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Time is running out for European car makers, who have waited until the last minute to try to meet ambitious European Union (EU) emissions targets and face billions in fines if they fail to comply.</s>(Bloomberg) -- North and South Korean staged a symbolic ground-breaking ceremony to upgrade severed rail links, although UN Security Council approval would be needed to advance the project.

Long-stalled plans to restore rail links severed by the Korean War were revived in historic summits by North Korea leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in earlier this year. While South Korea said the Security Council granted an exemption to United Nations sanctions Tuesday to allow the ceremony to proceed, additional relief would be needed to start construction.

“The result of the North and South Korean railway and road project depends on our nation’s mental strength and will. If we are swayed by others’ views, we cannot achieve the unification that our nation wants,” Kim Yun Hyok, North Korea’s vice railway minister, said at the ceremony, according to the YTN TV network.

“Railways will now also play a role of reducing the gap between the hearts of South and North Korea,” South Korean Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee said.

The rail project was first launched more than 15 years ago, but scuttled by political acrimony and global sanctions imposed on Pyongyang over its pursuit of nuclear weapons. The U.S., which holds a Security Council veto, has refused to ease the economic penalties until North Korea takes steps toward disarmament and talks between the two sides have achieved little progress.

Last week, North Korean state media said removal of the U.S.’s nuclear weapons from the region was a condition of its own disarmament, raising the stakes for President Donald Trump’s efforts to hold a second summit with Kim, after their first meeting in June.

Seoul has said work to modernize North Korean railways and roads before connecting them with its own wouldn’t start until the international sanctions against Pyongyang were lifted, adding construction hinges on North Korea’s denuclearization steps.

North Korean Ri Son Gwon who oversees the North’s exchanges with the South, his South Korean counterpart Cho Myoung-Gyon and transport officials from China, Russia and Mongolia were among the hundreds of people attending the rail event in the North Korean border city of Gaeseong.

Sanctions enforced by the Security Council and the U.S. prohibit sending fuel or conducting economic activities that could generate cash for Kim’s regime. South Korea said in November it had won exemptions for the rail survey.

The last rail service during the 1950-1953 Korean War came in 1951 when a train carrying wounded soldiers and refugees crossed into South Korea. Links were cut for decades after that.

But a few years after the first summit of leaders on the divided peninsula in 2000, South Korea built roads and restored rail links to the North Korean border region. For a brief period about a decade ago, South Korea ran freight trains into Gaeseong, where South Korea had an industrial park, until political tensions undermined the project.

Moon’s rapprochement toward North Korea included three summits with Kim Jong Un this year, but have been limited by international sanctions and the slowing pace of diplomacy between the two sides.

Pyongyang hasn’t responded to the latest move by Washington to review its policy on humanitarian aid to the North, which was proposed when U.S. nuclear envoy Stephen Biegun was in Seoul last week.

The Chinese ambassador to South Korea, Qiu Guohong, told South Korea’s Kim Hyun-mee during the event Wednesday that he believed the railway project would help denuclearization.

To contact the reporters on this story: Youkyung Lee in Seoul at ylee582@bloomberg.net;Sohee Kim in Seoul at skim847@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Brendan Scott at bscott66@bloomberg.net, Jon Herskovitz

For more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com</s>The two Koreas held a ceremony on Wednesday for a project to reconnect rail and road links, although construction cannot begin while sanctions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programmes remain in place, officials said.

The two sides agreed in October to inaugurate work on reconnecting railways and roads that have been cut since the 1950-53 Korean War, another example of the thaw in North-South relations this year.

A special train carried 100 South Korean officials, politicians and members of families displaced by the war to the ceremony at Panmun Station in the border city of Kaesong.

They were joined by a 100-strong North Korean delegation, as well as officials from the United Nations, China, Russia and Mongolia, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry.

The United States and the UN Security Council gave their support for the ceremony, South Korean officials said, but construction cannot begin while sanctions block the shipment of energy and metal products, as well as other supplies.

