ROK unveils plan for infrastructure development in DPRK

SEOUL - The Republic of Korea (ROK) on Monday unveiled its 2014 action plan to develop infrastructure in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), indicating the lifting of the so-called May 24 sanctions if conditions are ripe.

Seoul's unification ministry submitted to the parliamentary committee for foreign affairs and unification the action plan for 2014 under the basic framework for inter-Korean relations development, according to local media.

If ties between Seoul and Pyongyang improve and "conditions are ripe," the ROK plans to review "even within this year" the repair and renovation project for the expressway between Kaesong and Pyongyang and the railway linking from Kaesong to Sinuiju.

Kaesong is a home to the inter-Korean factory park, the last remaining symbol of economic cooperation between the two Koreas, and Sinuiju is the DPRK's special administrative region bordering Dandong, China.

Also included in the plan were the flood prevention business at the Yalu River, support for the DPRK's fishing industry and the business to invigorate shipping between the two Koreas.

It was the first time the the ROK government announced a detailed investment plan for the infrastructure development in the DPRK, though Seoul attached the condition of improved inter-Korean relations.

The action plan mentioned resuming the inter-Korean trade and the existing inter-Korean economic cooperation projects as well as launching new economic cooperation projects in accordance with how relations between Seoul and Pyongyang make progress.

It indicated it would lift the so-called May 24 sanctions, which have banned all inter-Korean exchange except for the Kaesong industrial zone.

The sanctions were imposed by the ROK in 2010 when the the ROK navy corvette Cheonan sank in waters near the disputed western sea border in March that year.

The Seoul-led multinational investigation team claimed the accident was caused by Pyongyang's torpedo attack, but the DPRK has repeatedly denied its involvement.

The action plan also said Seoul will push to set up the dialogue channel among senior-level officials between the two Koreas and regularly hold the senior-level talks to seek the comprehensive discussion and resolution on inter-Korean issues.