Historically, the South Korean railway network was managed by the Railroad Administration Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation before 1963.

[8] Most of the railroad's employees are members of the Korean Railway Workers' Union, which is frequently at odds with KORAIL management.

Another line—the Kumgangsan Electric Railway—connected the town of Cheorwon, now on the border of North and South Korea, on the Gyeongwon Line, to Mt.

[10] In December 2007, regular freight service started on the Gyeongui line, from South Korea into the Kaesong Industrial Park in the north.

This absence of interest in the service has been explained by the customers' (companies operating in Kaesong) preference for road transport.

[16][17][18] The survey, which had previously been obstructed by the Korean Demilitarized Zone's (DMZ) "frontline" guard posts and landmines located at the DMZ's Arrowhead Hill, consists of a 400-kilometer (250 mi)-long railroad section between Kaesong and Sinuiju that cuts through the North's central region and northeastern coast.

[22] A potential threat to the groundbreaking ceremony emerged after it was revealed that the North Korean railway was in poor condition.

[22] On 21 December 2018, however, the United States agreed to no longer obstruct plans by both Koreas to hold a groundbreaking ceremony.

[23] The same day, a four-day inter-Korean road survey began when ten working-level South Korean surveyors entered North Korea to work with ten North Korean surveyors on a three-day survey 100-km-long section on the eastern Donghae Line.

[24] On 24 December 2018, the four-day road survey, which will assist with the groundbreaking ceremony for the railroad, was completed after a separate team of ten South Korean surveyors entered North Korea and joined ten North Korean surveyors to survey a 4-km-long road in Kaesong.

[26] About 100 South Korean officials attended the ceremony after departing to North Korea on a Korail train based at Dorasan Station in Palu.

[26][13] JR Kyushu offers a jet foil ferry service between Busan and Fukuoka taking about 3 hours.

The Korean Strait undersea tunnel connecting Fukuoka and Busan via Tsushima had been proposed as far back as 1917, but the plan has never progressed beyond the research phase.