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Trains are due to cross the Cold War frontier between North and South Korea today for the first time in 56 years, a symbolic act of reunification and a step towards the dream of continuous railway travel between Seoul and London.
“...an epochal event that will reconnect the severed blood vessels of our nation,” said Lee Jae Joung, South Korea’s Minister for Unification.
If that barrier were removed the South would be connected with the Iron Silk Road, a network of railways that would connect the port city of Pusan, on the country’s southern coast, with western Europe, and halving the time taken to transport freight by sea.
More importantly the South would have direct access to its biggest trading partner, China. It would bring revenue to the North, and might encourage the xenophobic state to engage with the outside world.