North and South Korea connect

Military officials of North and South Korea travelled across their fortified border yesterday for the first time since the Korean War to inspect each other's work on railways that will reconnect the two countries, divided for more than a half century.

South Korean Colonel Lee Myung Hoon, leading a 10-member delegation, walked across the border into the northern side of the 4km-wide demilitarised zone separating the two Koreas. They checked work on one of the two railways being prepared.

North Korean Colonel Park Ki Yong led nine officials across the zone to check the South's work on the second track under construction to the east.

Despite tensions over North Korea's suspected development of nuclear weapons, the Koreas agreed last week to connect the rail line.