South and North Korea to Conduct Inter-Korean Railway Tests Next Month

South and North Korea to Conduct Inter-Korean Railway Tests Next Month. April. 23, 2007 04:33. taewon_ha@donga.com.

South and North Korea have agreed to conduct long-delayed test runs of their cross-border railways on May 17--one linking Seoul and Sineuiju, the city in North Korea, and the other between Yangyang, Gangwon Province to Anbyeon, Hamgyeong Province in the North. However, the agreement failed to secure safety guarantees from the North Korean military authorities, who have maintained their opposition from last year, which triggered a year’s hiatus on the test runs.

Meanwhile, South Korea has decided to ship 400,000 tons of rice in the latter half of next month if North Korea progresses on implementing the initial steps of the Feb. 13 agreement.

When the 13th inter-Korean economic cooperation committee talks came to an end on Sunday morning at the Koryo Hotel in Pyongyang, the two Koreas announced the results with agreements on 10 pivotal issues, including test runs of cross-border railways and South Korean rice aid.

Although South Korea wanted military security guarantees regarding railway test-runs, it had to settle for, “The two sides will engage in active cooperation to ensure safety guarantees prior to the test runs in May,” in the final written agreement.

With regards to rice aid, South Korea will provide a total of 400,000 tons of rice, combing 150,000 tons produced domestically and the rest from abroad on the condition that the North fulfills its side of the Feb. 13 agreement.

The 14th inter-Korean economic cooperation committee talks will be held in July in the South.