TSR Steering Committee to meet in Tokyo

Railway officials from about 40 countries, including Korea, Russia and Japan, will discuss the connection of the South and North Korean railroad to the Trans-Siberia Railway (TSR) in the ninth meeting of the TSR Steering Committee in Tokyo Oct. 17-18, an official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said Sunday.

The committee was established in November 1993 to raise the operational efficiency of the TSR. The panel is chaired by the Russian railway minister and the South Korean Ministry of Transportation and Construction is a member, the official said.

Since the meeting will be held amid an atmosphere of reconciliation between South and North Korea, the participating countries are expected to engage in their most detailed discussions yet, the official said.

North Korea is not a member country of the committee, but it was learned that Russia invited it to take part in the talks. Whether the North will attend the meeting is drawing keen attention. North Korea was said to have responded negatively to a Russian proposal that the Gyeongui Line linking South and North Korea be connected to the TSR for development in the Far East, citing the concentration of military facilities along the inter-Korean railroad sections.