(Unofficial Translation)

Fellow Koreans, residents of Gangwon-do Province and Goseong-gun County,

I have come to Gangwon-do for my first official tour in the New Year, 2022. It is a great pleasure to start off this New Year with welcome news.

At last, we are about to break ground with the first shovel load of dirt to construct a 112-km-long railroad connecting Gangneung and Jejin. Since the Yangyang-Sokcho section was closed in 1967, only the Donghae Bukbu Line on the northern part of the Donghae Line has remained out of service, and – after 55 years – it is going to be restored.

There have been many difficulties, but Gangwon-do Governor Choi Moon-soon, members of the National Assembly from districts in Gangwon-do, residents of Goseong-gun and those at civic organizations have joined forces to pull off today’s achievement. I am deeply grateful to all of them. My words of encouragement also go to Korea National Railway and KORAIL executives and staff who will take the lead in constructing and operating this railroad.

I extend my heartfelt congratulations on the groundbreaking of the Gangneung-Jejin section. Restoring the Donghae Bukbu Line that spans the Korean Peninsula linking the South and North and completing the East Coast’s railroad networks will reshape Gangwon-do and enable it to take off. This will also lay the foundation for inter-Korean economic cooperation.

Fellow Koreans,

As part of an event to close out the year at the end of 2021, I attended an opening ceremony for railroads that connect four regions of our Southeast. Today, the groundbreaking of the Gangneung-Jejin section of this railroad will bring us closer to our dream of achieving balanced national development.

The Donghae Jungbu Line will be electrified by 2023, and the construction of the Donghae Bukbu Line and the Chuncheon-Sokcho section will be completed in 2027. Only then will we be able to reach Gangneung, Yangyang, Sokcho and Goseong by the KTX-Eum from Seoul and Busan.

Residents will enjoy convenient transportation networks, the amount of goods shipped to and from Gangwon-do will increase and Gangwon-do’s tourism industry will be further revitalized. The 2.7 trillion-won project is also expected to induce 4.7 trillion won in related production and create 39,000 jobs.

Here in Jejin Station in 2007, about 15 years ago, a whistle blared from a train departing on a test run to Geumgangsan Station. Going forward, reconnecting railroads in the South and North will bring us closer to a path toward peace.

In 2018, South and North Korea promised to connect railroads and roads on both sides. In the April 27 Panmunjeom Declaration, an agreement was reached to reconnect and modernize the Gyeongui and Donghae lines. Even practical, concrete measures were agreed to in the September 19 Pyeongyang Joint Declaration. Accordingly, a joint field survey of the North’s section of the railroad was conducted. It led to a groundbreaking ceremony at Gaeseong’s Panmun Station for the reconnection and modernization of railroads and roads along the east and west sides of the Korean Peninsula on December 26 the same year. Regrettably, the project has not seen any substantive progress since then.

However, our determination remains unchanged. Reconnected in 2003, the inter-Korean Gyeongui Line once serviced the Gaeseong Industrial Complex project. In November last year, the conversion of its Munsan-Dorasan section into an electrified line was completed as part of the effort to prepare for the resumption of railway operations between the two Koreas. The Gangneung-Jejin section is the linchpin of the reconnected Donghae Line. When construction is completed, our dreams not only for the reconnection of inter-Korean railroads but also for our advance into the continent will become more concrete.

The Donghae Line is economically viable. Geumgangsan Station can be reached in just about 50 minutes from Jejin Station. The foundation for resuming tourism cooperation with North Korea will be laid. Wonsan, Dancheon, Cheongjin and Naseon on the East Coast are North Korea’s leading industrial zones. If South and North Korea cooperate going forward, an energy and resource belt will materialize in the East Sea Rim.

This Line will also allow a train to depart from Busan and run through Gangwon-do and Naseon in the North and all the way into Eurasia and the European continent. If linked to the Trans-Siberian, Trans-Manchurian and Trans-Mongolian railways, it would provide much faster transport than sea lanes and significantly reduce logistics costs. The connection will enable domestic businesses to transport intermediate goods and parts to their production bases in Eastern Europe, and overland transportation to landlocked Central Asia will be possible as well.

Also, realizing the East Asian Railroad Community initiative that involves the six countries of Northeast Asia, including both Koreas, as well as the United States, will be right before our eyes. I hope that our young people will nourish a bigger dream, one that embraces the Eurasian continent – a land of new opportunities – along with the imposing spirit of Goguryeo.

Fellow Koreans,

When the two Koreas resume dialogue and the door to irreversible peace opens on the Korean Peninsula, economic cooperation between both Koreas will become a new breakthrough in our economic development and the foundation for sustainable growth. The Government will renew our determination for economic cooperation and make preparations in advance by laying the southern section of the integrated railroad network on the Peninsula.

The project for the Gangneung-Jejin section will be carried out as planned, and the ongoing electrification of the Dongducheon-Yeoncheon section of the Gyeongwon Line will be finished by 2023. This project is also essential for balanced regional development.

Advance preparations will be made for connecting to trans-continental railroads. The Government is working together with China and Russia to solve the related technical issues. Moreover, we are working to sign passenger and cargo transport agreements with the Organization for Cooperation of Railways, which we have already joined.

Fellow Koreans, residents of Gangwon-do and Goseong-gun,

Peace on the Korean Peninsula will not come on its own. Sometimes, tensions arise on the Peninsula. Just this morning, North Korea test fired an unidentified short-range projectile. There are concerns that this could create tensions and further deepen the impasse in inter-Korean relations. To fundamentally overcome this situation, however, we must not let go of the possibility of dialogue. North Korea should also make more serious efforts for dialogue. When the two Koreas work together and build trust, one day we will wake to find peace all around us.

Gangwon-do has been preparing to become a Special Self-Governing Province of Peace for a long time. Peace is Gangwon-do’s economy and future. Goseong-gun residents are the first to have realized that peace equals the economy. After the tours to Geumgangsan Mountain were suspended, the local economy was devastated. I hope that construction of the Gangneung-Jejin section serves as an opportunity to revive the local economy.

With this construction of the Donghae Bukbu Line, I look forward to seeing substantive progress with economic cooperation along with peace as well as Gangwon-do emerging as a region where everyone prospers together. I also ask the public to show great interest in and provide support for the construction of this integrated railroad network in Gangwon-do.

In addition to balanced regional development to revive the economy of Gangwon-do that has been falling behind, we will construct this railroad network with the grand dream of laying a stepping stone for peace and cooperation on the Korean Peninsula. On a day when Jejin Station is bustling with people and goods, complete peace will finally arrive on the Korean Peninsula, and Gangwon-do’s economy will thrive on this foundation of peace.

Thank you.