Summary
South Korea and North Korea have agreed to re-establish a rail link that has been broken for half a century. The inter-Korean rail link, while symbolic, also lays the groundwork for overland transportation links from East Asia to Europe via Russia and China. While this promises economic growth and integration in the region, it may also spur increased competition between Russia and China, as they vie for a greater share of the Eurasian shipping.
Analysis
South and North Korea agreed to re-connect a rail line that links Seoul with Pyongyang, during ministerial level meetings on July 31. The agreement to rebuild and upgrade the Seoul-Shinuiju railway lays the groundwork for a proposed international railway that would link East Asia with Europe, via Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railroad.
The expanded overland transportation service will enhance the economic integration of East Asia and Russia’s Far East. In linking its economic future with Asia, Moscow will in turn attempt to wield greater influence in East Asia – particularly in the Koreas and Japan – potentially triggering greater competition with China.
The agreement to rebuild the 12-mile missing link along Korea’s western coast and through the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) is part of a larger effort to integrate and upgrade the transportation infrastructure on the Korean Peninsula. The plan also includes upgrading the North Korean section of the track, which runs 318 miles from Seoul through the DMZ, through Pyongyang, and terminates in Shinuiju, on the border with China.
The rail line will fundamentally change the nature of trade and industry in the region. First, it will set the stage for industrial development in a reunified Korea; a large portion of South Korea’s new industrial developments in North Korea will be along the western coast. The rail line would allow rapid and efficient transportation of materials, finished goods and equipment between South Korean businesses and their affiliates and factories in the North.
More importantly, the new link is intended to dramatically cut shipping time between Northeast Asia and Europe. The rail line is the first step in South Korean President Kim Dae Jung’s “iron Silk Road,” which will link South Korea by land to Europe and Central Asia. According to South Korea’s Ministry of Construction and Transportation, connecting South Korea to Europe via the Trans-China Railway will reduce shipping time from three weeks by sea to one week by rail. South Korean estimates suggest that North Korea stands to gain $100 million a year in railway fees if the connections become operational.
The creation of a greater Eurasian railway system could reshape economic relations between Northeast Asian nations as well as relations with Russia. South Korea has already begun to redefine the Korean Peninsula as the hub of the region, with spokes leading out to Russia, China and Japan.
On the grandest scale, South Korea is positioning itself as the vital link in a chain that will connect Europe to Asia and Asia, via the Pacific, to North and South America. The plan includes the new international airport in Inchon, better harbor facilities and high speed rail lines that connect Pusan in the Southeast with Shinuiju in the Northwest, as well as Mokpo in the Southwest with Ranjin in the Northeast. These would connect in the North with Russian and Chinese rail lines, and in the south with Southeast Asian shipping routes and a potential undersea rail line from Japan to Pusan.
The link via China is to be followed by links from South Korea to Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway, according to reports. Russia has for some time urged North Korea to open its rail lines to allow transshipment between Russia and Korea – and further between Europe and East Asia. Russian President Vladimir Putin was reported to have broached the subject during his landmark visit to Pyongyang in July.
But the real beneficiary in this will be Russia. For Russia, the prospect of serving as a land-route from East Asia to Europe offers tremendous economic possibilities. Russia’s Far East has, until recently, suffered from Moscow’s neglect. Under Putin, Russia has at least voiced an intent to shift its attention to Asia, and build up the deteriorated economic infrastructure of the Far East.
Russian infrastructure in the region, however, has deteriorated significantly since its heyday during the Cold War. In 1981, for instance, the Trans-Siberian railway carried 20 percent of container traffic between Japan and Europe. Such land-based trade all but evaporated after 1996. In 1998, power to portions of the Trans-Siberian Railway was cut by Russia’s Unified Energy System, because of unpaid bills. Since 1998, the railway has been the frequent target of strikers.
Clearly, though, Moscow and other regional governments are positioning these rail links as new and efficient routes for shipping. Japanese shippers stand to save between 10 percent and 15 percent on overland transportation to Europe – and cut weeks off transport times, according to a representative of the Transport Service System, a subsidiary of the Trans-Siberian Railway. While Japanese Ministry of Transportation figures are more conservative – predicting that two to three days can be saved – they suggest that if the Trans-Siberian Railroad is kept in good operating order, it can once again provide a competitive shipping route to Europe.
Russia will gain revenues and will attempt to entice investors to develop its Far East. Moscow’s economic policy will increasingly focus on Asian capitals, as well, competing for influence with Beijing.
