US agrees on inter-Korean groundbreaking ceremony for rail, road connection

SEOUL -- The United States agreed Friday on the scheduled inter-Korean groundbreaking ceremony next week to modernize and connect railways and roads across the border, an official of the Republic of Korea (ROK) said.

Lee Do-hoon, ROK's special representative for Korean Peninsula peace and security affairs, made the remarks after holding a working-group meeting in Seoul with his US counterpart Stephen Biegun.

Biegun was on a four-day trip to Seoul from Wednesday. The working group was launched in November between ROK and the United States to regularly communicate on issues of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).

Lee told reporters that the groundbreaking ceremony would be held as scheduled through the working-group talks.

The ROK and the DPRK agreed to hold the ceremony on Dec 26 at Panmun Station in the DPRK's border town of Kaesong as part of efforts to enforce the agreement between ROK President Moon Jae-in and DPRK top leader Kim Jong-un.

After their first summit in April at the truce village of Panmunjom, Moon and Kim agreed to modernize and connect railways and roads along the eastern and western Korean Peninsula.