story this morning South and North Korea are set within the next few hours to
hold their groundbreaking ceremony in North Korea for linking and modernizing
railways and roads between the two sides this comes eight months after the
leaders of Seoul and Pyongyang first agreed to work together on this massive
project it wasn't exactly smooth sailing due to a lack of progress in North Korea
u.s. nuclear negotiations but after many twists and turns South and North Korea
are indeed you to hold this big groundbreaking ceremony before we bid
their farewell to the eventful year known as 2018 so we have our Unification
Ministry correspondent song he she's joining us live from dorasan station
which is the northernmost train station in South Korea Jang a good morning good
morning more excel after a number of halt and delays Center a Korean
Transport project yes the groundbreaking ceremony is finally taking place today
the South Koreans attending today's event are believed to have left the
Seoul station just 15 minutes ago they will pass through the torus on station
and cross the inter-korean Lian border there there they will arrive at the
North Hamlin station in just about two hours from now where Trey's
groundbreaking ceremony will take place as you mentioned to Rahsaan station
where I am right now is the northernmost train station in South Korea only 700
meters away from the Demilitarized Zone so if trains really get to move back and
forth between South and North Korea then this will be the last train station
before you cross the border into the north yeah I've been there a couple of
times myself it's a fascinating station to go to it's not many people milling
around but hopefully that will change in the coming years but Johnny tell us more
about what we can expect during today's groundbreaking ceremony sure so there
will be 100 participants each from South and North Korea from South Korea a
Seoul's transport and unification ministers Kim Hyun Mian to Myung Hyun
will be attending along with the leaders of South Korea's political parties
and railway and road related officials as well as a few war-torn family members
whose hometowns are back in the north from North Korea Lee seung-hwan the head
of Pyongyang's inter-korean reunification committee will be at the
event with senior North Korean officials from the Economic Cooperation Committee
and vice ministers of railway in land what draws a lot of attention as those
who are invited from outside the Korean Peninsula top railway and Road officials
from Russia China and Mongolia will be at the North Patman station today that
as the inter-korean railways could eventually be linked to the railways
cutting across these three countries to join the transporation rail network in
the future also the executive secretary of the UN's economic and social
commission for Asia and the Pacific will be at the event resuming her presence is
because of a project called the Asian highway network where u NS copy and
countries in Asia and Europe aim to connect highways that cross the
continent and reach Europe a couple of proposed routes pass through the two
Koreas and zhongli another thing we are all curious about is all the matters
regarding the international sanctions we're wondering whether they've been
ironed out completely we have been reporting that waivers need to be given
if any work involves bringing equipment and resources into North Korea whether
that's for the groundbreaking ceremony or the construction work going forward
you're absolutely right and for the groundbreaking ceremony today yes we
have to get a sanctions waiver from the UN Security Council so the UN Security
Council granted a sanctions waiver for the two Koreas to halt this symbolic
ceremony today according to the South Korean government and the waiver also
comes as a result of consultations between Seoul and Washington especially
through their bilateral working group meeting they had last week the ceremony
itself isn't subject to North Korea sanctions but waivers are required for
the South Korean trains carrying the participants and the materials necessary
for the events to enter the north the fact that she'll received waivers for
on-site surveys and today ceremony doesn't mean these weavers will
apply to whatever work happens in the future that is the two Koreas will have
to earn additional waivers in the future for any work that involves bringing
resources into the north Seoul is stressing today's event despite
what it's called won't actually break ground that is for symbolic purposes the
actual construction work will begin yet and things will go in accordance with
progress on North Korea's denuclearization matthew mark