SEOUL, South Korea: South Korea says it will restart work on a railway line that could one day connect to North Korea's eastern city of Wonsan, reviving a project that had been paused for nearly a decade despite ongoing tensions with Pyongyang.

Unification Minister Chung Dong-young said at a presidential briefing this week that the government plans to resume repairs to a damaged section of the Gyeongwon Line near the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), which separates the two Koreas. The project was first launched in 2015 but was halted the following year.

According to a statement from the Unification Ministry, the railway begins in Seoul and could eventually serve as a link to Wonsan, an important coastal city in North Korea.

North Korea has invested heavily in developing the Wonsan-Kalma coastal tourist zone, a large beach resort that opened last year and can accommodate around 20,000 visitors. Leader Kim Jong Un has described the project as a model for expanding the country's tourism industry.

The announcement comes even though North Korea in 2024 destroyed road and rail connections across the heavily guarded border, as part of its effort to formally treat South Korea as a hostile state.

The ministry said restoring the railway would improve access to peace and ecological tourism areas in the DMZ and help boost economic activity in nearby border regions.

President Lee Jae Myung acknowledged that engagement with North Korea remains difficult, especially as Pyongyang has repeatedly rejected his calls for better relations.

"It may feel like shouting into an echoless void, but peace and coexistence remain an important task. However difficult, we have to continue pursuing that policy," Lee said.

The ministry also suggested expanding the use of the Inter-Korean Cooperation Fund, a government fund originally established to support exchanges and humanitarian work involving North Korea, so that it can be used more widely within South Korea.

Chung said that since most cross-border programs were halted in 2016 following North Korea's nuclear and missile tests, only about two percent to three percent of the funds have been used each year over the past decade.

Lee explained that the fund had built up over time because there had been limited opportunities to spend it. He said the plan is to revise the rules governing the fund so it can be used more broadly, and he called the idea reasonable.

Chung added that the ministry would push for regulatory changes to allow the fund to support projects in border areas, peace-related economic initiatives, reunification efforts, and research on North Korea.

In a separate development, Foreign Minister Cho Hyun said during a press conference that multilateral talks involving North Korea, the United States, and China are currently unlikely, underlining the ongoing diplomatic stalemate.

Cho said issues related to North Korea would be a key topic in upcoming discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.

He also mentioned that Indonesia had previously tried to facilitate dialogue between the two Koreas, but North Korea did not respond to the proposal.

His comments followed remarks by Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, who said last week that Lee had asked whether he could visit North Korea to help restart talks. Cho said he was not aware of those remarks.