South Korea is set to restart work on a railway line that could eventually link to North Korea's eastern city of Wonsan, reviving a project halted for a decade despite frozen relations with Pyongyang.

During a presidential briefing, Unification Minister Chung Dong-young announced that Seoul would resume restoration of a disconnected section of the Gyeongwon Line near the Demilitarised Zone along the border with North Korea. First launched in 2015, the cross-border transport project was suspended the following year.

The ministry said the railway, which begins in Seoul, could serve as a future connection to Wonsan, a key city on North Korea's eastern coast.

Pyongyang has invested heavily in the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, recently opening a beach resort to accommodate about 20,000 visitors, a venture Kim Jong Un has described as a model for expanding the country's tourism industry.

The move by South Korea follows Pyongyang's decision in 2024 to demolish road and rail links across the heavily fortified border as part of its drive to redefine South Korea as a hostile state.

The ministry said the railway project would improve access to peace and ecological tourism sites in the Demilitarised Zone and help spur economic activity in border regions.

‘Shouting into an echoless void’

South Korean President Lee Jae Myung acknowledged the difficulties of pursuing engagement with an unresponsive North that has repeatedly rebuffed his calls for rapprochement.

"It may feel like shouting into an echoless void," Lee said at the briefing. "But peace and coexistence remain an important task. However difficult, we have to continue pursuing that policy."

The ministry also proposed expanding the use of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, a government fund established to support exchanges and humanitarian projects involving North Korea, to a wider range of uses domestically.

With most cross-border programmes suspended since 2016 following North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, only around 2% to 3% of the fund has been spent annually over the past decade, Chung said.

Lee noted the fund had accumulated because there had been little opportunity to spend it, saying: "So the idea is to revise the enforcement decree and broaden its uses. That sounds reasonable."

Chung said the ministry would also seek regulatory changes allowing the fund to support border-area projects, peace economy initiatives, reunification activities and North Korea studies.

Diplomatic deadlock

Separately, South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said at a press conference on Wednesday that multilateral talks involving North Korea, the U.S. and China were "realistically difficult" under current circumstances, highlighting the continued diplomatic deadlock with Pyongyang.

Cho said North Korea-related issues would be a top priority in upcoming discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He also said Indonesia had at one point attempted to arrange dialogue between the two Koreas, but North Korea did not take up the proposal.

His remarks came after Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto said last week that Lee had asked whether he could visit North Korea to help open dialogue. Cho said he was not aware of Prabowo's comments.