A joint North Korea and Russian project to upgrade the DPRK’s railways will become a model for future bilateral economic joint projects, a North Korean railways official said today in an interview with a pro-North Korea newspaper.

The first phase of infrastructure upgrades began in October, following a bilateral agreement in June, said Kim Chol Ho, the director of the DPRK’s Railroad Ministry’s International Railway Cooperation Department, in an interview with Chosun Sinbo.