Unification minister says Lee admin. ready to reopen links to the north
· UPIJan. 22 (Asia Today) -- South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said Thursday the government is prepared to reopen roads and railways to the Asian mainland as it seeks to restart inter-Korean exchange and cooperation.
"We must lift the curtain of hostility and confrontation and reopen all roads and railways leading to the continent," Chung said in opening remarks at the 340th Inter-Korean Exchange and Cooperation Promotion Council meeting. "The Lee Jae-myung administration is fully prepared for this."
The council met in person for the first time in four years.
Chung said the government would pursue "mutually beneficial, multilateral and groundbreaking" initiatives to help resume cooperation, citing ideas such as connecting a Seoul-to-Beijing continental high-speed rail link, developing international "peace tourism" tied to Wonsan-Kalma and building what he called a new peace trade system.
He said the Lee administration is determined to rebuild inter-Korean relations and urged that future council meetings consider "diverse and creative" projects to create a turning point.
Chung also referenced his visit Wednesday to the DMZ Peace Trail, saying he saw Mount Kumgang's Haegumgang and Dusan Peak in the distance and questioned why tourism to the resort area had been shut down. He said he felt a surge of emotion imagining what might have been if tours had continued.
-- Reported by Asia Today; translated by UPI
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