"There's a lot of things to do before we actually start construction," Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee said, adding the two sides would conduct additional joint surveys and design work for one or two years.

There was a feeling of nervous excitement on the South Korean train as it left the capital Seoul.

"I'm just deeply moved," said Shin Jang-chul, who drove the last freight train between the Koreas a decade ago.

"It's been 10 years and I've been wondering if I would ever be able to come back after I retire," he added.

The ceremony was another example of the thaw in relations between the Koreas, technically still at war after their conflict ended in a truce not a peace treaty. But major economic initiatives have been stalled by the lack of progress on denuclearising the North.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to the ceremony during a September summit in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a step toward joint industrial zones and reconnecting transport links.

However, the plan has been delayed amid US concerns that improving Korean ties could undermine efforts to press Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

Kim agreed to work toward denuclearisation at a summit with US President Donald Trump in June, but talks have since made little headway, with Pyongyang upset at Washington's insistence that sanctions remain until the North takes concrete steps toward denuclearisation.

"The South is trying to build on existing agreements, believing that advancing inter-Korean ties would have a positive impact on denuclearisation," said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

"But given the absence of actual construction, the North will keep pressing the South to make it happen despite sanctions, in line with Kim's efforts to shore up his regime," he added.</s>related media assets (image or videos) available. Click to see the gallery.

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The two Koreas on Wednesday launched a project to reconnect rail and road links severed since the 1950-53 Korean War, but actual construction cannot start while sanctions remain in place against North Korea, officials said.

SEOUL: The two Koreas on Wednesday launched a project to reconnect rail and road links severed since the 1950-53 Korean War, but actual construction cannot start while sanctions remain in place against North Korea, officials said.

The two sides agreed in October to work on reconnecting railways and roads as part of a thaw in relations that the United States fears will undermine efforts to press North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons.

"There's a lot of things to do before we actually start construction," South Korean Transport Minister Kim Hyun-mee said before the ceremony in the city of Kaesong on the North Korean side of the border.

The materials and investment needed for construction to begin are banned under U.N. and U.S. sanctions imposed over Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programmes. Washington insists sanctions remain until the North gives up its nuclear weapons.

South Korean officials, politicians and members of families displaced by the war boarded a special train to the ceremony.

Shin Jang-chul, who drove the last freight train between the Koreas when they operated a joint factory park a decade ago, said he never thought he would return to the North.

"I'm just deeply moved," Shin said. "It's been 10 years and I've been wondering if I would ever be able to come back after I retire."

They were joined by a North Korean delegation, as well as officials from the United Nations, China, Russia and Mongolia, according to South Korea's Unification Ministry.

Speaking at the event, the North's Vice Railroad Minister Kim Yun Hyok called for an "unwavering determination to stand against headwinds" that could threaten the project.

"The results of the rail and road project hinge on the spirit and will of our people," Kim said.

The two sides will conduct additional joint surveys and design work that could take one or two years to complete, the South's Kim Hyun-mee said.

Wednesday's ceremony was another example of the thaw in relations between the Koreas, technically still at war after their conflict ended in a truce not a peace treaty.

But major economic initiatives have yet to take off amid the lack of progress on denuclearising the North.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed to work toward denuclearisation at a summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in June. But negotiations have made little headway, with Pyongyang upset at Washington's insistence that sanctions remain until the North takes concrete steps to give up its nuclear arsenal.

"The South is trying to build on existing agreements, believing that advancing inter-Korean ties would have a positive impact on denuclearisation," said Shin Beom-chul, a senior fellow at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies in Seoul.

"But given the absence of actual construction, the North will keep pressing the South to make it happen despite sanctions, in line with Kim's efforts to shore up his regime," he added.</s>North and South Korea have symbolically joined their railway networks together as they begin work to reconnect transport networks between the two countries.

But construction on the project cannot actually begin because of international sanctions banning the import of metals and energy products into North Korea.

