Peace Trains: Trains Cross the Two Koreas

MUNSAN, South Korea, May 17, 2007 — -- Two trains from North and South Korea crossed the border through the heavily armed demilitarized zone today for the first time in more than half a century.

The 16-mile test run along two restored border crossings on the Korean peninsula marked another milestone in reconciliation between the two countries.

South Korean network media broadcast live pictures of the historic event. North Korea's state-run media made a more subdued announcement on the crossing.

The two five-car trains each carried 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans.

"We have waited 56 years. This is a deeply emotional and heart-beating moment," said South Korean Unification Minister Lee Jae-Joung before boarding the train.

On the west side of the peninsula connecting Munsan in the South and Gaesong in North, hundreds of citizens waving white-and-blue unification flags saw the train off with firecrackers, balloons and flowers along the newly restored track.

In the east, South Koreans welcomed the other train that left from the North's Mount Gumgang resort into the South's Jejin station.

Seoul is hoping that the connection will help boost inter-Korean economic trade. Currently, more than 1,200 South Korean businessmen travel every day to the Gaesong industrial complex in the North, which had been initiated by the South to jump-start North-South cooperation.

In the east, about 1,000 South Korean tourists cross the border every day to visit Mount Gumgang resort, also developed and paid for by a South Korean conglomerate, Hyundai Asan Corp.

In the longer run, South Korea sees the historic linkage eventually opening doors to cargo and passenger routes via North Korea up north into China, Russia and Europe.

The two Koreas had agreed to connect the severed railroads in 2000, and construction was completed four years ago. South Korea footed the bill that cost more than $600 million.

But Pyongyang reluctantly and finally agreed to the one-time test run last week only after Seoul promised to give $80 million worth of raw materials to North Korea in aid.

In return, Seoul received "rights to explore" mineral resources in the North.

For 80-year-old Han Chun-ki, the moment was bittersweet.

Han, a South Korean, was one of the last train operators to make the crossing in December 1950. He was a passenger on today's history-making northbound train. He told The Associated Press that he was touched by the warm welcome he'd received in the North. Han said he was saddened, though, by the once beautiful landscape, now stripped of trees by poverty-stricken North Korea.

"The woods have gone. The mountains are bare," Han told the AP.