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While nearly all int'l "important"(i.e. bourgeois, of course..^^) news agencies/TV stations were/are reporting about today's "peace making event" (CNN/World News Asia) at the DMZ, A. Vershbow, the US ambassador in Seoul (i.e. the Bush administration) yesterday warned the SK government "that the United States wants Seoul not to speed up the inter-Korean reconciliation".
Yo, you f.. idiot, shut up! That's not your business!!!

Hankyoreh wrote today about it following:

☞ On inter-Korean relations, U.S. officials say, ‘slow down’

And Korea Times:

"U.S. Ambassador to Korea Alexander Vershbow stressed close coordination between Seoul and Washington on inter-Korean reconciliation Wednesday, one day before South and North Korean trains are to cross the Demilitarized Zone (DMZ)..
His remark is widely interpreted here as meaning that the United States wants Seoul not to speed up the inter-Korean reconciliation.."

About today's inter-Korean train event CNN, as its THE TOP STORY, wote:

☞ Koreas make tracks towards peace

More about it you can read here:

☞ Trains carry nation's hopes for future (K. Herald)

☞ DMZ train tested, but no ‘All aboard!’ foreseen (JoongAng Ilbo)

☞ Koreas hold historic rail crossing (al-Jazeera)  

☞ First Trains in 56 Years Cross Inter-Korean Border (Chosun Ilbo)

☞ Inter-Korean train lines tested, so what now? (Hankyoreh)

☞ In Pyongyang, all is silent regarding train test

☞ "A New Era in North-South Relations" (VoP, incl. video report)

Some - partly nice/interesting - pics about the event you can see here:

☞ First Time in 56 Years, S-N Korea Trains Depart (DailyNK)

The SK semi-official news agency Yonhap published today following feature:

Rare experience aboard N. Korean train across the border

At the urging of North Korean conductors, 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans boarded a five-car train at 11:25 a.m. With no speaker system at Kumgangsan Station at the North's scenic mountain along the east coast, conductors repeated "Please board the train" through a loudspeaker mounted upon a South Korean-made Hyundai Starex utility vehicle.

Painted green on the main body and the roof a faint gray, the facade of the train was far from modern. "The train looks like South Korea's obsolete third-class train, but its ability is better than that," said Lim Jong-il, a South Korean official at the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.

South Korean Construction Minister Lee Yong-sup, Kim Yong-sam, the North's railway minister, and some 20 South and North Korean journalists crowded into the second car of the train. The smell of new paint assailed the nostrils upon ascending the steps, while a pair of portraits of Kim Il-sung and his son Kim Jong-il hung on the wall above the door.

The seating arrangement was face-to-face, and refreshments for passengers were set on a small table in front of the window -- one lemon-lime soda, one strawberry juice, one bottled water, two apples and a pear. North Korean female attendants served a cup of ginseng tea for passengers later.

The upright, ivory-colored vinyl seats were a little bit uncomfortable and did not recline, but the cushions were softer than they appeared to be.

Outside the window, a uniformed North Korean conductor waved a red flag and goose-stepped past the train, which signaled the impending departure. A few North Korean security officers came inside to check the number of passengers and asked journalists jostling for position to sit down.

At 11:27 a.m. a long whistle sounded, reminiscent of an old-time steam locomotive. The train spluttered back and forth several times and then slowly started forward. "North Korean trains usually whistle a lot," a South Korean transportation official said.

North Korean middle school students, who attended a ceremony, started to wave their hands, and South Korean passengers responded in kind. The train moved out of Kumgangsan Station at the speed of 10 kilometers per hour, and North Koreans working nearby just looked at the train without reacting in a friendly manner.

Some 50 meters away from the railway on the right side, a paved road appeared as the scenic Mount Geumgang faded from sight. Rice paddies were waiting for rice seedlings to be planted, but no peasant was seen working outside.

Unexpectedly, well wishers were South Korean tourists traveling to the Mount Geumgang resort in a convoy of eight buses. "At this time of the day tourist buses go to the resort," a South Korean official said.

At 11:30 a.m. the stretch of hills and mountains continued, and the clouds moved quickly against the blue sky, cleansed from the previous day's rain.

A few Toyota jeeps driven by soldiers, military jeeps and trucks drove parallel with the train and then fell behind. North Korean soldiers were stationed at the checkpoints of major intersections.

Then the track turned sharply, a rare occurrence on South Korean track. The sharp turns came again and again, and a woman peeked outside the window at a nearby village.

The overall atmosphere was friendly, a throwback to a picnic in the 1970s-80s on a slow, squeaking train. Hills and mountains passed by, and splendid pine trees of all kinds of shapes. After awhile the Nam River appeared on the right side of the train. At one village, some 10 residents came out and looked over the communal wall to watch the passing train.

At 11:50 a.m. the train passed Samilpo Station. The painted name on the station was very small, like Kumgangsan Station, and an oversized portrait of Kim Il-sung hung on the front of the station, along with pro-communist and cult propaganda slogans.

The train crossed the river on a bridge restored with steel plates provided by South Korea. Outside the window, North Korean tourist attractions such as Haegumgang and Samilpo were seen a little farther away.

At 11:50 a.m. some passengers pushed up the windows, and the unpolluted air coming through the open windows refreshed them. A group of 10 North Korean soldiers stood guarding a storage house of diesel engine trains built for the railway test run. There was no other train in sight.

The train slowed down at Kamho Station, where North Korean customs officials were stationed. It was 11:55 a.m.

Around 12:00 p.m. four customs officials and two conductors boarded each car of the train. One of them shouted, "We fervently welcome you who have become the first passengers of the train! Now we will start customs clearance procedures."
Conductors checked the identities of the passengers and digital cameras. They asked a passenger to delete a photo of portraits of Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il that had been blurred from the shaking of the camera.

At 12:15 p.m. the conductors suddenly moved to the exit and disembarked. They must have gotten orders to let it pass, as the inspection took longer than expected. The train started to move again right away.

"Now you will see an outpost about 200 meters. It is the Military Demarcation Line," said Kim Kyong-jung, chief of the inter-Korean railway team at the Ministry of Construction and Transportation.

A sharp whistle blew, and the train picked up speed, double its previous pace. The shaking was palpable, but not enough to affect the bottles on the small table. With the speed increasing, the frequency of the whistle's call also increased.

In five minutes, the train passed the Northern Limit Line and went into the Demilitarized Zone. At 12:21 p.m., it passed the Military Demarcation Line to roars of applause. The train slowed a bit and the passengers became quiet, awaiting arrival.

At 12:25 p.m., a South Korean tourist observatory appeared, and some 200 tourists on the porch waved their hands eagerly, welcoming the North Korean train. Wide paved roads came into view and the train arrived at Jejin Station five minutes later. Amid the loud sound of a welcoming brass band and the cheering crowd, the train stopped at a South Korean station for the first time in more than half a century.

http://english.yna.co.kr/Engnews/20070517/480100000020070517193348EP.html