The Hindu : Koreas establish air links

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 17, 2003

International

International

Koreas establish air links

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE Sept. 16. For the first time since the political division of the Korean peninsula 55 years ago, a civil aviation link between the two Koreas for the `commercial' purpose of `tourism' was established on Monday. The opening of this "new chapter in inter-Korean civilian exchanges'' was announced by the South Korean authorities. The latest people-to-people contact between the two countries marks yet another bilateral initiative for mutual bonhomie in the face of persistent uncertainties about the overall political process, now a multilateral exercise, for establishing peace and stability on the peninsula through dialogue on ways to keep it a nuclear-weapons-free zone.

The new air link is complementary to the complex efforts at re-establishing a surface transport connection between two Koreas across the demilitarised zone that separates them. A group of 150 persons, consisting of South Korean citizens as also overseas Koreans, today made a touchdown for friendship at Pyongyang, the North Korean capital.

The chartered flight was organised by a South Korean air travel agency in concert with Koryo Air, the flag carrier of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK or the North).Today's chartered flight was the first of a planned series of 20 "package tours'' for this year.

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