UN grants sanctions exemption for Korea railway survey

Yahoo – AFP, 24 November 2018

The two Koreas have agreed to start surveys on reconnecting railways across
the border between North and South

The UN Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption for the two Koreas to jointly conduct a survey on reconnecting railways across their border, a spokesman for the South Korean presidency said Saturday.

The two Koreas last month agreed to start the survey no later than late October and to hold the groundbreaking ceremony sometime between late November and early December, as the countries pursue a reconciliation drive.

But the possibility of the project running up against UN sanctions imposed on North Korea over its nuclear programmes has caused delays.

"It is significant that this project has received support from the United States and international community", said Kim Eui-Gyeom, spokesman for the presidential Blue House in Seoul.

Railway experts from both sides will criss-cross the country on survey trains together, Kim said in a statement, adding that the process will "bring inter-Korean cooperation to a new level".

Yonhap news agency said the South was expected to bring fuel for train locomotives, and other unspecified materials for the survey in the North.

Delivering fuel to North Korea could potentially have been in breach of a UN cap limiting imports to 500,000 barrels a year.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday any inter-Korean rapprochement had to move forward "in tandem" with efforts to denuclearise the peninsula, and could not come sooner.

US president Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held a historic summit in Singapore earlier this year, signing a vaguely worded deal on denuclearisation.

But since then, talks on denuclearisation have stalled, with meetings either deemed unproductive, pushed back or cancelled altogether.

The US and South Korea have launched a working group to make sure that they don't "talk past each other", Pompeo said, as Seoul and Pyongyang appear to be moving ahead with their rapprochement more quickly than Washington and the North are making headway on nuclear disarmament.

A second leaders' summit is expected to take place in early 2019, according to Washington.

In the meantime, North and South Korea have made several concrete decisions on reconciliation and exchanges.

But the implementation of cross-border projects such as the reconnection of railways have been hamstrung by the lack of progress in denuclearisation talks.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) advocates talking to the North's leader
Kim Jong Un to push him to denuclearise (AFP Photo)

Related Article:

Seoul earmarks more than $260 mn for rail, roads in North

Seoul earmarks more than $260 mn for rail, roads in North

Yahoo – AFP, November 8, 2018

South Korean President Moon Jae-in (L) advocates talking to the North's leader
Kim Jong Un to push him to denuclearise (AFP Photo)

Seoul (AFP) - South Korea has earmarked more than $260 million to build new railways and roads in the North, an official said Thursday, as Seoul pushes ahead with cross-border projects despite international sanctions on Pyongyang.

The figure comes as Seoul and Washington follow increasingly divergent approaches to Pyongyang, with the South pursuing engagement while the US insists pressure on it should be maintained until it denuclearises.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in offered to help upgrade the North's outdated rail and road infrastructure and connect it with the South's in meetings this year with the North's leader Kim Jong Un.

Seoul plans to spend about 295.1 billion won ($264 million) on the schemes next year, an official at Seoul's unification ministry told reporters, with most of it -- 186.4 billion won -- given freely and 108.7 billion won in loans.

"It is an estimate for now... we will continue efforts, including policy coordination with the US, to carry out the projects agreed between the two Koreas without a hitch," said the official who declined to be named.

Security allies Seoul and Washington agreed last week to set up a new working group to co-ordinate policy amid growing concerns in the US over Moon's approach.

The official's comments came as a Southern lawmaker accused Seoul of ignoring UN sanctions on the North.

"The US maintains the position that it would maintain maximum pressure until the North produces visible progress on denuclearisation and so does the international community including the EU," Chung Byoung-gug told the JoongAng Ilbo newspaper.

"The budget allocation by our government may make it look like our government is undermining international coordination on sanctions on the North," he was quoted as saying.

The isolated, impoverished North is under multiple sets of sanctions imposed over past nuclear and missile tests staged in violation of UN resolutions.

