Reconnecting the Trans-Korean Railway and future aspirations of Northeast Asia Railway Network

최근 남북.대륙철도 협력현황과 동북아철도협력 구상

South and North Koreas are putting forth efforts to overcome the distrust and animosity of the past 50 years to open an era of harmony and cooperation where the two halves can work together for mutual benefits. As part of those efforts, both parties are working now to reconnect the railways between the North and the South that remained broken for the past 60 years. In addition, the restoration of Trans-Korean railway paves the way for the "Silk Road Railway" which links European continent to Asian regions and Pacific Rim. The restoration project acts as a conduit for cooperation within in the Northeast Asian continent, hence, an important tool for facilitating peace and prosperity within the Northeast Asian region. Notably, the Railway project is regarded as the cardinal future-oriented peace building project for cultivating constructive, cooperative relations (Trans-Korean Railway and Trans-Asian Railway works) by stimulating human resources and commodity flows through railroad transportations. Northeast Asian region takes on a similar instance to the unification of European continent through its astounding development in railroad transportation, i.e., the international re-construction of Railroad lines will act as a catalyst to link Eurasian areas into one regional community for cooperation and peace. At present, the government is creating a momentum to bind trans-Eurasian railroad works and an initiative for "Northeast Asia Railroad networks and consultative organization". The South Korean administration paves the way to develop railroad network within South-North Korean, Russia and Eurasian region. It also fosters railroad cooperation with China for people and goods transports. To achieve such objectives, the project requires wide publicity and cross-border cooperation from concerned countries. The blueprint would have to be drafted up for Northeast Asian railroad train demonstration runs, Northeast Asian transportation agreements, with a bid to promote constitute Northeast Asian Railroad Consultation body. Moreover, the government would also have to prepare both, a draft of the linkage and the mandated standardized proposal.