To Prepare for Railway Cooperation between Two Koreas
The South Korean government is planning to restore the Gangneung-Jejin section of the Donghae Bukbu Line in 53 years in commemoration of the second anniversary of the April 27 Panmunjom Declaration.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Ministry of Unification held a ceremony for the restoration on April 27 at the Jejin Station located in Goseong County, Gangwon Province. The ceremony was attended by Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mi, Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul, Gangwon Province Governor Choi Moon-soon, etc.
“The restoration is to contribute to balanced national development and prepare railway cooperation between the two Koreas,” the Land, Infrastructure and Transport Minister said in her congratulatory address, adding, “The South Korean government will proceed with speed in line with projects such as subway construction between Pohang and Samcheok.”
The Donghae Bukbu Line between Gangneung and Jejin went out of service in 1967. On April 23, the South and North Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council held its 313th meeting to select the restoration as an inter-Korean cooperation project. The preliminary feasibility study for the restoration has been omitted in accordance with the National Finance Act.
The project is to build a single line with a total length of 110.9 kilometers from the South Gangneung Station to the Jejin Station via the Gangneung Station. The total cost of the project is 2,852 billion won.
Once the project is completed, the Donghae Line railway will become fully operational and the stage will be set for inter-Korean economic cooperation. In addition, the pan-East Sea economic belt will be further developed and South Korea will become more competitive in terms of freight logistics. The tourism industry is expected to benefit from the outcome of the project, too.