SEOUL, KOREA - The government has approved Korea Railroad Corp. president Choi Yeon-Hye's North Korea visit to participate in a meeting for the the Organization for Cooperation between Railways (OSJD) to be held in Pyungyang. As she will discuss in the meeting issues related to the Silk Road Express, also known as the Trans-Eurasian Railroad, it remains to be seen how it will turn out.

 

The Ministry of Unification said on April 20 that it gave a permission for a group of Korail executives to enter the North as part of the OSJD meeting. A ministry official said, "Given the importance of the meeting in strengthening ties among OSJD member countries, we approved the travel application."

 

Established in 1956, the 27-member OSJD is an international organization responsible for railway transportation across Eurasia. On March 27, South Korea joined the organization as a affiliate member, which will be able to sit in on all OSJD meetings dealing with issues such as international treaties, tariff agreements, trans-shipments, and revenue sharing across trans-continental railroad operations. The south's effort at being admitted to the club has been blocked by North Korea, a full OSJD member, as admission of new members must be approved by unanimous votes by all members.

 

The Silk Road Express project aims to link the railways between the south and north, connecting ultimately with European lines through China and Russia. President Park Geun-hye discussed the joint venture project in September last year with Russia's Vladimir Putin, followed by a keynote speech in October in the Global Cooperation in the Era of Eurasia conference held in Seoul advocating the creation of a Silk Road Express by linking the Trans-Korea Railroad with the Trans-China and Trans-Russian Railways.

 

Korail is currently working with companies like POSCO and Hyundai Merchant Marine to build a Najin-Hasan railway section as well as a logistics center in the northeastern corner of North Korea bordering the Russian Far East.