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[Editorial]
Creation of Silkroad of Iron
Korea Times
8 August 2000The South and North Korea agreed to restore the damaged section of the Kyongui Railroad Line linking Seoul and Shinuiju, a North Korean city bordering China, for inter-Korean railroad operation in the two Koreas' high-level officials talks held Sunday through Monday in Seoul. The basic agreement for the coveted project was reached earlier between President Kim Dae-jung and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il during the first-ever summit in Pyongyang last June.
The railroad project is considered to be the highlight among a set of agreements reached during the recent South-North talks as reconnection of the South-North railway, which has remained closed since the territorial division in 1945, if realized, could have greater significance than any other development.
President Kim, further heightening people's expectations, said that he had agreed with Russian President Vladimir Putin through a telephone conversation Tuesday to make a joint effort for the restoration of the Kyongwon Railway Line linking Seoul and Wonsan, a North Korean port city in East coast. He made the revelation at a reception to congratulate the 40th founding anniversary of The Seoul Economic Daily, a sister paper of The Korea Times, at the 63 Building in Yoido, Tuesday evening.
A new agreement with North Korea will be needed for the restoration of the Kyongwon Line. But, there seems to be no reason for the North to oppose the fresh proposal as it has already agreed to link the Kyongui Line which used to serve as the main transportation artery of the Korean peninsula. The Kyongui Railway Line, connected to Kyongbu Line linking Seoul and the southern port city of Pusan, was constructed by Japan in 1906 to facilitate their colonial rule on the Koran peninsula and their advance into Manchuria.
The restoration of both lines, if realized, will make it possible to establish V-shaped two-tier railway lines running through Europe. The Kyongui Line which stretches along the regions near the West Coast is set to be connected to the Trans Chinese Railway (TCR) and the Kyongwon Line along the East Coast to the Trans Siberian Railway (TSR).
The reconnection of the lines will be able to slash transportation cost in the South-North economic exchanges to one fifth of the current level and the cost of transporting commodities bound for European destinations can be cut by about 30 percent by shortening the transportation period from the current span of more than 30 days to 10 days.
Considering the possibility that the railway lines can be connected to Japan through an undersea tunnel, the Korean peninsula may see its transformation into a center for commodity transportation in Northeast Asia.
In addition to such advantages, the inter-Korean railway system will enable North Korea, China and Russia to gain enormous profit by the passage of a gigantic amount of cargo through their territories. That is why Russia and China are positive toward the realization of the inter-Korean railway linkage. Even former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung was learnt to have shown keen interest in the project during his lifetime. He reportedly told a Belgium labor party leader visiting Pyongyang shortly before his death in 1994 that the inter-Korean railroad system would bring the North some $1.5 billion of profit annually to his country.
However, the openness of North Korean society, though limited, is a prerequisite to the realization of the railway linkage. The Stalinist country has been opposed to opening their society to the outside world mainly to disallow their people from intermingling with those from the South or other parts of the world from the fear of disrupting their political system. In fact, the two Koreas reached an accord under the 1991 basic agreement to connect the damaged section of the Kyongui Line. But, the subsequent crisis on the
Korean peninsula, touched off by the North's nuclear weapons' program, blocked the progress of the project.
The agreement this time however is believed to be different from the those of the past. It will not be easy for the North to find any excuse to disrupt the accord, reached during
the South-North summit, as long as it is really meant to bring about peace and stability on the peninsula as was stipulated in the summit agreement. The government is also required to establish cooperative relationship with Russia and China for the realization of the project.
Another obstacle along the way of restoring inter-Korean railways is how to secure the large amount of money needed for the linkage. Some 20km section of the 499Km-long Kyongui Line, has remained destroyed since the Korean War. In addition to the reconstruction of the damaged section, most of the existing railways in the North are in need of refurbishing. The government is asked to seek ways of attracting foreign investment for the project.
The reconnection of the South-North railways will apparently serve as a modern version of "Silkroad," that can bring about economic prosperity on the Korean peninsula and the surrounding region. Aside from economic advantages, the railway connection will also expand our sphere of activities far across the continents. The mere thought of boarding a train in Seoul bound for Beijing, Moscow, or other European cities will fill people with dreams and hopes. The coveted projects will play a role to recover the homogeneity between the people of two Koreas by facilitating their mutual contacts, a step needed for eventual reunification sometime in the future.
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