North Korea on Wednesday surprisingly declared the cancellation
of test runs of trains across the border with South Korea.
Pak Jong-song, the head of the north side's group working on the
re-connection of rail and road, sent a message to his South Korean
counterpart, Hong Kwang-phyo, saying, "It is impossible to conduct
the trial operation of a north-south train on May 25 as
scheduled."
The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) broadcast the
message, which said North Korea canceled the operation due to a
failure of both sides' military authorities to guarantee the
train's safe passage.
The test runs of railroads would have been the first time trains
crossed the inter-Korean border since the Korean War broke out in
June 1951.
North Korea rebuked South Korea for "creating a very unstable
situation unfavorable for holding such a national event." North
Korea also criticized "pro-US ultra-right conservative forces" in
the South Korea for "burning the flag of the dignified North Korea"
and "pushing the situation in Korea to an extreme phase of
confrontation."
The message did not rule out the possibility of resuming talks
over test runs. "We will wait for an appropriate time to come for
the trial train operation," it said.
During the working-level contact between the two sides at Mt.
Kumgang resort last week, they confirmed former South Korean
president Kim Dae-jung's visit to North Korea next month.
Kim hopes to go to North Korea by train which was previously
scheduled to be tested on Thursday.
(Xinhua News Agency May 25, 2006)
