South Korea will conduct test runs of cross-border railways without guarantees of safe passage from the North Korean military after talks between top brass from both sides collapsed last week. Seoul on Monday proposed fresh working-level military talks about the test scheduled for Thursday, but there has been no response from the North.
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A train waits at Imjingak Station near the DMZ./Yonhap
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Seoul will give Pyongyang a list of passengers who will be on the trains, but it will not seek written agreement from the North Korean military. It will simply notify the North of the 200 people who will use the Gyeongui Line and Donghae Line, 100 for each line. The North then passes the list to its military and hands the South a corresponding list that will be passed to UN Command, which under armistice regulations must be told of anyone entering the demilitarized zone. ¡°It¡¯s the same procedure that was temporarily used when the DMZ was opened for the project to reconnect the cross-border railways and during the early stages of construction¡±, a government official said.
Short of full consent from North Korea, however, the test run remains in doubt until the last minute.
¡°Agreement about the test run has been made through various channels including inter-Korean ministerial talks, so the North Korean military will not be able to bluntly oppose the plan,¡± a government official said. ¡°As long as the North Korean military does not take the position that the trains from the South cannot cross the Demarcation Line, there will be no problem.¡± Government officials say the North Korean military will tacitly approve the test run, thus offering de-facto safe passage.
But some are disappointed that the test run is likely to be conducted in this way. They say getting agreement from the North Korean military, even just for the single test run, is the least that is needed if there is ever to be an opening ceremony for the railways and any future official operations of cross-border railways and roads.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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