• 

  earbot

  

  

From trains to tourism, from industry to sports, cooperation between the two Koreas is picking up momentum again, less than a year after the North tested its first nuclear weapon. As trains rolled across the inter-Korean border in May for the first time in 57 years, South Korea celebrated with fanfare. The test of the railway is a symbol of a resurgence in inter-Korean cooperation. The two countries have never formally ended their 1950s war. Although relations have improved since 2000, ties cooled abruptly last October, when the North tested its first nuclear weapon. But now, the South is pushing ahead with its policy of economic engagement with the impoverished North. Seoul is expanding an industrial park in the North Korean city of Kaesong. Thousands of North Koreans work there in South Korean-owned factories. Bookings are picking up for a South Korean-operated tourism zone at the North's Kumgang Mountain. And North Korean officials recently visited Seoul for minister-level talks. North Korea missed an April deadline to start shutting its main nuclear facility. Pyongyang blames the delay on a problem moving its money from a Macau bank. But most experts say South Korea's engagement policy is about more than eliminating North Korea's nuclear weapons. South Korea has delayed an aid shipment of rice to the North until it takes the first step of the February agreement. Still, for the foreseeable future, most experts say any South Korean government -- progressive or conservative -- has no other option than to engage the North.

Permalink:
Credits:	Voice of America
URL:	http://www.earbot.com
Tags:	korea korean nuclear pyongyang seoul weapon

MORE

LESS