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(4th LD) Koreas agree to open cargo railway, but key issues remain unresolved
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Nov. 15 (Yonhap) -- South and North Korea agreed Thursday to open a cross-border cargo railway by the end of this year -- resuming the service halted more than half a century ago -- as part of economic cooperation projects agreed upon in their leaders' recent summit.
Seoul proposed Dec. 11 as the date to start the railway service through the demilitarized zone, a Unification Ministry official said on condition of anonymity. But North Korea's response was not yet known.
The agreement to open a freight railway came on the second day of talks between South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo and North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il in Seoul. The rare prime ministerial talks were aimed at devising concrete plans to implement wide-ranging accords reached between the leaders of the Koreas.
In their summit in early October, President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il agreed on a slew of economic cooperation and peace projects. They also agreed that the agreements should be implemented through two follow-up talks -- one between prime ministers and the other between defense ministers.
"There is a growing understanding between the sides for the start of the cargo rail service," Kim Nam-shik, a spokesman for the Unification Ministry, told reporters. He said that the project "seemed highly possible," even though more consultations are needed to secure a military guarantee by North Korea.
The 20-km cross-border route between South Korea's Munsan and the North's Bongdong will allow the mass transport of goods from a joint industrial complex in North Korea to the South, Seoul officials say.
The Koreas also agreed to set up a joint committee to create a peace zone in the disputed border area in the West Sea, part of key summit accords to reduce tension, the ministry spokesman said. Bloody skirmishes occurred in 1999 and 2002 near the disputed sea border, which North Korea does not acknowledge. The western sea border was unilaterally drawn by the U.S.-led United Nations Command at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War. Pyongyang has called for a new line to be drawn further south.
The peace project in the West Sea will likely include the creation of a joint fishing area in the western sea border area, and the establishment of an economic special zone in Haeju in southwestern North Korea, which will transform the naval base area into an economic stronghold.
The Koreas also made progress in social and cultural areas, the spokesman said, without elaborating on specifics.
But key issues remained unresolved.
The top item on North Korea's agenda is South Korea's heavy investment in the renovation of its antiquated railways and roads, said the Chosun Sinbo, published by ethnic Koreans in Japan.
The North Korean premier said in the talks that such South Korean support will help implement the summit accords "in a relatively short amount of time," the paper said.
Pyongyang also expects Seoul's money to develop shipbuilding facilities in the country, Seoul officials said.
South Korea is expected to seek North Korea's support in improving the business environment in the Kaesong industrial complex, where communication facilities are poor and border customs inspections are highly restrictive.
The Kaesong complex, where scores of South Korean factories produce garments, shoes and other labor-intensive goods with North Korea's cheap but skilled labor, emerged from agreements at the first-ever inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang in 2000. But business restrictions and political strains have limited its development.
Other issues include reunions of families separated since the 1950-53 Korean War, with South Korea pushing to regularize the sporadic events.
The two Koreas are expected to issue a joint statement wrapping up their three-day talks on Friday. To settle outstanding details, Seoul has proposed to hold follow-up economic talks between vice prime ministers in the second week of December, a Unification Ministry official said on condition of anonymity.
The Koreas held eight rounds of prime ministerial talks until 1992, when they signed an accord calling for an end to Cold War hostilities on the Korean Peninsula. But the talks were suspended afterward as relations soured over a dispute on North Korea's nuclear weapons program.
This week's talks, covering economic projects, will put aside thorny issues on military tension, which will be dealt with in defense ministers' talks set for Nov. 27-29 in Pyongyang, Seoul officials said.
Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said on the first day that this week's talks were "a bit more flexible, a bit more amicable" than previous inter-Korean meetings.
South Korea expects that improved inter-Korean ties will facilitate progress in ongoing multilateral talks to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.
The communist nation has shut down five key nuclear facilities under an aid-for-denuclearization accord signed in early October in talks involving the two Koreas, the U.S., Japan, China and Russia.
Pyongyang is also supposed to disable its key nuclear facilities at Yongbyon and submit a full list of its nuclear programs by the end of the year in return for the normalization of ties with the U.S. and Japan, as well as economic and energy assistance from the other parties involved.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
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