KEY POINTS:
The first cargo train providing regular service across the border between the two Koreas in more than a half-century left yesterday for the North.
The 12-car train carrying construction materials crossed through the heavily fortified Demilitarised Zone dividing the peninsula on its journey to the North Korean border city of Kaesong, where the two Koreas operate a joint industrial zone. It was to cross back late yesterday.
The service is one of the tangible results from an October summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun. It comes months after the two sides conducted a test run of passenger trains on two reconnected tracks on the western and eastern sides of the peninsula.
The cargo train will make a 16.5km round trip every weekday.
It remains unclear whether a regular passenger train service will start anytime soon, but one of the train's engineers was hopeful.
"I expect a day will come when South Koreans visit North Korean tourist attractions freely by train," Shin Jang-chul, whose parents are from North Korea, said before departing.
- AP
