Koreas to conduct joint study on linking motorways

South Korean delegates, led by Vice Transport Minister Kim Jeong-ryeol, center, are greeted by North Korean officials as they cross the border line at Panmunjeom for talks on reconnecting roads, Thursday. / Courtesy of Unification Ministry

By Park Ji-won, Joint Press Corps

The two Koreas agreed Thursday to form a joint research team to study reconnecting roads across their border and modernizing the highways in the North.

In working-level talks at Tongilgak, the northern side of Panmunjeom, delegates from the two Koreas agreed to check on the conditions of the North's highway between Gaeseong and Pyongyang on the western side of the Korean Peninsula in early August, and the roads between Goseong and Wonsan on the east coast afterward.

Goseong is a North Korean city north of the border, with South Korea having a city with the same name south of the border.

Connecting and modernizing roads was part of the Panmunjeom Declaration reached at the April 27 inter-Korean summit,.

The two agreed to jointly conduct the design and repair work for the roads and hold a groundbreaking ceremony as soon as possible, when necessary steps are taken.

But they did not mention anything about constructing roads between the North's Gaeseong and the South's Munsan, just south of the border. If the 19-kilometer section is completed, vehicles could travel from Seoul all the way to Pyongyang.

The two Koreas pushed for building a highway between Gaeseong and Munsan in 2015, but the plan fell through due to strained relations between the two countries after the North's fourth nuclear test in January 2016.

The talks were led by the South's Vice Transport Minister Kim Jeong-ryeol and the North's Pak Ho-yong, vice minister for land and environmental protection.

Earlier on Tuesday, the two Koreas talked about connecting railways between the two countries and modernizing the North's railway system. For that, they will start a joint study in late July.