1. The “Eurasia Friendship Express 2015” project will kick off on July 14 for a 20-day run until August 2. The project, one of the flagship projects designed as ways to implement President Park Geun-hye’s Eurasia Initiative, will be co-conducted by the Foreign Ministry and Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL).

◦ In the project, some ordinary citizens as well as those from different walks of life, including the government and the National Assembly as well as business, media, social and cultural circles, will travel across the Asian and European continents by train. During their journey, the participants will stop over in a number of major cities, where they will attend events in diverse fields, including logistics, economic cooperation, cultural and youth exchanges, friendship promotion, peace and unification.

◦ The Friendship Express will travel a total of 14,400 km, a distance equal to 1/3 of the circumference of the Earth and 33-fold of that between Seoul and Busan.

2. The formal launching ceremony of the project will take place on July 14 at Seoul Station, where the participants will gather from across the country by train. The participants will be divided into two groups -- one which will take the 11,900-km main line from Vladivostok to Berlin, with the other traveling 2,500 km on the branch line from Beijing to Irkutsk.

◦ The Friendship Express is connected with the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR), the main logistics line between Asia and Europe, the Trans-Chinese Railway (TCR) and the Trans-Mongolian Railway (TMGR). Should the inter-Korean Trans-Korean Railway (TKR) be built in the future, the train would connect Busan and Mokpo with Berlin.

3. The Eurasia Friendship Express, as a train of communication and cooperation, a train of future and creation, and a train of peace and reconciliation, will help accelerate the implementation of the Eurasia Initiative, whose aim is to make the region “one continent,” a “creative continent” and a “peaceful continent.” Accordingly, the project is expected to serve as a meaningful opportunity to send to Eurasia a message of communication, reconciliation and peace.

◦ With the year 2015 marking the 70th anniversary of the division of the Korean Peninsula as well as the 25th anniversary of German unification, events will take place in Berlin, the final destination of the Friendship Express, to convey the wish for a peaceful unification of the Korean Peninsula. Among the planned events are a march along the traces of the Berlin Wall, cultural performances near Brandenburg Tor (Gate) and a debate on unification.

4. In addition, in 2015 marking the 25th anniversary of the ROK’s diplomatic relations with Russia and Mongolia, the Friendship Express project is expected to help enhance mutual understanding between the ROK and the two countries and broaden the base for the ROK’s bilateral exchanges and cooperation with those countries in diverse sectors.

* unofficial translation