SEOUL, South Korea - It was New Year's Eve in 1950. Koreans were fleeing the Chinese advance in the North when American soldiers halted their train at the South Korean border - shooting bullets into its steam tank to prevent it from ever running again.
That ill-fated train was the last to try to cross the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, which has remained in a state of conflict since the 1953 cease-fire that ended the Korean War. On Thursday, two trains are expected to cross the border again in a highly symbolic test-run seen as another step toward healing the wounds between the North and South.
"It's a historic day. I hope that from today the two Koreas will wash away the pain of tension and open the future of hope," Unification Minister Lee Jae-joung said as he arrived Thursday to lead the South Korean delegation on the ride into the North.
The train test will be the latest hole punched through the DMZ since the two Koreas embarked on an unprecedented reconciliation with their first summit in June 2000. Roads have also been restored since 2005, and thousands of South Koreans cross annually to visit Diamond Mountain as tourists or to work in the joint Korean industrial zone in Kaesong.
For South Korea, restoration of rail travel would help end its virtual island status, given that the only land route out is through North Korea. A rail link could reduce delivery costs for its export-driven economy.
Two rail lines have been restored across the border. On the western side, 17 miles of track have been laid between the South's Munsan and Kaesong in the North. The new eastern line links North Korea's Diamond Mountain with Jejin in the South across 16 miles of track.
About a dozen South Koreans whose relatives have allegedly been abducted by North Korea staged a protest outside the Munsan train station, demanding the Seoul government do more to bring their loved ones home.
"I wish the train would come back with my son if he is still alive," said Lee Kan-shim, 72, bursting into tears as police kept her from the site.
Seoul wants to connect to Russia's Trans-Siberian railroad. That will be difficult, but the opening of rail service on the two short routes just across the border could be possible "if the South gives a lot to the North in return," said Park June-young, an expert on North Korea at Ewha Women's University.
The tests are scheduled to begin around midday Thursday with 150 people aboard two five-car trains- one departing from the North and another from the South. Both trains will return later Thursday after spending a few hours on the opposite side.
The rail test has been beset by delays, mainly due to the objections of North Korea's military. But it now appears to finally be set after North Korean officers signed off on the plan last week.
The test comes with a price. The North agreed only after South Korea said last month that it would provide raw materials for making clothes, shoes and soap to North Korea - a project that Seoul refused to start last year when the rail tests were called off by the North. The South will get the rights to explore mineral resources in the North in return.
The goods North Korea received in return for the test run are worth $86.5 million, said Nam Sung-wook, a North Korea expert at Korea University. And for agreeing to begin regular service, he added, the North would make "much bigger demands."
North Korea's communist government is also extremely reluctant to allow many foreign influences into the country as it seeks to maintain its grasp on power.
"It's still very early to tell whether we can take (the rail test) as a sign of North Korea opening up to the outside world, but it's certainly a change," the unification minister told reporters Wednesday.
Analysts said the South Korean government appears eager to have the rail test go forward to claim a success in its policy of engagement with the North, which has been dogged by setbacks due to the international standoff over its nuclear weapons program.
Trains still crossed between the North and South even after the division of the peninsula at the end of World War II. It was not until after the North invaded, starting the Korean War in 1950, that U.S. forces destroyed the tracks at the border, as well as the North's rail and road connections to China, to try to prevent infiltration by hostile forces, Korea Railroad Museum director Sohn Gil-shin said.
Sohn expressed hopes the test would presage a new regional network linking Russia and China to the entire Korean peninsula.
A model of the last train that tried to cross stands at the museum outside Seoul. A plaque bears the slogan that has become associated with its halted journey: "The iron horse wants to run."
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Associated Press reporter Jae-soon Chang contributed to this report.
