North Korea Cuts Railways... Signs of Dismantling the Donghae Line Connecting Geumgangsan

Following North Korea's move to sever the land route connecting the South and the North, signs have been detected that the railway tracks on the North Korean side of the 'Donghae Line railway' leading to Mount Kumgang have also been dismantled.

A National Intelligence Service official stated on the 5th that "there have recently been indications of partial dismantling of the Donghae Line tracks, and we are closely monitoring related developments." The North Korean section of the Donghae Line railway lies north of the Military Demarcation Line (MDL), covering the segment up to Kumgangsan Station (Kumgangsan Youth Station).

Train running during the 2007 Donghae Line inter-Korean railway trial operation [Image source=Yonhap News]

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In June 2000, during the June 15th North-South Summit, the two Koreas agreed to connect the severed North-South railways, the Gyeongui Line and the Donghae Line, which had been cut off since the division, and construction work was also carried out. In the case of the Donghae Line, the plan was to restore and connect the section from South Korea's Goseong Jejin Station to North Korea's Kumgangsan Station, with the South providing equipment and materials for construction on the North Korean side. Based on this, in May 2007, a test train run crossing the MDL for the first time in half a century was conducted.

However, the North-South connection section of the Donghae Line railway has not been used since then. Although the two Koreas agreed on railway connection and modernization projects during the April 27, 2018 summit under the Moon Jae-in administration, no substantial progress was made.

North Korea's dismantling of the Donghae Line tracks appears to be part of efforts to completely sever physical links between the South and the North, including railways. There is a possibility that the North Korean section of the Gyeongui Line connection (Kaesong Station to the Military Demarcation Line) may also be dismantled in the future.

In his policy speech at the Supreme People's Assembly in January, North Korean State Affairs Commission Chairman Kim Jong-un instructed that "step-by-step measures must be strictly implemented to thoroughly separate all inter-Korean connection conditions in border areas." Since then, signs such as the planting of landmines and removal of streetlights on the Gyeongui and Donghae land routes connecting the South and the North have been detected.

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