{"id":528192,"date":"2018-06-06T09:17:22","date_gmt":"2018-06-06T09:17:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/?p=528192"},"modified":"2021-02-08T13:54:47","modified_gmt":"2021-02-08T13:54:47","slug":"a-railway-to-unite-the-two-koreas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/global-economy-sustainability\/a-railway-to-unite-the-two-koreas.html","title":{"rendered":"A railway to unite the two Koreas"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"korea-high-speed-railway\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A<\/strong>s the clock ticks down awaiting the summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, behind the scenes the two countries\u2019 diplomats are working to find an agreement that leads to the process of denuclearisation.
The negotiations are complex and will surely be lengthy, and much of the information is classified. But one thing is certain, because U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has said so in public: the United States<\/strong> is committed to encouraging foreign investment in North Korea<\/strong>, mainly to improve infrastructure<\/strong> to meet energy needs but also for other works that the country needs to spur economic growth.
The topic of economic development<\/strong> following on the heels of a hypothetical denuclearisation was discussed by the recent and historic meeting between the North Korean leader and the President of South Korean Moon-Jae-in. The question involves the entire Korean peninsula<\/strong>, which needs <\/strong>a more modern infrastructure <\/strong>that connects it, in turn, to the rest of Asia and links it to economic powerhouses like Thailand.
With the support of China, which promised to do its part with investments <\/strong>if the two Koreas sign a peace accord, South Korea has announced it intends to support an infrastructure plan<\/strong> that can benefit its neighbors to the North, like for example building a modern railway capable of connecting the Korean peninsula with China and Russia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Infrastructure uniting the two Koreas<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

During the April summit between Kim Jong Un and the South Korean president, Moon handed Kim a USB stick. Loaded inside was the \u201cNew Economic Map of the Korean Peninsula<\/strong>\u201d, a plan laid out by the South Korean government to\u00a0build a modern railway network\u00a0<\/strong>across the entire peninsula, as well as other\u00a0large infrastructure projects\u00a0<\/strong>necessary to re-launch the region.
According to the announcement at the end of the summit, the strategic axis of the \u201cNew Economic Map\u201d is the\u00a0railway network uniting the two Koreas<\/strong>. The Panmunjom Declaration signed at the end of the summit says new railway lines will\u00a0connect Seoul<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(capital of the South)\u00a0with Pyongyang\u00a0<\/strong>(capital of the North) passing through the city of Kaeseong. The line will continue on past Pyongyang until it reaches the North Korean city of Shinuiji, which sits on the border with China just a few kilometres from the Chinese city of Dangong.
In reality, this railway connection is only the first part of a much more\u00a0ambitious rail project<\/strong>\u00a0calling for an\u00a0investment\u00a0<\/strong>of\u00a0$35 billion<\/strong>. The South Korean government\u2019s plan foresees a\u00a0high-speed rail link between Seoul and Shinuiju<\/strong>, passing through Pyongyang, using the rail beds of six ageing lines that today can carry trains running a maximum speed of 50 kilometres per hour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pyongyang–north-korea\"
Pyongyang, North Korea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

High speed trains, diplomacy and world trade<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The wide-ranging strategic vision of the project, presented with pride by Moon-Jae-in, depends on two factors: the first is geopolitical<\/strong> and diplomatic<\/strong>; the second is structural <\/strong>and economic<\/strong>. That is because not only will this infrastructure unite the two countries<\/strong>, but it will tighten the links between the peninsula<\/strong> and the rest of Asia \u2013 China<\/strong> and Russia <\/strong>in particular. According to the South Korean government, these closer links with the rest of Asia will transform the region into a hub that is strategic <\/strong>for world trade<\/strong>, making it into a transit <\/strong>point for goods travelling<\/strong> from East Asia<\/strong> to Europe<\/strong>. The new rail lines would connect the country with China <\/strong>on one hand, and on Russia\u2019s Trans-Siberian Railway<\/strong> on the other, so that goods leaving the Korean peninsula can reach Europe by land.
The new railways would stimulate economic development <\/strong>in the regions where they pass, especially in the towns and cities where they stop. One of the  lines, the Pyongra Line<\/strong>,would connect <\/strong>the two largest cities in South Korea (Seoul <\/strong>e Busan<\/strong>) with Chongjin<\/strong>, the third-largest city in the North, and the North\u2019s Rajin industrial zone, which has the highest per-capita GDP in the country.
Both the economic <\/strong>and geopolitical <\/strong>impact are good cards to play for the positive outcome<\/strong> of the peace talks between the two countries, and on a new-found stability for the region that at this point in its history is linked in to the international trade system, particularly with Russia and China. \u201cRailroad diplomacy<\/strong>\u201d just may be the key to knocking down the invisible wall that has divided the two countries along the 38th<\/sup> parallel for over 70 years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the clock ticks down awaiting the summit in Singapore between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, behind the scenes the two countries\u2019 diplomats are working to find an agreement that leads to the process of denuclearisation.The negotiations are complex and will surely be lengthy, and much of the information […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":115002,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[19015,19002,19005],"yst_prominent_words":[59,2681,5380,5392,5389,56,5390,2003,5381,5383,5387,2571,5379,5384,5388,5385,5382,5391,240,5386],"class_list":["post-528192","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-global-economy-sustainability","tag-asian-continent","tag-new-challenges","tag-transports"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528192","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528192"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528192\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":545076,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528192\/revisions\/545076"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528192"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528192"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528192"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.webuildvalue.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=528192"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}