“It’s very sad to see this kind of history rot away in the DMZ,” said Han, 80. “But I’m very happy for what they are doing today.”
On Monday, a crane lifted the locomotive on to a flatbed truck and took it to Imjingak, where it will be spruced up in accordance with its standing as a South Korean national cultural property.
Workers will spend up to two years preserving what is left of the train, but they will not be restoring it to its original condition.
To do that they would probably have to replace most of the original material, which is heavily corroded after 56 winters of inactivity.
“We will use chemical techniques to maintain the locomotive as it is, to slow down corrosion,” said Jeong-seok, Cultural Heritage Administration spokesman. “This will preserve it for the next generation to see.”
The locomotive will be treated in a public glass enclosure at Imjingak, the Imjin River train station that now serves as a tourist park. Imjingak is only about a mile from the restricted access Tong-il “Unification” Bridge, which leads to Camp Bonifas and the United Nations Joint Security Agency.
The locomotive will then be returned to the DMZ, one bridge away from the final South Korean checkpoint and one mile from the military demarcation line that separates the two Koreas.
11-23-2006, 04:02 PM
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