Published : Dec. 23, 2018 - 15:33
South Korea sent an advance team to North Korea Sunday to prepare for this week's groundbreaking ceremony for a joint project to modernize railways and roads in the North so they can be connected to the South, Seoul's unification ministry said.
The team of 14 officials, mostly from the unification ministry and the land, infrastructure and transport ministry, visited the North in the morning and is set to return home in the afternoon, the ministry said.
(Yonhap)
It will discuss with the North Korean side a detailed schedule for the symbolic event slated for Wednesday.
During their working-level meeting earlier this month, Seoul and Pyongyang agreed to hold the ceremony at the North's Panmun Station, just north of the inter-Korean border, in line with the September summit agreement to hold it before the end of the year.
On Friday, Seoul and Washington agreed that the event will be held as scheduled, amid concerns that the project could face hurdles, given that Pyongyang is subject to a web of sanctions by the U.S. and the United Nations.
Despite the worries, Seoul has been pushing for the project, believing that such cooperation efforts will help foster inter-Korean confidence, which will in turn facilitate efforts to denuclearize the North and establish a lasting peace on the peninsula. (Yonhap)