Lifting the measures -- which bans much of its trade including coal exports -- is a key demand of Pyongyang's in its ongoing denuclearisation talks with the US.

Kim and Donald Trump held a historic summit in June in Singapore and signed a vaguely worded deal on denuclearisation, but little progress has been made since then, with the two countries sparring over the exact meaning of the agreement.

Planned talks between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and one of Kim's right-hand men, Kim Yong Chol, were also delayed this week.

Moon -- a dove who advocates dialogue with the North to push it towards denuclearisation -- has met Kim three times so far this year and another summit is being planned in Seoul.

North Korea opens new showcase airport terminal

Yahoo – AFP, Park Chan-Kyong, 2 July 2015

The opening ceremony for the new airport terminal for Pyongyang International

Airport takes place in the North Korean capital on July 1, 2015 (AFP Photo)

North Korea has opened a sleek new airport terminal, hailing it as a showcase of leader Kim Jong-Un's achievement after its construction had to be stopped halfway and redone at his whim.

Terminal 2 of Pyongyang International Airport, which is reserved for international civilian flights, opened for service on Wednesday, state media said.

"The terminal was built in a modern way from the gatepost to the airport to departure lounge, entry formalities hall, service halls, etc.," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

A general view of the new terminal at 

Pyongyang International Airport, seen 

on July 1, 2015 (AFP Photo)

Late last year, the country's supreme leader ordered workers to demolish and rebuild portions of the new terminal, after they failed to execute the leadership's architectural vision for the building.

Pictures released by KCNA showed a glass-fronted, marble-floored terminal, a far cry from the old, drab socialist-style building.

One of the most outstanding differences was the presence of elevated passenger boarding walkways. In the past, travellers had to walk or drive across the tarmac to board their aircraft.

The terminal also appears to be fitted out with a coffee bar and a duty-free store stocked with chocolate Mars bars, Werther's Original candy and bottled beers.

During the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Pak Pong-Ju credited Kim's "ardent patriotic will and unremitting efforts" for putting the country's aviation sector on "a world level", according to KCNA.

Aviation enthusiast

Kim took power in 2011 after the death of his father Kim Jong-Il, who was afraid of flying and travelled everywhere by train.

But his son, who studied in Switzerland as a teenager, has shown a keen interest in aviation, flying a North Korean-made light plane himself in March, according to a video released by the North.

He has issued directives to improve the nation's inflight services and redesign Koryo Air's flight attendant uniforms, after the country's sole civilian airline came in for international mockery.

In July 2012, Kim ordered construction of the new terminal because the existing facility was considered too small and shabby compared with foreign rivals.

But in November last year, Kim stopped work on the project after inspecting the site.

The new terminal had to be partly demolished on Kim's order after he said the layout looked like "a copy" of a foreign facility.

He reproached workers for failing to carry out an earlier order from July that the project should reflect North Korea's "Juche" (self-reliance) philosophy and national identify.

Kim said there were "deviations in the interior layout including halls for check-in and departure", KCNA reported last November. Parts of these facilities had to be rebuilt as a result.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, accompanied by his wife Ri Sol-Ju, inspects

 the new terminal at Pyongyang International Airport, on June 25, 2015 (AFP Photo)

North Korean architecture is characterised by its monumental but sombre, socialist style that incorporates propaganda symbols of the communist state.

With the new terminal in place, the airport's other existing terminal is expected to be used only for the country's few domestic routes.

But the facility risks being virtually empty as Pyongyang receives few foreign flights, which mostly originate from Beijing and Moscow.

The new terminal is six times larger than the old one, but it remains unclear how North Korea will be able to generate the passenger numbers that would justify its construction.

However, the young leader has a penchant for showpiece construction projects.

Under his direction, a ski resort, water park and equestrian course have been built, but they are beyond the reach of the average citizen in the impoverished Stalinist state.

Since taking power, Kim has mobilised twice as many soldiers as his father, deploying some 200,000 soldiers -- one out of every five active servicemen -- to construction sites nationwide, including the airport terminal, resorts, public buildings and apartments.

