50 Billion Won Loan to North: South Provide Materials and Equipment

North and South announced that they plan to construct a temporary bridge connecting the northern part of Kosung County of Kwangwon Province, and the northern part of Songhyun Ri by the end of November. From early December, traffic would run over it. Therefore, tourism of Mt. Kum Kang could be made possible over land by the end of this year.

Two Koreas will also have the groundbreaking ceremonies for the building of the railroads and roads running from Kyungui Line and Donghae Railroad. For Kyungui Line, South will have the ceremony at Mt. Dora station, and North will have at the Kaesung station. For Donghae Line, the ceremony will be held separately at Unification Observatory of South, and at the Onjung station of North.

But, both sides agree that no stations will be constructed within the demilitarized zone (DMZ) and that the diesel engines will run on the leg connecting the northern and southern ends of Kyungui Line and Donghae Line.

On September 17, 2002, North and South held a working-level talk for construction of railroads and roads at Mt. Kum Kang, and adopted an agreement on 7 major issues including the ones mentioned above.

Under the agreement, South will provide North with a loan package of construction materials and equipment worth 50 billion won (approximately $50 million), first of which will be supplied to North within this month.

In addition, to secure the safety of the workers during the construction period, put into effect is a military agreement securing the safety of the workers within the DMZ as of 11 a.m., Sep. 17.

Kim Kyung-duk, the chief representative of South in the military working-level talk, who is also a high-ranking official of Ministry of Defense, suggested to his counterpart, “Let’s try our best to hold the second meeting of Defense Ministers as soon as possible. Then, we could have an opportunity to discuss all military issues between us and build up trust between us.”

Young-Sik Kim Sang-Ho Yun spear@donga.com ysh1005@donga.com