul could "do nothing" without Washington's approval.

   South Korean Foreign Minister Kang Kyung-wha also said U.S. Secretary of 
State Mike Pompeo expressed displeasure about the Koreas' military agreements. 
Kang was not specific, but her comments fueled speculation that Washington 
wasn't fully on board before Seoul signed the agreements.

   Trump has encouraged U.S. allies to maintain sanctions on North Korea until 
it denuclearizes to maintain a campaign of pressure against Kim's government.

   Experts say updating North Korean trains, which use rails that were first 
laid in the early 20th century, could take decades and cost tens of billions of 
dollars.

   In Monday's meeting, the Koreas also agreed to conduct joint inspections 
during late October of the North Korean portion of a railway that once 
connected Seoul and Sinuiju, before moving on to railways in the eastern 
section in early November. A groundbreaking ceremony for the project is planned 
for November or early December.

   Originally built by Japan, the Gyeongui line between Seoul and Sinuiju was 
separated at the end of World War II in 1945, when the Korean Peninsula was 
liberated from Japanese colonial rule and divided between a U.S.-controlled 
southern side and a Soviet-controlled north.

   The line was briefly reconnected during a previous era of rapprochement 
between the rivals in the 2000s. The Koreas in December 2007 began freight 
services between South Korea's Munsan Station in Paju and North Korea's 
Pongdong Station, which is near Kaesong where the Koreas once operated a joint 
factory park. But the line was cut again in 2008 when a new conservative 
government took over in Seoul.


(KA)