Border city Tumen launches bicycle tours to North Korea

Want China Times, Xinhua 2014-05-04

The first batch of Chinese cyclists ride into North Korea, May 2. (Photo/Xinhua)

A border city in northeastern China has launched bicycle tours to neighboring North Korea.

Thirty-five Chinese tourists joined the first self-drive travel by bicycle from Tumen city in Jilin province to North Korea's Namyang city on Friday, said organizers. The tourists spent three hours across the border.

The bicycle tour, open to tourists from China, is inexpensive and only needs simple procedures, said an official of the Tumen Tourism Bureau. He said the route is expected to attract more tourists to the country.

Excursions by train from Tumen to North Korea's Chilbosan resumed on Wednesday. The tourist train was launched in April 2012, but was later suspended. Tumen also has highway and railway services to North Korea.

New uniforms for North Korean airline attendants

Want China Times, Staff Reporter 2013-11-15

A flight attendant sporting the new uniform. (Internet Photo)

Air Koryo, North Korea's state-owned airline, has changed the uniforms of their flight attendants, according to the Facebook page of a Beijing-based travel agency that specializes in offering tours to the country, reports the Global Times, an English-language Chinese newspaper that operates under the Communist Party mouthpiece People's Daily.

The Facebook page of Koryo Tours shows Air Koryo flight attendants wearing collar-less uniforms that feature a deeper neckline and caps with gold lining. The color of the uniforms was changed from red to navy blue and the skirts are shorter and stop above the knees.

Each attendant is wearing a badge bearing the image of the country's late leader Kim Jong-il. The flight attendants in the new uniforms are associated with the Moranbong Band, an all-female music group formed by the country's new leader Kim Jong-un, according to experts.

The change was reportedly an order given by Kim Jong-un to "meet the demands of the new century."

Putin Builds North Korea Rail to Circumvent Suez Canal

Jakarta Globe – Bloomberg, Ekaterina Shatalova & Nicholas Brautlecht, Oct 16, 2013

A train operated by OAO Russian Railways arrives for the opening ceremony
 of a reconstructed rail link between Khasan station in Russia to Rajin Port in
North Korea on Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013. (Bloomberg Photo)

Vladimir Putin is inching closer to his goal of turning Russia into a major transit route for trade between eastern Asia and Europe by prying open North Korea, a nuclear-capable dictatorship isolated for half a century.

Russia last month completed the first land link that North Korea’s Stalinist regime has allowed to the outside world since 2003. Running between Khasan in Russia’s southeastern corner and North Korea’s rebuilt port of Rajin, the 54-kilometer rail link is part of a project President Putin is pushing that would reunite the railway systems of the two Koreas and tie them to the Trans-Siberian Railway.

That would give Putin partial control over links to European train networks 8,000 kilometers away. The route is as much as three times faster than shipping via Egypt’s Suez Canal, which handles 17,000 ships a year, accounts for about 8 percent of maritime trade — and is increasingly beset by pirates and political instability in Egypt and Syria.

“Shipping companies face higher costs to secure their cargo,” said Thomas Straubhaar, director of the Hamburg Institute of International Economics, in an e-mailed response to questions. “The rail route will get attractive if Russia increases efforts to ensure a secure and reliable transport on the long stretch between Asia and Europe. Customers don’t want their Porsche to be stolen along the way.”

OAO Mechel, Russia’s biggest supplier of steel-making coal, will be among the customers in the first stage of the North Korea project, sending shipments eastward to Asian consumers, according to Moscow-based Russian Railways. The Rajin facility also can be refitted to move Asian goods westward to Europe. Mechel’s press service in Moscow declined to comment.

Shipments to and from western Europe and Rajin will be delivered in just 14 days, compared with 45 days by ship, OAO Russian Railways Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Yakunin told reporters in North Korea Sept. 22.

