A ceremony marking trial operations for a section of railway linking North Korea’s Rajin and Russia’s Khasan was held in the North’s Rason city on Thursday.

The North’s state-run Korean Central News Agency said that among the North’s officials that attended the event were Vice Railways Minister Ju Jae-dok and Rason City People’s Committee Vice Chairman Hwang Chol-nam.

Present from the Russian side were Russian Railways Senior Vice-President Valery Reshetnikov and Igor Sagitov from the Russian Embassy in the North.

In a speech, Reshetnikov said North Korea-Russia cooperation in the field of railway transportation that was promoted under the interest of the two nations’ leaders resulted in the launch of the new train cargo route. He added that the trial operations are all the more significant as they come at a time when the North and Russia are marking the 63rd anniversary of establishing diplomatic ties.

Ju, on his part, said he is confident that freight traffic on the Rajin-Khasan route will not only contribute to economic exchanges between North Korea and Russia but also to such exchanges between Northeast Asia and Europe.