South Korea to revive stalled rail project that could connect to North Korea

South Korea has announced plans to resume work on a railway section that could potentially link to North Korea's eastern city of Wonsan, a decade after the project was halted.

South Korea will restart work on a railway ‌section that could eventually link to North Korea's eastern city of Wonsan, the Unification Ministry said on Wednesday, reviving a project halted for a decade despite frozen relations with Pyongyang.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said in a presidential briefing the government would resume restoration of a disconnected section of the ‌Gyeongwon Line near the Demilitarized Zone along the border with North Korea, a project launched in 2015 and suspended the following year. A ‌ministry press release said the railway, which begins in Seoul, could serve as a future connection to Wonsan, a key city on North Korea's eastern coast.

North Korea has poured resources into developing the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, a sprawling beach resort that opened last year with capacity for about 20,000 visitors and which Kim has described as ⁠a model ​for expanding the country's tourism industry. The ⁠Unification Ministry's announcement comes despite North Korea's move in 2024 to blow up road and rail links across the heavily fortified border as part of its drive to ⁠redefine South Korea as a hostile state.

The ministry said the railway project would improve access to peace and ecological tourism sites in the Demilitarized Zone and ​help spur economic activity in border regions. South Korean President Lee Jae Myung acknowledged the difficulties of pursuing engagement with an ⁠unresponsive North that has repeatedly rebuffed his calls for rapprochement.

"It may feel like shouting into an echo-less void," Lee said at the briefing. "But peace and coexistence remain an important task. ⁠However ​difficult, we have to continue pursuing that policy." The ministry also proposed expanding the use of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, a government fund established to support exchanges and humanitarian projects involving North Korea, to a wider range of uses domestically.

With most cross-border programmes suspended since 2016 following ⁠North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, only around 2% to 3% of the fund has been spent annually over the past decade, Chung ⁠said. Lee noted the fund had ⁠accumulated because there had been little opportunity to spend it, saying: "So the idea is to revise the enforcement decree and broaden its uses. That sounds reasonable."

Chung said the ministry would also seek regulatory changes allowing ‌the fund to support ‌border-area projects, peace economy initiatives, reunification activities and North Korea studies.