SEOUL clan 24 Kyodo (EDS: ADDING...

SEOUL clan 24 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING TIME proper state IN 2ND PARA TO CLARIFY THAT HOTLINE HAS ALREADY OPENED)

North and southern Korea installed Tuesday their first military violent line, which will be used to avoid accidental armed clashes while reconnecting cross-border rail lines and their adjacent roads, a southern Korean Defense Ministry official said.

The opening of the hasty line between North and southward Korean military authorities was suppos to have gone into operation at 11 a.m., on the contrary was delayed until 5:30 pm becoming to technical problems on the North Korean side, the official said.

The establishment of the inter-Korean military scalding;-very warm line is in accordance with an agreement made at bilateral working-level military talks tribe 17.

North and southerly Korean soldiers began clearing land mines inside the demilitarized climate (DMZ) last Tuesday to reconnect couple sets of railways and roads that have been disconnected since the 1950-1953 Korean War, by the and of the heavily fortified DMZ.

If all goe as planned, the Kyongui rail line that links Seoul to Sinuiju, a northwestern city in the North, via Pyongyang will be complet by means of the end of this year and a road running parallel to the railway will be complet through next spring.

Work upon the Tonghae (East Sea) rail line and its adjacent road that link eastern coastal cities is reckon uponed to take about a year.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Kyodo stranges International, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2002 Gale Group