The South Korean trains enter the North Korean region in tight control

News24xx.com -  For the first time in the past decade, a series of speeding trains from South Korea crossed the tightly guarded border area towards North Korea.

On the train was a group of South Korean railroad experts who were looking for ways to help North Korea modernize its railroad network.

The two Koreas showed significant progress in improving their relations over the past year.

It is hoped that later the journey and trade between the two countries will become easier.

When North and South Korean leaders met at a historic moment last April, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for South Korea to rejuvenate his country's railroad, which he acknowledged was in "embarrassing" conditions.

Some of the infrastructure originated in the early 20th century, so that if later it would be connected to the South Korean railroad line, a total overhaul was needed.

Technicians boarded the train in Dorasan, on the north side of Seoul, Friday morning, for a short trip to the demilitarized zone, the DMZ, which has separated the Korean peninsula since the 1950 Korean War.

A banner mounted on the body of the train as it travels to the tight security border that reads "Steel Horse, speeding towards an era of peace and prosperity".

At Panmun Station on the other side of the border, the North Korean locomotive replaced the previous locomotive to pull the train car series further north.