November 8, (LPAC)--Korean presidential candidate, Chung Dong-young of the United New Democratic Party, the government party, pledged Thursday to construct 1,175 kilometers of railway lines. The election is Dec. 19.

Chung, a former unification minister, vowed to make the southeastern port city of Busan a terminal to link Korea to Europe by railway. The project is to build five major railway networks across the nation for regional unity. The first railway is to extend existing north-south railroads to North Korea and the Eurasian Continent, which will reduce logistics costs, Chung said. A total of 38.7 trillion won (about $42.6 billion) is needed to build the 1,175 kilometers of railway lines over 10 years, he said. His grand plan is apparently aimed at competing with the canal project proposed by leading candidate Lee Myung-bak of the Grand National Party (GNP).

``Railways have an advantage over waterways in terms of economic efficiency, promptness and eco-friendliness,'' Chung told reporters in Busan. ``We can expect the country to strengthen its competitiveness as railways would cut logistics costs and boost economic cooperation between South and North Korea.'' Until Wednesday the Korean Presidential contest was basically between Lee Myung-bak and Chung Dong-young, both pro-development and in favor of a moderate or friendly posture towards N. Korea. Then Lee Hui-chang, a neo-con, North Korea basher showed up. This Lee, a former chairman of the GNP and its twice-failed failed Presidential candidate, declared he would leave the party to run in the Dec. 19 presidential election as an independent. While Lee Hui-chang is not a strong candidate, he does have a following in the fearful right-wing that is scared of North Korea and of progress.

Chung Dong-young by playing the Iron Silk Road development card may have trumped this neo-con move.