South Korea plans £26bn rail link with Russia in wake of North Korea summit

A $35 billion (£26 billion) railtrack that would link North and South Korea to Moscow is among a flurry of ambitious economic projects being discussed in the wake of the Singapore summit between Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump, the US president. 

The fragile international détente has spurred a wave of excitement among global investors keen to capitalise on the opening up of the mineral-rich hermit kingdom, despite sanctions over its nuclear and weapons programmes still remaining in place. 

Key to that investment would be an upgrade of North Korea’s creaking infrastructure and ageing railway system, stretches of which can only allow slowing moving trains travelling at about 30mph, reported the website, Noon in Korea. 

On a rare South Korean state visit to Russia at the weekend, President Moon Jae-in suggested a “Northern Silk Road” that would enable the connection of the whole of the Korean Peninsula with the Trans-Siberian railway, the longest railway line in the world and a key transport link to Europe. 

Mr Moon, accompanied by South Korean rail officials, made his proposal to President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, and the Russian parliament, along with plans to boost energy links across the region and to raise South Korea-Russia trade to over $30 billion by 2020. 

Draft proposals reportedly suggest a high speed line connecting the South Korean capital, Seoul, with Sinuiju, on the border with China, via Pyongyang. 

“Among the trilateral cooperation on the railway, electricity, and energy, connecting railways (between Russia and the two Koreas) appears to be most likely,” Mr Moon told Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, reported the Korea Herald. 

“Through permanent peace on the Korean Peninsula, I’m hoping that the Trans-Siberian Railway will extend all the way to the southern port city of Busan, where I grew up. I hope you will join our efforts to open up new possibilities and common prosperity on the Korean Peninsula,” he told the parliament. 

President Moon is said to have given Kim Jong-un a thumb drive containing the railway plan during their summit at the end of April, as part of a series of economic incentives to push him along the path to peace. 

The South Korean president, who has staked his reputation on building stronger ties with the North, has also repeatedly suggested an East Asian bid, including North Korea, to host the World Cup in 2030. 

According to South Korean media reports, he reiterated the idea to FIFA boss, Gianni Infantino, while watching South Korea’s two-nil defeat to Mexico on Saturday. 

Besides grand designs for future relations, ties between the two Koreas are warming slowly day by day. 

Senior South and North Korean army officials met on Monday to discuss moving artillery on the northern side of the border, primarily aimed at Seoul, and also the restoration of telephone and fax lines to avoid military clashes. 

Pyongyang’s relations with Washington also appear to be on track since the Singapore summit, although a senior US defence official stressed over the weekend that the US would soon present North Korea with a timeline of “specific asks” on denuclearisation. 

“We’ll know pretty soon if they’re going to operate in good faith or not,” the official told reporters travelling with James Mattis, the US defence secretary, on a trip to Asia. 

On the surface, however, Pyongyang has made conciliatory gestures to its once sworn enemy. 

On Monday it took the small but significant decision to skip one of the most symbolic and politically charged events of the year: the annual “anti-US imperialism” rally marking the start of the Korean War in 1950. 

In addition to toning down its anti-US rhetoric, North Korea has also reportedly transferred the remains of soldiers who died in the 1950-53 war to the border with South Korea. 

Over the weekend, US forces moved 100 coffins to receive the bones, although verification of identities will be a long process. 

More than 36,500 US troops died in the war, and about 7,700 military personnel remain unaccounted for. 

Despite the rapprochement, North Korea’s dire human rights situation remains a sore point that is apparently still off the agenda for talks. 

On Sunday, Pyongyang made the bold demand for South Korea to scrap a state-run foundation intended to improve rights in the reclusive North. 

North Korean propaganda website, Uriminzokkiri, called the foundation a “plot against our republic” that “ought to be buried away.”