The ROK's cargo trains operated five times a week for about one year through the section of the Gyeongui Line from Kaesong to Munsan, but the operation stopped since December 2008 as inter-Korean relations began to sour.

Foreign dignitaries also joined the ceremony, including Armida Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and senior railway and road officials from neighboring countries.

Kim Kum-ok, a ROK separated family whose birthplace is Kaesong, said in the train for the Panmun Station that she rejoiced and was glad at her trip to Kaesong where the 86-year-old spent her early years, according to the pool report.

Describing the trip as a dream, Kim said the train trip to her hometown had been a big hope to her.

The groundbreaking ceremony ended with the performance by the DPRK brass band. The ROK participants had lunch in Kaesong and returned by train to Seoul Station in the capital Seoul Wednesday afternoon.