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NKorea shuts down cross-border cargo train

Posted November 29, 2008 01:32:00

A cargo train once seen as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation has made its last trip across the border.

North Korea is closing down the service amid worsening ties with the South.

South Korean day-trippers also took a last look at the North after the communist state announced it was stopping their coach tour.

North Korea's leadership blames what it calls the South's confrontational policies.

Sightseeing tours which have been running for about a year have come to an end but some of the visitors on Friday's train were unaware it was the final one.

Jin Gil soon, a South Korean tourist travelling to Kaesong says he did not know it would be the last.

"I feel very sad to hear that this is the last one," he said.

The train might have been more symbolism than progress but parts of the commercial operations at the Kaesong industrial park which the South has sunk millions of dollars into have also been closed down.

Dr Leonard Petrov from the Australian National University has told ABC Radio Australia's Asia Pacific Program the pretence is over and relations at their lowest.

"I think they are at their nadir point at the moment," he said.

"It hardly could be worse, only probably a fully fledged war.

"So I think the situation is pretty bad at the moment."

Tags: world-politics, unrest-conflict-and-war, north-korea, south-korea

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