SEOUL With South and North Korea agreeing to complete the linking of the cut-off inter-Korean railroad next year, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, two Central Asian countries, have expressed their strong desire to expand ties with South Korea to regain their status as the gateway of the once-famous Silk Road, a Foreign Affairs-Trade Ministry official said yesterday.
Deputy Trade Minister Chung Eui-yong told The Korea Times of their new hope to expand ties with Seoul after holding joint trade committee meetings with the two countries last week.
The inter-Korean railroad, if connected, is set to be linked with the Trans-China and Trans-Siberia Railways, thus enabling speedier ground transportation of cargoes from Korea and possibly Japan to Europe. ѡIn particular, Kazakhstan is located midway between Northeast Asia and Europe, pinning high hopes on its future role as a gateway of the Silk Road, Chung said.
The two Koreas are set to kick off the construction work in mid-September, with the aim of completing it within a year.
As Kazakhstan is rich in natural resources, the railroads to be linked will serve as a crucial means of transportation between the two countries, he said. At present, it takes more than a month to ship cargoes from Northeast Asia to Europe and, if the inter-Korean railway is linked, it could take slightly more than one week.
Meanwhile, Korea is currently the largest investor in Uzbekistan, which has an ethnic Korean community of about 230,000.
Uzbekistan also wishes for an early connection of the inter-Korean railroad as it can be easily connected to the trans-Eurasian railroad system.