Two Koreas to hold groundbreaking ceremony for railway, road project on Dec. 26

Our top story this morning...South and North Korea have agreed on a date to hold a groundbreaking ceremony for work to connect their railways and roads.As it turns out, it will happen before the end of the year, as agreed by the leaders of thre two Korea in their September summit in Pyeongyang.Park Hee-jun reports. South and North Korea have agreed to hold the groundbreaking ceremony for their joint project to modernize and connect their railways and roads... on December 26th.And it will take place at the North's Panmun Station, within the border village of Gaeseong.This comes after the two sides held working-level talks on Thursday at the joint liaison office in Gaeseong.And according to Seoul's Unification Ministry,... it's been decided that around one hundred people from each side will attend the ceremony."South and North Korea held talks today about the ceremony to start work on connecting railways and roads along the Gyeongui line and the Donghae line. We agreed to hold the ceremony on Wednesday, December 26th, at Panmun Station."The ceremony will mark the official start of the two Koreas' joint transportation project.The leaders of the two Koreas agreed at their Pyeongyang Summit in September,... to break ground on interconnected railways and roads within the year.To make it happen, the two sides have been inspecting the North's railways since earlier this month.They also completed a joint survey of roads along the western side of the peninsula,... but have yet to fix a schedule for inspecting the ones in the east.The ministry says the ceremony will show the two Koreas’ strong determination to push ahead with the project.But there's still the question of whether the ceremony would violate U.S.-led sanctions.If it would violate them,... then Seoul will have to seek a sanctions waiver from Washington.The South Korean government will continue to work with the U.S. to go ahead with the event in a way that does not raise concerns from the international community.Park Hee-jun, Arirang News.