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The two sides agreed in October to work on reconnecting railways
and roads as part of a thaw in relations that the United States
fears will undermine efforts to press North Korea to give up its
nuclear weapons.
"There's a lot of things to do before we actually start
construction," South Korean Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee said
before the ceremony in the city of Kaesong on the North Korean
side of the border.
The materials and investment needed for construction to begin
are banned under U.N. and U.S. sanctions imposed over
Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs. Washington insists
sanctions remain until the North gives up its nuclear weapons.
South Korean officials, politicians and members of families
displaced by the war boarded a special train to the ceremony.
Shin Jang-chul, who drove the last freight train between the
Koreas when they operated a joint factory park a decade ago,
said he never thought he would return to the North.
"I'm just deeply moved," Shin said. "It's been 10 years and I've
been wondering if I would ever be able to come back after I
retire."
They were joined by a North Korean delegation, as well as
officials from the United Nations, China, Russia and Mongolia,
according to South Korea's Unification Ministry.
Speaking at the event, the North's Vice Railroad Minister Kim
Yun Hyok called for an "unwavering determination to stand
against headwinds" that could threaten the project.
"The results of the rail and road project hinge on the spirit
and will of our people," Kim said.
The two sides will conduct additional joint surveys and design
work that could take one or two years to complete, the South's
Kim Hyun-mee said.
Wednesday's ceremony was another example of the thaw in
relations between the Koreas, technically still at war after
their conflict ended in a truce not a peace treaty.
But major economic initiatives have yet to take off amid the
lack of progress on denuclearizing the North.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to work toward
denuclearization at a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in
June. But negotiations have made little headway, with Pyongyang
upset at Washington's insistence that sanctions remain until the
North takes concrete steps to give up its nuclear arsenal.
"The South is trying to build on existing agreements, believing
that advancing inter-Korean ties would have a positive impact on
denuclearization," said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the
Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.
"But given the absence of actual construction, the North will
keep pressing the South to make it happen despite sanctions, in
line with Kim's efforts to shore up his regime," he added.
(Reporting by Hyonhee Shin, Joyce Lee and the Joint Press Corps;
Editing by Darren Schuettler)
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