North and South Korea have agreed to run a regular daily cross-border freight train service from next week for the first time in over half a century, officials said on Sunday.
Negotiators from both sides on Saturday mapped out details on the rail service at talks in the North in a follow-up to their leadersÂ’ agreement, the SouthÂ’s unification ministry said in a statement.
President Roh Moo-Hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il agreed at a historic summit in early October to resume regular freight services, and both sides last month set December 11 for their inauguration. The service, the first since the 1950-53 Korean War, will begin with a twice-daily border crossing by a 10-carriage cargo train, the ministry said. The train will leave Munsan in the South at 9:00 am and reach Bongdong in the North before returning to Munsan at 2:00 pm, it said. Defence chiefs from both sides last week agreed to provide a security guarantee for the daily cross-border cargo train to run the 20-kilometre section of track across the heavily fortified border.
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