MOSCOW ― More than 250 passengers of the “Eurasia Express” opened the third and final chapter of their 20-day journey in Moscow on Sunday, reaching the last stop of a trans-Siberian railway and marking their journey by paying tribute to fallen soldiers during World War II at a memorial.

Led by Rep. Kang Chang-hee of the ruling Saenuri Party, the visit to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier initiated their three-day layover here, designed to display South Korea’s appreciation for Russia’s immense sacrifice and contribution during the six-year conflict, organizers said.

The event came shortly after they arrived in the Russian capital 12 days after departing from Seoul, and before heading to Berlin via Warsaw on the Eurail.

Earlier in the day, the participants celebrated their finish of the Trans-Siberian Railroad linking Vladivostok and Moscow, with the welcome from another some 250 people of Russia’s foreign and rail agencies and city government and others.

“The ‘Eurasia Express’ has great meaning as it coincides with the 25th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between South Korea and Russia, as well as the 70th anniversary of Russia’s victory in World War II,” said Vladimir Yakunin, president of Russian Railways, at the ceremony.

Seoul’s Vice Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yong said the project will help remake the country into a peninsula, not an island disconnected from the continent due to the territorial division with North Korea.

“It will reconnect South Korea as a peninsula, and the peninsula as a region, which bridges Eurasia and the Asia-Pacific. The railway marks a first step, not an end, that has such a significant meaning,” he said in his congratulatory remarks. 

By Shin Hyon-hee Korea Herald correspondent
(heeshin@heraldcorp.com)