Instead, engineers from the North and South - which are still technically at war - will spend the next two years conducting joint surveys and doing design work.

The groundbreaking ceremony was held at Panmun Station in the border city of Kaesong on Wednesday.

A train full of 100 South Korean government officials, ministers and family members displaced by the Korean War was driven to the station for the event.

They were in turn greeted by a 100-strong North Korean delegation, as well as officials from the United Nations, China, Russia and Mongolia - amid wider plans to link North Korea with the trans-Siberia and trans-China railways.

But, underlining the scale of the challenges facing the project, even getting a train to Panmun required South Korea to obtain a permit from the UN Security Council.

Kim Yun Hyok, the North Korean vice railways minister, said the Koreas should push further with engagement instead of 'wobbling on the path while listening to what others think,' designed as a rebuke to Seoul over its close ties with America.

North Korea has repeatedly voiced displeasure about the slow progress in the reconciliatory projects agreed between their leaders.

The Seoul government plans to conduct further surveys on North Korean railways and roads before drawing up a detailed blueprint for the project.

Actual construction will proceed depending on the progress in the North's denuclearization and the state of sanctions against the country, the ministry said.

'We plan to hold detailed negotiations with the North to coordinate on the specific levels we want to achieve in the modernization of railways and roads and how to carry out the project,' said Eugene Lee, the ministry's spokeswoman.

South Korea has set aside some $600,000 for the project, but experts say the North's transport infrastructure is so dilapidated that it could take decades and absorb billions of dollars to modernise.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in agreed to the ceremony during a September summit in Pyongyang with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as a step toward joint industrial zones and reconnecting transport links.

It is another example of the thaw in relations between the Koreas, which began at the Winter Olympics and saw Kim Jong Un and Moon Jae-in holding hands while listening to K-Pop together.

The same thawing also saw American President Donald Trump meet with Kim in Singapore for the first ever summit between the two countries.

Trump let the summit full of admiration for Kim and certain he had achieved concrete steps towards 'denuclearising' the North, but progress has stalled over what that word actually means.

Pyongyang insists that it has taken several concrete steps towards winding down its nuclear weapons program, such as destroying the underground Punggye-ri testing site, and that it is time for America to reciprocate by lifting sanctions.

However, Washington is insisting that North Korea give up its entire nuclear arsenal first before sanctions are lifted later - an idea that Pyongyang has balked at.

A second summit between Trump and Kim is scheduled to take place in Washington sometime early next year, which the US leader has said he is 'looking forward' to.</s>The United Nations Security Council has granted a sanctions exemption for North and South Korea to hold a joint event for their railway and roads connection project, Yonhap news agency reported Tuesday.

"Consultations over the groundbreaking ceremony with the council's North Korea sanctions committee were wrapped up Monday, New York time," a Seoul foreign ministry official said, according to the agency.</s>Bottom line: Korea has spoken; war is no longer an option.

Editor's Note: Looking for more perspectives on North Korea? Check out all 27 expert predictions on North Korea in 2019 here.

The real question for 2019 is not whether Kim Jong Un will soon give up his nuclear weapons but whether and how South and North Korea will continue to drive the peace process after a year which saw some of the most dramatic steps towards Korean reconciliation since the Korean War. And that question begins with the United States.

As any Korea watcher is aware, the denuclearization talks between the United States and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) that looked so promising in June have stalled, precipitously. The breakdown began as it became clear to Kim and his advisory team of spies, generals and diplomats that President Trump’s equivalents (which include the military-industrial and arms control think tanks and a media that closely follows their directions) had no intention of relaxing his “maximum pressure” campaign of sanctions and military pressure before Kim dismantles his nuclear apparatus.

This tough approach, which was in place even as Trump was painting a glossy version of the talks, was buttressed by a withering campaign by certain U.S. media outlets (NBC, New York Times). They used carefully planted intelligence leaks and purposely distorted data from think tanks to convince the U.S. public that North Korea was “cheating” on an “agreement” that never existed in the first place—but could be completed with effective negotiations.

