S. Korean train leaves for N. Korea for rail, road link ceremony

Seoul : A South Korean train carrying about 100 people left from Dorasan Station, just south of the inter-Korean border, for the North Korea on Wednesday morning for the ceremony to modernise and connect railways and roads across the border.

The nine-car train, which departed from Seoul Station in South Korea's capital Seoul earlier in the day, left from the Dorasan Station at about 8:30 a.m. local time (2330 GMT Tuesday), local broadcaster YTN footage showed.

It transports the South Korean participants to Panmun Station in the North Korea's border town of Kaesong, where the groundbreaking ceremony is slated to start at 10 a.m. local time (0100 GMT), Xinhua news agency reported.

The South Korean participants included Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Kim Hyun-mee, and Lee Hae-chan, chief of the ruling Democratic Party.

From the North Korean side, Ri Son Gwon, chairman of the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland and Vice Railway Minister Kim Yun Hyok would attend the ceremony.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and top North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed during their first summit in April to modernise and eventually connect railways and roads across the inter-Korean border.

They agreed in their Pyongyang summit in September to hold the groundbreaking ceremony before the end of this year.