DPRK Olympic team to cross border by land route

The delegation Pyongyang plans to send to the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics will take the Gyeongui Line land route to reach the Republic of Korea (ROK), according to the vice-ministerial inter-Korean talks held on Wednesday.

The athletes from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) will go to Pyeongchang by overland route on Feb 1, while the other members of the delegation including Games officials, cheerleaders, journalists and a taekwondo demonstration team will arrive on Feb 7.

The return time shall be determined later by the two sides.

The Gyeongui Line, stretching 518 kilometers from Sinuiju, northwest of DPRK, to Seoul, the capital city of ROK, was once a crucial artery running through the Korean Peninsula. There’s also a highway running along the route.

But the agreement reached during the third round of meeting by two vice-ministers in Panmunjom truce village did not confirm whether the athletes will go by rail or road.

The Gyeongui Line was opened in 1906 and closed after the Korean War (1950-53). In 2007, the route reopened for historic trail run with trains crossing the military demarcation line before being closed again in 2008 as the inter-Korean relationship deteriorated.

But the route on the ROK side, departure from Seoul to the border with DPRK, has been under operation with a DMZ train shuttling back and forth since August 2014, which may be taken by the DPRK Olympic delegation.