FROM EIR DAILY ALERT

South Korea Proposes Northeast Asian Railroad Community, Including U.S.

Aug. 15, 2018 (EIRNS)—South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed, today, setting up the seven-nation railway community of Northeast Asian countries, which would include the United States as a projected partner, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Moon was speaking during celebrations of Liberation Day, commemorating the end of the 35-year Japanese occupation of Korea, at the end of World War II in 1945.

Yonhap news agency reported that Moon proposed that the two Koreas, together with the United States, Russia, China, Japan, and Mongolia, form what he called a “Northeast Asian railroad community,” which would

“lead to an energy bloc and economic bloc in Northeast Asia by expanding our economic area to the northern continent and becoming the foundation of co-existence and prosperity in Northeast Asia.”

Although he didn’t mention the four regional countries by name, the Presidential office Cheong Wa Dae later reported they were China, Japan, Russia, and Mongolia. Moon also expressed the hope that North and South Korean railways and motorways would be linked by the end of 2018. The agreement to modernize and connect North and South Korean railways was reached during the April 27 inter-Korean summit in Panmunjom.

“The development of South-North Korean relations is not an additional outcome of development in North Korea-U.S. ties. Rather, the development of South-North Korean relations is the driving force that promotes denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,”

Moon said.

The announcement follows the June 22 Moscow meeting between Moon Jae-in and Russian President Vladimir Putin, where the two states signed a memorandum between Russian rail monopoly RZD (Russian Railways) and Korea’s Korail company. In the document, the sides express their readiness to consider creating a rail link uniting South Korea, Russia, and Europe, as well as a three-party project to link the trans-Korean rail and Russia’s Trans-Siberian Railway Network.