ROK, DPRK hold groundbreaking rail, road connection ceremony

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea (ROK) and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Wednesday held a groundbreaking ceremony to modernize and eventually connect railways and roads across the inter-Korean border.

The ceremony was held at Panmun Station in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong, attended by some 100 participants from both sides, according to Seoul's unification ministry.

The ceremony started at around 10:00 am local time as scheduled with the music performance by a DPRK brass band.

ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un agreed at their Pyongyang summit in September to hold the groundbreaking ceremony before the end of this year.

Moon and Kim agreed at their first summit in April to modernize and eventually connect railways and roads along the eastern and western Korean Peninsula.

Kim Yun-hyok, the DPRK railway minister, said in a congratulatory speech that the ceremony was held at a historical moment when the peninsula was into a historical turning point and the desire for peace and prosperity got stronger than ever.

He said the ceremony would become an opportunity to actively push for a balanced development between the two Koreas and a co-prosperity in Northeast Asia and the entire world, according to a pool report from the ROK journalists provided by Seoul's unification ministry.