Last week the UN Security Council agreed to partially waive the sanctions on North Korea for a project to reconnect its railways with those of the South and to modernize them.
Now the U.S. has granted an exemption to its sanctions for the project.
Sources in the South Korean government tell Yonhap News that the sanctions waiver from Washington has been finalized in talks with Seoul.
Baik Tae-hyun, Spokesperson of South Korea’s Ministry of Unification says "We are currently discussing the matter with the North. We will proceed with inter-Korean interactions and cooperation within the framework of international sanctions and we are getting ready so that the joint inspections can begin this week."
The U.S. has been imposing unilateral sanctions on North Korea in addition to the international ones.
For the inspections, South Korean train and a research team will be moving over to the North .
It will go test the western Gyeongui Line first and then move over to the east coast to test the Donghae Line.
The inspection process is expected to take about two to three weeks.
Then the ground-breaking ceremony can take place before the end of this year -- possibly in mid-December.
South Korea's top fixed-line operator KTCorp said on Sunday it has repaired more than half of the network damage incurred from the fire that broke out in Seoul a day earlier.
The company said. "We have fixed 63 percent of the mobile network and 97 percent of the Internet lines, including credit card transactions.”
A building of KT, the country's No. 2 mobile carrier, located in the central Ahyeon district of Seoul, caught fire on Saturday.
No casualties have been reported, although the property damage was estimated at 8 billion won or 7 million dollars.
Following the incident, mobile and Internet networks in the area were stalled, causing inconvenience to users.
The operation of shops, such as convenience stores and restaurants in the area, had problems in payment systems.
Local fire authorities and KT anticipate that it may take a week to fully repair the affected network.
KT said it will make efforts to provide compensation to its users.
KT CEO Hwang Chang-gyu said. "Through cooperation with related authorities, we will prepare a plan to actively compensate individuals and shop owners who suffer damages."
Hwang added the company is currently carrying out an investigation with the fire authority to find out the cause of the fire.
KT said it plans to waive the amount of one month's bill for affected customers and vowed to prevent similar cases from occurring in the future.
Source: Arirang News
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