SEOUL — The South Korean national rail operator will invite its North Korean counterpart to Seoul for an international railway conference in late spring, its head said Thursday.

“North Korea is a formal member of the Organization for Co-operation between Railways and has shown many activities in it. I expect it to join us in this Seoul conference,” Choi Yeon-hye, the president & CEO of the Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) said in a press conference on Thursday.

Korail will host the conference of the OSJD, an organization established for development of international freight and passenger traffic, in Seoul this May.

The “OSJD” an acronym originates from the Organization for Co-operation between Railways’ official title in Russian.

Choi talked about the Ministry of Unification’s plan to demonstrate the Trans-Korean/Trans-Siberian railway (TKR/TSR), a project Russia has proposed in conjunction with both Koreas.

“Though we haven’t conducted inspections on North Korean railways yet… it can be improvised with renovations,” she said.

She also mentioned the Eurasia Silkroad Amity Express, a joint project with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs that seeks to build friendship with countries around the continent by connecting the TKR/TSR and Trans-Chinese railway.

“We’ve organized a task force (on the project) and will devise a plan by early March,” she said.

It is yet to be confirmed if the reconnecting of the inter-Korean railway will be discussed in this May’s OSJD conference, Korail said to NK News.

“There are issues like standardization of TKR/TSR but the exact topics of discussion are yet to be confirmed, presumably, until April,” Kim Won-eung, Korail conference preparation team leader said.

Choi visited Pyongyang last year’s April to attend the OSJD conference, as NK News reported.

However, there wasn’t any discussion of trans-Korean railway during the last year’s conference in Pyongyang, Kim said. “It was a regular meeting to lay down the rules between the member countries.”

Picture: Korail president Choi Yeon-hye addresses the OSJD conference in Pyongyang last year; picture used courtesy of Korail

