Japan Proposes 'peace' Tunnel to South Korea

Politicians in Japan have proposed the construction of an 80-mile "peace" tunnel to South Korea that would boost trade and symbolize a recent warming of ties between the former enemies.

The proposed tunnel, more than twice as long as the Channel Tunnel, would link Karatsu in south-western Japan and Pusan in South Korea, via two islands in the Japan Sea.

It would be part of a 140-mile (230km) rail link passing through the Japanese islands of Iki and Tsushima, and making it possible to travel between Tokyo and London by train.

"This is a dream-inspiring project," Seishiro Eto, a Liberal Democratic party MP and former defense agency chief, told reporters. "We want to promote it as a symbol of peace."

The MPs will first have to persuade Tokyo and Seoul to fund a joint feasibility study. But the notion of connecting the east Asian rivals with a rail link is not as far-fetched as it would have been just a few years ago.

Japan's prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda, made improving ties with Seoul a foreign policy priority when he took office last September, while South Korea's president-elect, Lee Myung-bak is expected to take a more pragmatic approach towards his country's former colonial master than his predecessor, Roh Moo-hyun.

Fukuda will attend Lee's inauguration in Seoul on February 25, with a reciprocal trip planned for April, the first visit to Japan by a South Korean president for more than three years.

Bilateral ties reached their lowest point for decades under the premiership of Junichiro Koizumi, who left office in 2006. His insistence on visiting Yasukuni, a nationalist shrine in Tokyo that honours Japan's war dead, prompted accusations in Korea that Japan had yet to atone for its wartime conduct, including its 1910-1945 colonization of the Korean peninsula.

Despite the recent detente, the countries have yet to settle long-running disputes over sovereignty of the Takeshima islands (known as the Dokdo islands in South Korea) and Japan's whitewashing of wartime atrocities in history textbooks.

Lee, however, has indicated that his stance will not be determined by lingering resentment over historical differences.

"Korea and Japan must not be tied down by the past so that they can build a new relationship for the sake of the future of Asia and our two countries," he reportedly told visiting Japanese MPs earlier this week.

An official source familiar with Japan-Korea ties told guardian.co.uk that Japanese contractors are confident the ambitious project is "absolutely feasible".

Though the idea was first mooted about a decade ago, the election of Lee, a member of the conservative Grand National party, has given it a new lease of life.

"There is definitely a sense of euphoria among some Japanese politicians about Lee's election," the source said. "It's going to be like night and day compared with the Roh presidency."

But the tunnel's supporters will have to overcome several other obstacles before building work begins.

Japan is likely to insist on Korean concessions over the Takeshima islands, which are claimed by Tokyo but currently occupied by the South Korean coast guard, the source said.

"The South Koreans would feel threatened if they thought they were being drawn too close to Japan, and the same would go for many Japanese. Both sides would have to overcome a big emotional barrier."