Seoul (AsiaNews) – North Korea's military has consented to next week's test run of trains on rails rebuilt across the heavily armed border with South Korea, clearing the last hurdle to a symbolic event on the path of reunification. The test would be the first time trains cross the tightly sealed border in more than a half-century.

Inter-Korean rail links were severed in the middle of the 1950-53 Korean War. Two tracks have been reconnected as part of a series of reconciliation projects launched since the two sides held the first-ever summit of their leaders in 2000.

Officials from both sides agreed last month to conduct the train run on those tracks May 17, but the North Korean military had a final say on whether it goes forward because such a border crossing requires security arrangements.

“'There were no differences of opinions in that they should provide military guarantees necessary for the trial run,” said Colonel Moon Sung-mook, a spokesman for the South Korean delegation.

South Korea hopes the inter-Korean railways could ultimately be linked to Russia's Trans-Siberian railroad, allowing an overland route connecting the peninsula to Europe.