Park Administration Continues to Push Plan to Connect North Korean Roads and Railways
The Park Administration is still pushing forward with this plan to connect road and rails to North Korea:
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Tuesday it will push forward a project this year to restore severed sections of inter-Korean railroads and highways.
The project was announced as part of the ministry’s 2015 agenda. It is also part of the Park Geun-hye administration’s ambitious proposal to operate trains from Seoul to cities in the North this summer in celebration of the 70th anniversary of Korea’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule – but only if Pyongyang goes along.
Earlier this month, the Ministry of Unification unveiled a plan to restore the two Koreas’ western and eastern railways to operate trains this summer from Seoul to the North Korean cities of Rajin and Sinuiju. Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae has said the goal is to link the railways and have trains operating in time for the Aug. 15 Liberation Day.
While the Park government is optimistic that Pyongyang will accept the offer, North Korea has yet to even respond to the proposals. Despite the North’s silence, the Transport Ministry announced Tuesday it will push forward the project by restoring missing sections of railways and highways in the South to the inter-Korean border. [Joong Ang Ilbo]
You can read more at the link, but I see this ending two ways, either North Korea getting free roads and rails for little to nothing in return or a whole bunch of potential hostages whenever the North needs to manufacture a reason to keep some.
