1. The participants in the “Eurasia Express” project, who have returned home after successfully completing the 20-day 14,000-km grand journey through ten cities of five nations, will attend the “road to unification: Eurasia Express” event to be held at Dorasan Station on August 17. The project was co-hosted by the Foreign Ministry and Korea Railroad Corporation (KORAIL) from July 14 through August 2 under the slogan of "One Dream, One Eurasia."

° At the event, some 150 people from various sectors will celebrate the successful completion of the “Eurasia Express” project and send a message for unification of the Korean Peninsula. Among the attendees will be Representative and former National Assembly Speaker Kang Chang-hee; Representative Lee Heon-seung; participants in the “Eurasia Express” project, including descendents of Korean Patriots Lee Jun and An Jung-geun and other independence fighters, and ordinary citizens; Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se; President and CEO Choi Yeon-hye of KORAIL; and President Yun Ju-keyng of the Independence Hall of Korea.

° The disbandment ceremony, which will take place at Dorasan Station, the northernmost station on the Gyeongui railway line, is expected to serve as an opportunity to bring renewed attention to the division of the Korean Peninsula that blocked the “Eurasia Express” from traveling through the northern half of the Peninsula. The event will also likely serve as an opportunity for the people of the Republic of Korea to express their aspiration to see a peaceful unification of the Peninsula and the severed logistics arteries of the Korean Peninsula connected with the network of the continent as soon as possible.

3. The disbandment ceremony will feature various meaningful programs, including celebratory remarks by the Foreign Minister and other main guests; presentations by ordinary citizens on their experiences in and impressions of the “Eurasia Express” project; the presentation of commemorative Seoul-Berlin train tickets; the dedication of a large Korean flag autographed by some 1,000 people, including participants in the “Eurasia Express” project; and a celebratory performance by 119 Boys and Girls Choir.

° In addition, a video on the journey of the “Eurasia Express” will be screened, and a relevant photo exhibition will also take place, shedding a renewed light on the main relevant events that drew keen attention from media outlets at home and abroad.

4. The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, a co-host of the disbandment ceremony, will speak about the “international symposium on transportation and logistics in Eurasia,” which will be held in Seoul on September 10 bringing together participants in the “Eurasia Express” project as well as relevant ministers and vice ministers of Eurasian countries and heads of international organizations.

5. The “Eurasia Express” project, held on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula from Japan’s colonial rule, was acclaimed by media outlets at home as well as the governments and media outlets of the five countries traveled through by the train -- Russia, China, Mongolia, Poland and Germany. The ordinary citizens, who had been chosen as participants through a high 11:1 competition, successfully played their roles as public diplomacy envoys in the ten cities by promoting charming aspects of Korea and thereby contributed to the enhancement of the ROK’s national image in the international community.

* unofficial translation