- DORASAN STATION, South Korea
(Reuters) - South and North Korean troops marched into the Demilitarized
Zone separating their countries Thursday to clear a path through minefields
for rail and road links across the world's last Cold War frontier.
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- U.S. army observers and reporters watched as 100 South
Korean troops with mine-clearing vehicles filed into the DMZ through a
gate in high fences topped with razor wire.
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- A similar event was scheduled in the reclusive North,
which has shown signs of coming out of its shell since the United States
dubbed it a member of an "axis of evil" with Iraq and Iran after
declaring a war on terror.
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- "Neither of us know where the mines are," said
South Korean lieutenant-colonel Kim Hye-won. "We are being very careful."
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- The soldiers' job is to clear a swathe of ground about
100 yards wide and 1.2 miles long to the midpoint of the DMZ while North
Korean troops do the same on their side. They will then build a road, railway
and power lines.
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- The same work will take place on the eastern coast of
the peninsula, a rugged and thinly populated area which includes many of
the two Koreas' most scenic mountains.
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- The DMZ is a no man's land littered with land mines buried
during the 1950-53 Korean War and afterwards.
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- Under strict rules agreed to avoid incidents, the two
Koreas' minesweepers will work on alternate days, with a limit of 100 soldiers
per side at a time, each man allowed to carry only 30 rounds of ammunition.
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- OLD AND NEW MINES
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- Shifting during decades of floods has rendered maps of
the mines useless and soldiers have been killed or wounded despite well-marked
paths warning of the danger.
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- Guides on tours to the edge of the DMZ tell tourists
that animals in the DMZ are limited to those too light to trigger the mines.
Biologists count dozens of rare species in the DMZ.
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- "We are burying a history marked by the scars of
war and the pain of division," South Korean Acting Prime Minister
Kim Suk-soo told dignitaries at a ribbon-cutting ceremony a day earlier.
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- The two Koreas remain technically at war because the
Korean War ended in an armed truce.
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- This week's start to construction means routes closed
for half a century could reopen by the end of the year.
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- A South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman said clearing
the mines would take several months and winter weather toward the end of
the year could hamper the work.
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- "Some of the mines are old, dating back to the Korean
War, and some were placed recently," he said.
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- The spokesman said the number of mines in the zone was
a state secret. But the local Yonhap news agency published an estimate
that 1,500 mines must be cleared for the west coast corridor and another
400 in the east.
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- STUNNING DIPLOMATIC DEVELOPMENTS
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- Wednesday, fireworks marked ceremonies as the long-time
rivals prepared to begin chipping away at their frontier.
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- Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President
Jacques Chirac sent messages to South Korea's President Kim Dae-jung hailing
the event.
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- China offered praise and ex-Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev,
who helped end communism in Eastern Europe, sent congratulations.
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- The rail links promise to join South Korea with Europe
via both China and Russia, cutting freight costs for manufacturers along
the route.
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- "On the occasion of the start of work on the railway
lines, I will ask for ASEM members' interest and cooperation on the 'Iron
Silk Road' linking Europe and Asia," Kim Dae-jung said, referring
to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Copenhagen next week.
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- Prospects for running railways through one of the world's
most isolated countries come as part of an astonishing array of diplomatic
developments centered on North Korea this week.
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- At a summit in Pyongyang Tuesday, North Korean leader
Kim Jong-il apologized to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for
the abduction of Japanese citizens and offered concessions on global security.
Koizumi apologized for Japan's occupation of Korea before and during World
War II.
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- Thursday, Koizumi told a news conference that North Korea
had said at the summit it would allow international inspectors into the
country to examine its nuclear program.
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- The rail idea began at an historic summit in June 2000
between the South's Kim Dae-jung and the North's Kim Jong-il, also held
in Pyongyang.
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