Defense ministers of 2 Koreas to meet, discuss rail link

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From wire reports

SEOUL, South Korea -- In the first such meeting in 50 years, defense ministers from North and South Korea are expected to hold historic talks later this month on a South Korean island, Seoul's Ministry of Defense said Sunday.

South Korean Defense Minister Cho Sung-tae and Kim Il Chul, minister for North Korea's People's Army, are scheduled to meet on Cheju Island, off the southern coast, from September 25 to 26, the ministry said.

The talks would mark the first meeting between the two Korea's defense ministers since the peninsula was divided into communist North Korea and pro-Western South Korea in 1945. Their 1950-1953 war ended only with an armistice, not a peace treaty.

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South Korea Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Jong-hwan said key topics in the defense ministers' meeting will include cooperation on the building of a cross-border railway and an expressway paralleling the rail line.

The rail links may be the most concrete evidence so far of the rapid thaw between the two Koreas. Even while technically remaining in a state of war, both countries are engaged in a whirlwind of events, which may signal a breakthrough in their half-century Cold War stalemate.

On Monday, South Korea is scheduled to start rebuilding the railway to link the two Korean capitals. North Korea also is expected to start construction soon.

South Korea's president has expressed hope that the rail project, traversing the Cold War's last militarized frontier, will be akin to the fall of the Berlin Wall more than a decade ago.

The two Koreas also are expected to mobilize thousands of soldiers to clear an estimated 1 million anti-personnel and anti-tank mines from the Demilitarized Zone dividing the countries. The upcoming meeting is expected to discuss the joint landmine-clearing effort, analysts say.

The rail project follows agreements struck at a historic Pyongyang summit last June between South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The two leaders pledged to work toward peace and eventual reunification. Warming relations between the two Koreas have continued since then.

Seoul also is likely to propose a military hotline and other issues that could help ease military tension on the peninsula.

The announcement of the defense ministers' meeting came after North Korea sent a letter on Sunday to propose Cheju as the site for the talks instead of Hong Kong.

South Korea had earlier proposed Hong Kong after Pyongyang offered a choice of either Beijing or Hong Kong.

"Cheju was selected as the venue because both countries realized they didn't have enough time to complete arrangements for talks in a third country," South Korea's defense ministry spokesman explained.

The two Koreas agreed last week to hold the talks in a joint statement ending a four-day visit by an envoy for North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The landmark defense ministers meeting follow a series of meetings held since the two Koreas pledged to improve relations during their first-ever summit last June. That summit produced a joint statement aimed at improving bilateral relations.

Since then, both Koreas also taken steps to ease tensions with bilateral meetings focused on increasing social and economic exchanges.

Kim Dae-jung's "sunshine policy" of greater engagement with the North has stressed such exchanges as a first step toward ending their bitter confrontation.

The cross-border railway is seen as a vital economic link between the two Koreas, one that will help expand inter-Korean economic cooperation by slashing transportation costs. Scheduled for completion by next September, the rail line will stretch from South Korea's capital Seoul to Shinuiju, on North Korea's northern border with China.

Moreover, the railway would lay the groundwork for an international rail line that would give shippers in Japan and Korea a faster and more inexpensive route to Europe via the Trans-Siberian Railroad.

South Korea also hopes the railway will ultimately link with railroads in Northern China and Mongolia, and on to Europe.

Russian President Vladimir Putin appears eager to pursue a plan that could revitalize long-neglected Siberia. He discussed the plan with Kim Jong-il on a visit to Pyongyang in July, and he talked about it with Kim Dae-jung on the sidelines of the recent United Nations Millennium Summit.

South Korean President Kim Dae-jung, for his part, has described the restoration of the 12.5 mile (20 km) road and railway as an "Iron Silk Road" linking the Far East to Europe through China and Russia.

The South Korean government has earmarked 54.7 billion won ($49.0 million) to restore its 7.5 mile (12 km) portion of the railway, blown up in the early days of the Korean War. Another 100 million won has been allocated to build a four-lane highway on its side of the border paralleling the railroad.

North Korea is responsible for the repairing the other 8 kilometers of severed track and for upgrading the line to Shinuiju on its border with China.

Conservative hard-liners in South Korea, led by former president Kim Young-sam, worry things are going too fast. They see the restored railway as a kind of Trojan horse that will make it all the easier for an unregenerate North to invade again.

They also were outraged when South Korea recently repatriated 63 North Korean spies without reciprocal action from Pyongyang on the estimated 800 Korean War prisoners and kidnap victims believed to be held in the North.

But if the railway plan goes as contemplated, a major step will be taken to reducing confrontation in one of the world's most dangerous spots.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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