The floor of the departure hall at South Korea’s Jejin Station is spotless, almost gleaming. Outside, the rails are free of weeds. Everything about it suggests a place waiting for travellers. 

Except this station, perched on the North Korea border, has not seen a single train or passenger in nearly a decade.

Now, the Lee Jae Myung administration wants to change that.

Jejin was built in 2006 as the southern terminus of the Donghae Bukbu Line, which was envisioned as a rail corridor reconnecting the two Koreas along the east coast. The line linked the ROK’s Gangwon Province with the