1. The launching ceremony of the “Eurasia Express” project, which is co-hosted by the Foreign Ministry and Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL), took place at Seoul Station on July 14. The ceremony attended by some 200 people, including leaders from various fields and project participants, marked the official beginning of the 14,000-km grand journey of the Express.

◦ Among the ceremony attendees were First Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Cho Tae-yong, President and CEO Choi Yeon-hye of KORAIL and Chairman Chung Chong-wook of the Committee for the 70th Anniversary of Korean Liberation, who delivered congratulatory messages.

◦ Diplomats to the Republic of Korea from Russia, China, Mongolia, Belarus, Poland and Germany -- the countries the Express will travel through -- also joined the launching ceremony, hailing the project as one expected to help boost people-to-people exchanges and enhance friendship between the ROK and those countries.

2. The participants in the “Eurasia Express” project, split into two groups, will leave for Vladivostok and Beijing, respectively, via Incheon International Airport. The two groups will join each other in Irkutsk, Russia, where they, together with ethnic Koreans and other locals, will hold a festival designed to promote common prosperity and peace in Eurasia. The two groups will then travel together for the rest of the journey to the final destination of Berlin.

◦ The project participants include people from various fields of home and abroad ranging from college students to former nurses who used to work in Germany in the 1970s. Also among them are descendents of marathoner Sohn Kee-chung who went to Europe by train along the route of the Eurasia Express and of Korean Patriot Lee Jun.

3. The “Eurasia Express,” as a train of communication and cooperation, a train of future and creation, and a train of peace and reconciliation, will help publicize across the world and expedite the fulfillment of the Eurasia Initiative, whose aim is to make Eurasia a Continent that is truly “ONE”, a Continent of “Creativity” and a Continent of “Peace.”

◦ Currently, the logistics arteries of the Korean Peninsula are disconnected only by the inter-Korean Military Demarcation Line (MDL) on the entire Eurasian continent. The Eurasia Express project is significant in that with the year 2015 marking the 70th anniversary of the liberation from Japanese colonial rule and division of the Korean Peninsula, if the logistics arteries of the Korean Peninsula are allowed to run across the MDL, the ROK will be able to complete finely woven integrated logistics networks with Eurasia by liberalizing air transportation; by opening Arctic routes; by building high-speed information and communications networks in Eurasia; and by connecting roads and railways.

4. The 20-day “Eurasia Express” project will be co-conducted by the Foreign Ministry and KORAIL from July 14 through August 2 under the slogan of "One Dream, One Eurasia."

◦ The main train of the Eurasia Express will travel 11,900 km from Vladivostok to Berlin and the branch line will run 2,500 km from Beijing to Irkutsk -- 14,400 km in total, which is a distance equal to 1/3 of the circumference of the Earth.

◦ In particular, in Berlin, the final destination of the Eurasia Express, on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean Peninsula and the 25th anniversary of German unification, meaningful events will be held to convey to across the world the wish of the ROK nationals for a peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. Among the planned events are a debate on unification between Korean and German college students; a march for a peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula; a reception marking the end of the journey; and special out-door performances near Brandenburg Tor (Gate), which is a symbol of German unification.


* unofficial translation