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Koreas launch regular rail link Rail link reconnects two Koreas
(about 2 hours later)
The first regular rail service between North and South Korea since their 1950-1953 war has begun operating. The first regular rail service for more than 50 years has begun operating across the heavily fortified border between North and South Korea.
A 12-car cargo train, run by a Southern conductor and carrying raw materials for shoes, crossed into the North and was due back later on Tuesday. The flower-strewn cargo train, carrying raw materials for an industrial zone, left South Korea early in the morning.
The service runs on a 25-km (16-mile) section of track connecting Munsan in the South with Bongdong in the North. It will run 25km (16 miles) to Bongdong in the North and return the same day.
Hailed as a reconciliation milestone between the Koreas, the daily link was agreed at a leaders' summit in October. The service was agreed at an October summit between leaders of the Koreas, only the second since the peninsula was divided more than five decades ago.
The weekday freight service leads to a joint industrial zone in the North's border city of Kaesong. Cargo trains will cross the border every week day, slashing the cost of transporting goods to and from the jointly run Kaesong industrial zone, just north of the border.
Heavily fortified Several South Korean firms have bases in Kaesong, where they have access to cheaper labour.
Dozens of South Korean firms have bases in Kaesong, where they have access to cheaper labour. Until now trucks have been moving raw materials and finished goods back and forth across the border.
They have had to use trucks to move materials and goods back and forth across the heavily fortified border. Wider links
The new service is expected to slash the cost of transporting products over the border. Lee Chul, president of Korea Railroad, said that the economic benefits of the link were countless.
It comes months after the two sides conducted a one-time test run of passenger trains. THE TWO KOREAS 1910: Korean Peninsula colonised by Japan1945: Divided into US-backed South and Soviet-backed North1950-1953: Korean War, no peace deal signed1987: North Korea bombs a South airliner, killing 1151990s: South Korea introduces conciliatory Sunshine Policy2000: Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung hold first leaders' summit2007: Kim Jong-il and Roh Moo-hyun hold second leaders' summit class="" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/asia_pac/03/the_korean_war/html/default.stm">History of the Korean War
South Korea is also seeking regular passenger services, as well as wider rail links with North Korea and China, but Pyongyang has opposed this. "Though we start with a cargo train, it will lead to a passenger train service and will soon be linked to the continental trains," he told journalists as the train left South Korea.
Seoul is seeking wider rail links with North Korea that would allow connections to China, Russia and beyond, but Pyongyang has so far opposed this.
It is also seeking regular cross-border passenger services.
"I'm happy to drive this train to the North where both my parents were born," said driver Shin Jang-chul. "I hope not only cargos but tourists as well will use this train to go back and forth."
Rail lines between the two sides were severed during the 1950-53 Korean War. No peace deal was signed, meaning that North and South Korea remain technically at war.
But in recent years Seoul has pursued a policy of economic engagement with Pyongyang and worked to ease tensions.
Roads were reconnected following the first inter-Korean summit in 2000, and a second was held in Pyongyang in October.
There South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il signed a wide-ranging accord calling for greater peace and economic partnership.
The rail service is the first concrete achievement to come out of the summit.