Joint railway a breakthrough in Korea relationship

Kim Jong-un and Moon Jae-in meet during the historic inter-Korean Summit 2018


A pioneering plan to connect North and South Korea by train is continuing after the United Nations Security Council granted an exemption to sanctions against North Korea which were blocking the project taking place.
The project to modernise North Korea’s outdated railways and roads and reconnect them to the South was one of the many agreements reached between North Korean Leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in who met three times this year in an unprecedented diplomatic push which eased tensions over North Korea’s nuclear program. The railway is supposed to increase trade and tourism between the two Koreas and was intended to set the stage for future investments in the North if sanctions were lifted on Pyongyang.

The exemption allows surveys to take place on sections of the North Korean railroad needed for connection and will require the South to bring fuel and other goods to the North.
The project has hit a few snags, just two months ago in September, the project was blocked by the US-led United Nations Command (which has controlled movement across the Demilitarized zone since the end of the Korean War) and still has challenges to go. the Koreas cannot move much further with the project without the lifting of US-led sanctions against the North which the US has said cannot happen until Pyongyang takes more concrete steps towards denuclearisation.

Sanctions against the North have ramped up significantly since 2016 as a result of Pyongyang’s increased weapons testing and include trade bans on “dual use technology” which could potentially be used to make weapons, transport vehicles and machinery as well as import caps on fuel. These sanctions are combined with the US’s unilateral sanctions against the North which include a wide range of economic activities and target companies and individuals. The US sanctions also ban the transfer of refined petroleum products to the North, something which would be needed for the project.
This is a rare example of international cooperation between the North and South which will hopefully lead to increasing cooperation and communication between the Koreas and perhaps in the distant future, reunification. However, with the US refusing to budge on sanctions until North Korea makes concrete moves towards denuclearisation, the project can only go so far.

The US is impeding historic breakthroughs in the relationship between the North and South and actively sustaining the conflict by blocking the project. Although the North needs to denuclearise  the sanctions are preventing breakthrough in diplomacy between the Koreas, like the railway, from taking place. These projects which encourage cooperation and interaction between the Koreas are far more likely to result in reunification and denuclearization than harsh sanctions and isolation from the global community.

Original Article

Koreas gain UN permission to survey joint railway

Further Reading 

North and South Korea Get U.N.’s Go-Ahead to Study Joint Rail Project
US military blocks proposed railway linking North & South Korea Explains the US blocking of the railway from two months ago