South Korea, DPRK Agree to Break Ground for Railway, Road Connection

SEOUL, Oct. 15 (Xinhua) -- South Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) agreed Monday to hold a groundbreaking ceremony in late November or early December to modernize and eventually connect railways and roads across the inter-Korean border.

The agreement was reached after the high-level dialogue held earlier in the day at the Peace House, a South Korean building in the truce village of Panmunjom, according to a pool report from South Korean media.

Before the groundbreaking ceremony, the two Koreas agreed to do a field study on railways along the west corridor of the Korean Peninsula from late October and railways along the east corridor from early November.

Detailed schedules for the field study would be fixed later through the exchange of letters.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in has proposed to Northeast Asian countries and the United States to jointly set up a so-called "East Asian Railroad Community" to connect railways across Northeast Asia via inter-Korean railroad links.

Moon said the community would lead to an energy and economy community in East Asia and eventually to a peace and security regime in Northeast Asia.

Senior delegates from the two Koreas also agreed to hold a general-grade military dialogue as early as possible to discuss ways to end hostile confrontation near border areas and how to form a joint inter-Korean military committee.

Following their third summit in Pyongyang in September, Moon and top DPRK leader Kim Jong Un agreed to end all hostile acts near the heavily-fortified border, with a buffer zone along the military demarcation line (MDL) that has left the peninsula divided since the 1950-53 Korean War ended with an armistice.

The senior-level talks were held to discuss ways to implement the Pyongyang Declaration, signed by Moon and Kim after their latest summit meeting.

The South Korean delegation was led by Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, with the DPRK delegation headed by Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland.