Two Koreas' generals to discuss historic train run

SEOUL, May 4 (Reuters) Generals from the two Koreas hold rare talks next week on whether to guarantee the safety of the first train to cross the Cold War's last frontier in more than half a century, officials in the South said today.

Past attempts to reopen a train service across the heavily fortified demilitarised zone (DMZ) that splits the Korean peninsula have failed because the North refused to give safety assurances.

''The talks will focus on the militaries' guarantee of railway and road passages, including the test train run scheduled for May 17,'' the South's Defence Ministry said in a statement.

South Korea's Unification Minister was optimistic that military leaders, who meet for three days from Tuesday, would reach agreement on the crossing, seen as a symbolic warming of ties.

''When you look at the North's proposal (to meet), you can confirm that the North's military recognises the implications and the significance of this test train run,'' Lee told reporters.

North Korea this week suggested the meeting, just north of what is one of the world's most heavily armed borders, be held at the rank of general, instead of between colonels as the South had proposed.

North and South Korean officials separately reached agreement on the first joint mining exploration in the North to tap the reclusive state's potentially rich zinc and magnesite deposits, South Korea's Unification Ministry said late on Friday.

Up to fifteen South Korean experts will join a two-week field study starting on June 25 in North Korea's northwestern region of Tanchon, the ministry said in a statement.

In return, South Korea will send the first shipment of fabric and a team of technical advisers to aid the North's light manufacturing industries that are in a poor shape.

The mining and light industry projects are conditional on the opening of the railway, as agreed at economic talks last year.

A planned rail crossing in May last year was scuttled at the last minute over security objections by the North's military.

Some analysts say the talks could stumble if the North Korean generals again raise demands to redraw a maritime border off the west coast, an issue that has touched off several deadly naval clashes in the past.

Technically, the two Koreas remain at war, having yet to sign a peace treaty to formally end the 1950-53 Korean War.

About 30,000 US troops are stationed in the South. The North demands they leave.

South Korea has built two rail crossings, one on the east coast and another about 60 km (40 miles) northwest of Seoul.

REUTERS SM RK2335