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Pact on rail link safety

P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE: The militaries of North and South Koreas have agreed to ensure the safe passage of a train to be test-run on May 17 across the demilitarised zone.

Concluding a round of talks on Thursday at the inter-Korean truce village of Panmunjom, the two sides left open the question of providing "military security measures" on a long-term basis for the possible operation of regular train services across the sensitive zone. South Korea pressed for "standing measures" for a secure rail link instead of a one-off accord for the trial run.

The proposal of a trial run was agreed upon only last month, though the two, after the 2000 inter-Korean summit, had taken steps to reconnect the lines that remained disrupted since the war on the peninsula half a century earlier. There are two untested tracks across the zone.

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