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A rail project meant to connect the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea(DPRK) and South Korea has been blocked by US military officials,
highlighting divisions between Washington and Seoul on how to deal with
DPRK.
DPRK's leader Kim Jong-un and his wife on an unofficial visit to China in March
The
two Koreas planned to begin a joint field study last week by sending a
train from Seoul across the length of DPRK to Sinuiju, on the Chinese
border, but their application was denied by the US-led United Nations
Command. The multinational military body is a remnant of the 1950-53
Korean war and controls all movement across the heavily fortified
demilitarised zone that bisects the peninsula.
The denial
underscores a growing split between South Korea, which favours
engagement with DPRK, and the US, where officials have demanded
denuclearisation as a prerequisite to any economic cooperation.
The
UN command blocked the study while also “requesting more fidelity on
the details of the proposed visit,” it said in a statement.
The
rail project is part of a wider push by South Korean Moon Jae-in to
improve inter-Korean relations and set the stage for large-scale
investment if sanctions, designed to punish DPRK for its nuclear weapons
program, are lifted. Moon has called for rail links by the end of the
year.
Moon will push for as many projects as he can without
antagonizing Washington, said Mintaro Oba, a former US diplomat who
focused on DPRK policy. “But there is definitely potential for a wider
gap between the allies if the relationship is not managed carefully,” he
said.
“While there’s some common ground there, it means
Seoul sees ambitious inter-Korean projects as supporting its goals -
while the United States tends to see them as undermining its leverage to
get denuclearisation,” he added.
A liaison office in the
DPRK town of Kaesong has also been a point of contention, with South
Korean official forced to deny the project violates international
sanctions.
Noh Kyu-duk, a foreign ministry spokesman, said
South Korea contended any equipment or even electricity supplied to the
office “does not undermine the purpose of the sanctions as it does not
offer economic benefit to North Korea(DPRK),” according to the Korea
Herald.
But the denial by UN command also highlights the
limits of South Korea acting alone. Trump cancelled a trip by
Washington’s top diplomat to Pyongyang over fears it would fail to
produce results. The cancellation came after DPRK warned nuclear
negotiations are “again at stake and may fall apart” and if talks break
down Pyongyang could restart “nuclear and missile activities”, according
to a report by CNN.
Original Title: Train project linking DPRK and S. Korea stopped in its tracks by US
(The Guardian)
