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SEOUL: North and South Korea have agreed to start regular rail freight services across their heavily fortified border next month for the first time in more than half a century, it was announced Friday.
The services will begin on December 11, a joint statement said on the final day of a rare meeting between prime ministers from the two sides.
In other reconciliation moves, the two nations agreed to start creating a joint fishing zone in the Yellow Sea in the first half of next year. The aim is to prevent further clashes around the disputed sea border, the scene of bloody naval battles in 1999 and 2002.
Cross-border trains made test runs in May in what was hailed as a milestone towards unification between two nations still technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended only in an armistice.
But the North's military had been reluctant to give security guarantees for a regular operation on the line, which would service the Seoul-funded industrial estate at Kaesong just north of the border.
The statement said the services would run on a 20-kilometre (12 mile) section of track between Munsan in the south and Bongdong in the north.
Working-level talks will be held in Kaesong for two days from Tuesday to finalise arrangements.
President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il agreed at their historic summit in Pyongyang early last month to resume regular rail services.
This week's prime ministerial meeting, the first for 15 years, was tasked with implementing the sweeping summit declaration on promoting peace and co-prosperity.
Regular cross-border rail services would signal a marked opening-up by the hardline communist North, which is eager for help to revive its crumbling command economy.
The border remains one of the most heavily mined areas on earth, and extensive demining had to be undertaken before the railway reopened for test runs.
"The agreement is the first step towards enhancing inter-Korean relations... through a virtuous circle between peace and the economy," South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung told reporters, speaking about the joint statement.
The leaders had agreed on a variety of joint reconciliation projects costing billions of dollars, including the establishment of the joint fishing area and "peace zone" in the Yellow Sea.
A special economic zone around the North's southwestern port and naval base of Haeju would be part of this. The two leaders also agreed to expand Kaesong, jointly develop shipyards in the North, upgrade the North's decrepit roads and railways and expand tourist and cultural exchanges.
On the joint fishing area, a committee grouping both sides will meet before the end of the year to discuss "efficient operation of the joint fishing zone and cooperation in the fishing industry," said the joint statement.
The two sides will conduct a joint feasibility study on developing Haeju by year-end.
The North and South agreed to begin repairing the highway between Pyongyang and Kaesong next year, along with a railway connecting Kaesong to Sinuiju on the Chinese border.
South Korea's government sees joint developments such as Kaesong as a way to narrow the huge wealth gap between the communist North and capitalist South in preparation for possible eventual reunification.
A Hyundai Research Institute study has estimated the cost to South Korea of all the summit projects at 11 billion dollars. The Seoul government, which has fewer than four months still in office, says private businesses will pick up most of the investment tab. - AFP/ac
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