Moreover, the U.S. propaganda barrage obscured the fact that the U.S. administration has reneged on its own pledges in Singapore to “establish new US-DPRK relations” and help North and South “build a lasting and stable peace regime.” These necessary steps would help convince the DPRK that its nuclear disarmament could proceed safely while protecting its national integrity.

President Moon Jae-in and his team understand this dynamic only too well; in 2018 severe tensions between Seoul and Washington emerged over two issues. First was the issue of sanctions, especially as they pertained to North-South agreements to link their transport systems and establish a permanent liaison office north of the DMZ. Second was the pace of the inter-Korean peace process itself. America’s reluctance to embrace South Korea’s right to make the peace inside its own country and on its own terms brought the critical issue of South Korean sovereignty to the fore in a way that has not happened since South Korea’s democratic spring of 1960.

As I look at 2019, I think the two Koreas’ drive towards a permanent peace (including denuclearization) will continue, forcing the United States, with support from Moon, to adapt to South Korea’s more effective gradualist approach. Bottom line: Korea has spoken; war is no longer an option.

Tim Shorrock is a regular contributor to The National Interest and writes regularly on Korea, Japan, and U.S. intelligence for The Nation. Follow him on Twitter at @TimothyS.</s>SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean officials have traveled to North Korea by train to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for an aspirational project to modernize North Korean railways and roads and connect them with the South.

Wednesday’s ceremony at the North Korean border town of Kaesong comes weeks after the Koreas conducted a joint survey on the northern railway sections they hope to someday link with the South.

The ambitious project is among a variety of peace gestures agreed between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in as they push ahead with engagement amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

But beyond on-site reviews and ceremonies, the Koreas cannot move the project much further along without the removal of U.S.-led sanctions against the North.

During his three summits with Moon and a meeting with President Donald Trump in June, Kim signed vague statements pledging a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing how and when it would occur. But followup nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for months over the sequencing of the denuclearization that Washington wants and the removal of international sanctions desired by Pyongyang.

South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs, said the Seoul government plans to conduct further surveys on North Korean railways and roads before drawing up a detailed blueprint for the project.

“Actual construction will be pursued in accordance with progress in the North’s denuclearization and the state of sanctions against the North,” the ministry said in a statement.

Even if the North takes concrete steps toward denuclearization and gains sanctions relief, some experts say updating North Korean rail networks and trains, which creak slowly along the rails that were first built in the early 20th century, could take decades and massive investment.

Seoul said it received an exemption to sanctions from the U.N. Security Council to proceed with Wednesday’s ceremony as it involved the usage of South Korean transport vehicles and goods. The Koreas’ joint survey of North Korean railways in November, which also required U.N. approval, marked the first time a South Korean train traveled on North Korean tracks.

The Koreas in December 2007 began freight services between South Korea’s Munsan Station in Paju and the North’s Panmun Station to support operations at a now-shuttered joint factory park in Kaesong. The South used the trains to move construction materials north, while clothing and shoes made at the factory park were sent south. The line was cut in November 2008 due to political tensions over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The Kaesong factory park was shut down under the South’s previous conservative government in February 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.</s>SEOUL: A South Korean delegation left for North Korea on Wednesday (Dec 26) to attend a groundbreaking ceremony for reconnecting roads and railways across the divided peninsula despite stalled denuclearisation talks.

A nine-car special train carrying some 100 South Koreans, including officials and five people born in the North, was seen leaving Seoul railway station early in the morning for a two-hour journey to the North's border city of Kaesong.

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North's leader Kim Jong Un agreed to hold the ceremony by the end of this year when they met at their third summit in Pyongyang in September.

Concerns arose that the train and other materials being brought into the North for the ceremony could breach various sanctions imposed on the isolated regime over its nuclear weapons programme, but the UN Security Council reportedly granted a waver for the event.

