Talks focus on cross-border projects

South Korea said on Monday that it would begin a series of working-level talks with North Korea this week on economic cooperation projects to follow up on an agreement made between their leaders on April 27.

The two countries plan to have a meeting to discuss connecting and modernizing cross-border railroads on Tuesday at the Peace House, a South Korean-controlled building at the border village of Panmunjom, the Unification Ministry said.

The South plans to send a three-member delegation led by Vice Transport Minister Kim Jeong-ryeol. His North Korean counterpart will be Vice Railroad Minister Kim Yun-hyok.

The two Koreas have also scheduled separate talks on road projects at Tongilgak, a North Korean-controlled building in Panmunjom, on Thursday.

The South will again be represented by Kim Jeong-ryeol. The North’s top delegate will be Pak Yong-ho, vice minister for environmental protection.

An inter-Korean meeting on forestry cooperation is set to take place next Wednesday but its location has not been decided yet, the ministry said.

Ryu Kwang-soo, vice head of the Korea Forest Service, will lead the South’s negotiating team, and the North will be represented by Kim Song-jun, a senior official in the Ministry of Land and Environmental Protection.

“Through the sub-committee meetings on rail, road and forestry cooperation, we will faithfully discuss ways to implement the Panmunjom Declaration,” the ministry said, “with the view of laying the groundwork for sustainable development of South-North relations and the establishment of lasting peace on the Korean Peninsula."

Yonhap