Nov 26, 2002

Two Koreas Begin Land Surveys for Cross-Border Rail and Road Links

The Associated Press

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - South and North Korea on Tuesday began separate land surveys to determine where to connect cross-border railways and roads under construction.

The surveys inside the eastern sector of the 2.5-mile-wide Demilitarized Zone will continue until Thursday, South Korea's Unification Ministry said.

Similar surveys were scheduled for Friday and Saturday for a railway and road across the western sector of the buffer zone, it said.

The surveys do not require officials of the two Koreas to cross onto the other side's sector of the border. The results of the surveys will be exchanged later.

However, a dispute between North Korea and the U.S.-led U.N. Command has halted demining work inside the DMZ for over a week and delayed plans for an exchange visit by military officials to inspect demining works for the rail and road project.

The border-crossings require approval by the U.N. Command, which oversees the southern half of the DMZ as a signatory of the armistice that ended the 1950-53 Korean War.

North Korea, which controls the other half of the buffer zone, refused to go ahead with the inspections, rejecting involvement by the U.N. Command.

The surveys this week will be conducted within each side's sector of the border. They are aimed at choosing suitable locations to connect railways and roads.

Following a historic summit in 2000, the Koreas had agreed to build two sets of railways and roads on the eastern and western sector of the border.