Koreas hold symbolic ceremony for railway, road project

By Sena Guler

ANKARA (AA) - The two Koreas on Wednesday held a symbolic groundbreaking ceremony for an inter-Korean railway and highway project.

“The ceremony started at Panmun Station in the North's border town of Kaesong at around 10 a.m. [0100GMT] with high-ranking officials from the two Koreas on hand,” the South Korean Yonhap news agency reported.

Some 100 South Koreans, including Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee and Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, had arrived at the station via a special train ahead of the ceremony, it added.

The event was also attended by officials from the UN, China, Russia and Mongolia.

“The groundbreaking ceremony is regarded to be a symbolic launch of the road and railway project, not an actual start of construction considering the ongoing denuclearization talks and existing multilayered sanctions on North Korea,” Yonhap reported.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met on April 27, followed by the signing of the historic Panmunjom Declaration for Peace, Prosperity and Unification of the Korean Peninsula, which has become a formal foundation for further denuclearization of North Korea and a peace deal between the two countries.

During a September summit, Moon and Kim agreed to a series of cooperation initiatives, including connecting roads and railways, seeking to jointly host the 2032 Olympics, and establishing a new facility for family reunions.