SEOUL, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) held a groundbreaking ceremony on Wednesday to modernize and re-connect railways and roads along the western and eastern Korean Peninsula.
South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un agreed during their first summit in April to modernize and eventually link the Gyeongui Line and the Donghae Line railways as well as roads along the western and eastern peninsula across the inter-Korean border.
At their Pyongyang summit in September, Moon and Kim agreed to hold the groundbreaking ceremony before the end of this year.
The 400-km-long western Gyeongui Line stretches from the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, just north of the inter-Korean border, to Sinuiju, a DPRK border city with China. It passes through the DPRK's capital Pyongyang.
The section of the Gyeongui Line from Kaesong to Munsan, a South Korean city just south of the border with the DPRK, was already connected, though it needs to be modernized.
South Korea operated cargo trains through the section five times a week for about one year until December 2008 when inter-Korean relations began to sour.
If sanctions are lifted on Pyongyang and construction works start, the railway from the South Korean capital Seoul to the DPRK's northwestern city of Sinuiju can be re-connected as the rail line from Munsan to Seoul is linked.
All railways and roads between South Korea and the DPRK have been severed since the 1950-53 Korean War. The peninsula remains technically at war with an armistice.
The road between Munsan and Kaesong was already linked, but it needs to be modernized. South Korea's transport ministry allocated 517.9 billion won (460 million U.S. dollars) to build the 11.8-km section of the Munsan-Kaesong highway in the South Korean side.
The 170-km highway from Kaesong to Pyongyang, which was allegedly opened in 1992, needs to be modernized.
Meanwhile, the eastern Donghae Line railway is about 800 km long, spanning from the DPRK's Mount Kumgang to the Tumen River in northeast of the DPRK.
The 25-km section of the Donghae Line from Mount Kumgang to the Jejin Station in northeast of South Korea was restored in 2007, and a train ran via the railway once on a trial basis. Since then, the section has been closed.
The 105-km rail line from the Jejin Station to the eastern coastal city of Gangneung was not connected in the South Korean side. The South Korean government estimated 2.35 trillion won (2.09 billion U.S. dollars) for building the rail line along the east coast.
The two Koreas conducted an 18-day joint inspection on the DPRK railways along the western and eastern peninsula earlier this month.
The two sides carried out a joint survey on the western road from Kaesong to Pyongyang in August, and conducted a separate inspection on the 100-km eastern road from the South Korean eastern town of Goseong to the DPRK's eastern city of Wonsan for three days.