Seoul stressed that the ceremony would not herald the start of actual work on reconnecting and modernising road and rail links between the two Koreas - which remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended without a peace treaty.

The event is a mere "expression of a commitment" to the projects, a South Korean Unification Ministry spokesman said, adding that construction would depend on "progress on the North's denuclearisation and circumstances concerning sanctions."

The two sides wrapped up their joint railway and road inspections for the projects this month.

South Korea has set aside some US$620,000 for the endeavour.

The ceremony comes as the United States ramps up efforts to convince Pyongyang to give up its nuclear weapons.

Following a rapid rapprochement earlier this year that culminated in a historic summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, progress has stalled with both sides accusing each other of dragging their feet and acting in bad faith.

Critics say North Korea has made no concrete commitments and is unlikely to surrender its atomic arsenal, while Washington's policy of maintaining pressure through isolation and sanctions has left Pyongyang seething.

Trump said on Monday that he was "looking forward" to his second summit with Kim, which Washington says may take place early next year.

He tweeted the statement after he was briefed by Stephen Biegun, the US special representative on North Korea, who wrapped up a three-day trip to Seoul on Saturday.

Biegun said last week the United States will be more lenient in enforcing its blanket ban on US citizens' travel to the totalitarian state when dealing with aid workers, a goodwill gesture as Trump seeks a fresh summit.

The Trump administration has generally refused to let US aid groups operate in North Korea, seeking to both maximise pressure on Pyongyang and ensure the safety of Americans.

Biegun also said in Seoul last week Washington was willing to discuss trust-building initiatives with Pyongyang.

Senior transport officials from Russia, China and Mongolia as well as several foreign ambassadors to South Korea will attend Wednesday's ceremony, the South's Unification Ministry said.</s>North Korea issued a straightforward statement Thursday saying Pyongyang won’t denuclearize until the United States removes its nuclear threat from the region first.

“The proper definition of denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula is completely eliminating the American nuclear threat to North Korea before eliminating our nuclear capability,” commentary published by state-run Korean Central News Agency declared.

The United States and North Korea have been entrenched in negotiations since North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and U.S. President Donald Trump agreed at their June 12 summit to “work toward complete denuclearization.”

In the roughly six months since, few concrete developments have been made.

In Thursday remarks, which are attributed to an individual named Jong Hyon, North Korea is insisting the U.S. remove “all elements of nuclear threats from the areas of both the north and the south of Korea and also from surrounding areas from where the Korean peninsula is targeted.”

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The statement’s distinction of not only removing the nuclear threat from North and South Korea but the surrounding regions mirrors the reverse debate in the U.S. on whether the strategy is focused on “denuclearization of North Korea” or “denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.”

“I don’t want to split words, and I think our policy has been clear,” State Department deputy spokesman Robert Palladino told reporters Tuesday.

North Korea has asked for several concessions in the past before committing to complete denuclearization.

It has demanded the U.S. lift sanctions on the country, requested to officially end the Korean War and asked for a second meeting with Trump.

The State Department cancelled a much anticipated meeting between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and North Korean official Kim Yong Chol in November with little explanation, saying the meeting “will now take place at a later date.”

Pompeo insisted Thursday that the U.S. is “undoubtedly” in a better place with the communist dictatorship than it was a year ago.

“No more missiles being tested, no more nuclear testing. We’re in a better place today,” Pompeo said to Kansas radio station KNSS.

Pyongyang’s heightened request comes just a day after the U.S. was in talks about easing a travel ban and letting American aid workers deliver humanitarian relief to North Korea, The Wall Street Journal reported.

This potential concession came as Trump’s special envoy to North Korea, Stephen Biegun, landed in Seoul for meetings with South Korean officials regarding North Korea’s denuclearization.

A version of this article appeared on The Daily Caller News Foundation website.

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North Korea and South Korea hold a ceremony for a project to reconnect rail and road links, although construction cannot start while sanctions over North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs remain in place.