Trains cross two Koreas' border
Friday, May 18, 2007
b>Historic crossing revives dreams of unification after 56 years of fratricidal war
TWO trains from North and South Korea crossed the heavily armed border yesterday, restoring for the first time an artery severed in the 1950-1953 fratricidal war and fanning dreams of unification.
It took the two Koreas 56 years to send the trains — one starting in the South and one in the North — across the Cold War's last frontier for the one-off runs of about 25km one way.
The trains each carried 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans — including celebrities, politicians and a South Korean conductor from one of the last trains to cross before the last rail link was cut in 1951.
"Today the heart of the Korean peninsula will start beating again," South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said before the crossing at the South's Munsan station, about 50km northwest of Seoul.
"The trains represent the dreams, the hopes and the future of the two Koreas," Lee said.
The train from South Korea was seen off to fireworks, traditional drumming and hundreds of people waving flags showing a unified Korean peninsula.
The crossing was carried live by every major South Korean network, but the train quickly disappeared from view on the approach to the North Korean side due to Seoul's long-standing security laws governing the Demilitarised Zone.
North Korea has yet to give any word on what happened on its side of the railroad. South Koreans aboard later said they were warmly welcomed across the border.
"I wish I could operate this train myself," said Han Chun-ki, 80, the conductor who made one of the last cross-border runs more than a half century ago.
"I never thought this day would come."
The trains later returned to their respective homes.
On the east coast, South Korean soldiers opened a gate across the tracks at the southern end of the Demilitarised Zone buffer to welcome the train from the North, which had a banner reading: "The Train Once Boarded by Great President Kim Il-sung".
Children presented flowers to officials upon arrival at the station, one of several cavernous facilities built by the South near the border that have been mostly idle.
Passengers dined together and North Korean cabin attendants, young women dressed in crisp military-style uniforms, posed for pictures with South Koreans at the station.
North Korea's military, fearful of increased openings between the isolated country and the outside world, agreed last week to the run, despite pressure from Seoul for more crossings.
The South Korean government has been criticised at home for sending massive aid to the North only to see Pyongyang respond to its largesse by halting cooperation projects and sparking a security crisis with a nuclear test last year.
South Korea, mindful of the hundreds of billions of dollars it would cost to unify with its impoverished neighbour, has sought to gradually — critics say glacially — bring the two together.
The two Koreas, still technically still at war because their conflict ended only in a truce, have lived with a razor wire and land-mine strewn border dividing the peninsula for decades, while over a million troops are stationed near the Demilitarised Zone.
Reuters
TWO trains from North and South Korea crossed the heavily armed border yesterday, restoring for the first time an artery severed in the 1950-1953 fratricidal war and fanning dreams of unification.
It took the two Koreas 56 years to send the trains — one starting in the South and one in the North — across the Cold War's last frontier for the one-off runs of about 25km one way.
The trains each carried 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans — including celebrities, politicians and a South Korean conductor from one of the last trains to cross before the last rail link was cut in 1951.
"Today the heart of the Korean peninsula will start beating again," South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said before the crossing at the South's Munsan station, about 50km northwest of Seoul.
"The trains represent the dreams, the hopes and the future of the two Koreas," Lee said.
The train from South Korea was seen off to fireworks, traditional drumming and hundreds of people waving flags showing a unified Korean peninsula.
The crossing was carried live by every major South Korean network, but the train quickly disappeared from view on the approach to the North Korean side due to Seoul's long-standing security laws governing the Demilitarised Zone.
North Korea has yet to give any word on what happened on its side of the railroad. South Koreans aboard later said they were warmly welcomed across the border.
"I wish I could operate this train myself," said Han Chun-ki, 80, the conductor who made one of the last cross-border runs more than a half century ago.
"I never thought this day would come."
The trains later returned to their respective homes.
On the east coast, South Korean soldiers opened a gate across the tracks at the southern end of the Demilitarised Zone buffer to welcome the train from the North, which had a banner reading: "The Train Once Boarded by Great President Kim Il-sung".
Children presented flowers to officials upon arrival at the station, one of several cavernous facilities built by the South near the border that have been mostly idle.
Passengers dined together and North Korean cabin attendants, young women dressed in crisp military-style uniforms, posed for pictures with South Koreans at the station.
North Korea's military, fearful of increased openings between the isolated country and the outside world, agreed last week to the run, despite pressure from Seoul for more crossings.
The South Korean government has been criticised at home for sending massive aid to the North only to see Pyongyang respond to its largesse by halting cooperation projects and sparking a security crisis with a nuclear test last year.
South Korea, mindful of the hundreds of billions of dollars it would cost to unify with its impoverished neighbour, has sought to gradually — critics say glacially — bring the two together.
The two Koreas, still technically still at war because their conflict ended only in a truce, have lived with a razor wire and land-mine strewn border dividing the peninsula for decades, while over a million troops are stationed near the Demilitarised Zone.
Reuters
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