Abandoned DMZ train station: Seoul’s lonely push for peace with Pyongyang
AFP, CHEORWON, South Korea
Near the heavily fortified frontier dividing the Korean Peninsula, the abandoned Woljeong-ri Station is being recast as a symbol of South Korea’s hopes to reconcile with the North.
However, plans to reconnect South Korea’s northernmost station to the rail network come at an awkward moment, as Pyongyang ignores Seoul’s overtures while the South’s old ally Washington pursues its own talks with Pyongyang.
A turbulent few days have raised doubts about the role of South Korea in any diplomatic push, despite South Korean President Lee Jae-myung’s dovish line on the North since taking power last year.
A locomotive behind a burnt-out train carriage is pictured on Monday last week at the Woljeong-ri Station in Cheorwon, South Korea, near the Demilitarized Zone separating North and South Korea.
Photo: AFP
US President Donald Trump abruptly scaled back annual military drills with Seoul this week, calling them “inappropriate and hostile” toward the North.
He also berated South Korea for not helping in his war against Iran and said he would meet North Korean leader Kim Jong-un this year.
North Korea then fired about 10 short-range ballistic missiles on Thursday, while Kim’s powerful sister mocked Seoul’s “master-servant” relationship with Washington.
The developments have overshadowed the Lee administration’s outreach, including the Woljeong-ri project aimed at “eventual” reconciliation.
The modest station — inside the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ) — once sat on a line linking Seoul to Wonsan, but was destroyed during the 1950-1953 Korean War. It was reconstructed at its site in the border town of Cheorwon in 1988. It is now an attraction for visitors to the nearby DMZ separating the two countries, and the line’s former terminus — Wonsan — is in North Korea.
However, its history underscores how vulnerable such hopes are to the politics of the peninsula. Work began in 2015, but ground to a halt just a year later after North Korea’s fourth nuclear test.
The latest reboot inspires more skepticism than hope for some in Cheorwon.
“It seems like they keep trying to reconcile with North Korea [through the railway project], but from our point of view, it isn’t really practical,” resident Moon Jae-yong said.
South Korea’s reconciliation program eventually aims to restore rail links with the North.
Lee has also said he is ready for talks with Pyongyang without preconditions, including on formally ending the Korean War, which concluded with an armistice.
His minister of unification said Seoul had shifted from prioritizing denuclearization to curbing the expansion of North Korea’s nuclear program.
However, Pyongyang — emboldened by support from traditional ally China, and Russia, whose invasion of Ukraine it is backing — has been unmoved.
It has repeatedly declared itself an “irreversible” nuclear state and labeled Seoul its “most hostile” enemy.
Trump might be trying to revive diplomacy to record a foreign policy win ahead of November’s midterm elections, with many voters disenchanted by his intervention in the Middle East.
That has sidelined Seoul, with Lee voicing respect for Trump’s decision and pledging to “do his utmost” to support his peacemaking efforts.
That leaves the rail project standing as a symbol of South Korea’s lonely push for peace.
Along the disused line from Woljeong-ri toward Baengmagoji Station to the south — the section to be restored under the peace project — vegetation crowds both sides of the tracks, nearly swallowing a stone wall.
“The iron horse wants to run,” a sign reads, alongside a phrase in English: “We want to be back on track.”
Preparing infrastructure in the South now could save time if inter-Korean links are eventually restored, Kyungnam University professor Lim Eul-chul said.
“But realistically, it is virtually impossible under the current circumstances, and everyone knows that,” he said.
With few options on North Korea, Seoul has turned to projects it can “pursue unilaterally,” Lim said.
A bombed-out locomotive from the Korean War remains near Woljeong-ri Station as a reminder of the division.
KioskNews shows a cleaned-up reading view extracted from the publisher’s page — the original always lives on their site, not ours.