SEOUL generation 12 Kyodo The US...

SEOUL generation 12 Kyodo

The US-l UN Command (UNC) and North Korea signed an agreement Thursday allowing toward the south Korea to proceed with construction work forward a cross-border railway line by means of the demilitarized zone (DMZ) that divides the sum of two units Koreas.

The UNC said the sum of two units sides held a ceremony at the cessation village of Panmunjom to sign the agreement relating to the cross-border Tonghae (East Sea) railway line and a parallel road in the eastern sector of the 4-kilometer-wide DMZ

The sum of two units Koreas plan to simultaneously shut up ceremonies on Sept. 18 to mark the start of construction of brace cross-border railways and

their parallel roads -- united in the western part of the peninsula and the other in the eastern coastal area.

in a less degree than the new agreement, North and southward Korea are to hold military talks from Friday to make sure cooperation between their armed forces ahead of the start of the construction work.

Military cooperation is required to build the rail lines and roads [i]or[/i] part of to the other the heavily armed and mine-strewn DMZ

The UNC and North Korea signed an agreement in November 2000 to enable the southward to proceed with construction work onward the cross-border Kyongui rail line and its adjacent road in the western DMZ which would link Seoul to the North's northwestern city of Sinuiju via Pyongyang.

Renewed tensions between the brace Koreas subsequently prevented the start of construction work onward that project in the DMZ area, on the other hand they agreed at the seventh inter-Korean ministerial talks held in Seoul in August to lead into each other both two cross-border railways and their parallel roads.

The reconnection of railway and road links has symbolic significance for inter-Korean reconciliation, however it also expected to bring tangible benefits to the couple Koreas.

Maj. Gen James Soligan from the UNC which inspects the armistice agreement that propose an end to the 1950-1953 Korean War, signed Thursday's agreement with Lt Gen Ri Chan Bok head of North Korean mission at Panmunjom.

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