Getting the two Koreas to work together on the railway and a long-stalled plan to build a pipeline to supply both Koreas with Russian natural gas is fraught with financial and political hurdles, said Fyodor Lukyanov, head of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy research group in Moscow. They stem from North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and lingering animosity from the 1950-1953 Korean War.

“Russia’s position is to get North Korea involved in profitable projects to make them realize that cooperation is better than isolation,” Lukyanov said by phone from the Russian capital.

Nuclear development

North Korea is under United Nations sanctions for its atomic program. Six-nation talks that were designed to remove nuclear weapons from the peninsula were abandoned in 2009, when it detonated another device. The Koreas are technically still at war, having ended their military conflict with an armistice rather than a formal peace treaty. In 2003, the two countries opened a highway through their demilitarized zone, one of the most heavily armed borders in the world.

“The Korean project is strategically important for Russian Railways,” said Igor Golubev, an analyst at OAO Promsvyazbank in Moscow. “But it shouldn’t expect fast returns on its investment because at this point I doubt global companies are willing to risk sending cargo via North Korea.”

While Russian Railways says time savings will make up for the higher costs compared with the Suez route, the services train operators already run between China and Europe are too costly, said Michael Tasto, an economist at the German Institute of Shipping Economics and Logistics. They thus lack the capacity to take major market share from container-shipping companies such as A.P. Moeller-Maersk.

“The rail route is faster but more expensive, so it will probably become a niche product,” Tasto said by phone Oct. 7. “Cargo trains are not mass-transportation vehicles like container ships.”

None of that has stopped Russian Railways and its partners in the European Union and China from developing new links between the world’s two largest exporters, touting the routes as alternatives far removed from the political instability in Egypt and the wider Middle East.

Far East Land Bridge, a Russian Railways venture, opened a new service between Suzhou in eastern China and Warsaw on Sept. 30. The first shipment, of “electronic and technology items,” will make the 7,600-kilometer journey in 14 days, linking with the Trans-Siberian via Mongolia and reaching Poland through Belarus, the Vienna-based company said in a statement Oct. 7.

Direct link

Russian Railways and its counterparts in China and Germany in August introduced a direct link between Hamburg and Zhengzhou in north-central China that takes as little as 15 days and travels through Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland.

“Our goal is a daily service,” Ruediger Grube, CEO of Deutsche Bahn, said after 51 shipping containers of goods from China arrived in Hamburg by train on Aug. 2.

The Russian and German rail operators opened an 11,000-kilometer service between Chongqing in southwest China and the German transport hub of Duisburg via Kazakhstan, Russia, Belarus and Poland in 2011. The travel time varies from 16 days to 23 days, according DB Schenker, Deutsche Bahn’s cargo unit.

Major customers include BMW, which ships auto parts west to factories in China, and Hewlett-Packard, which transports computers the other way.

While the Chongqing line is focused on shipments between Europe and China, the Korean link caters to traffic between Europe and the rest of eastern Asia, Russian Railways said. China, Japan and South Korea together account for about a quarter of the global economy.

Korean support

Putin has urged South Korean President Park Geun Hye, who assumed office in February, to work with North Korea on relinking their rail networks, most recently last month at the Group of 20 summit in St. Petersburg. Park publicly affirmed her commitment to reunifying the Trans-Korean when she met with officials in Busan, South Korea’s largest port, in July.

Putin plans to make his third state visit to Seoul for talks with Park in mid-November, Chosun Ilbo reported Oct. 1, without saying where it got the information. Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s spokesman, declined to comment on the report.

North and South Korea resumed cross-border rail service in 2007 for the first time in 56 years amid a mood of detente, though North Korea closed it down after 18 months and hasn’t reopened it since.

“I have personally dreamed of a railway that starts at Busan and reaches Europe via Russia,” Park told Putin at the summit, according to the website of her presidential Blue House office. “It is an important agenda item for the new government to strengthen Eurasia cooperation.”

Bloomberg