First trains cross Korean Cold War border since 1951

CNN.COM: MUNSAN, South Korea (Reuters) -- Two trains from North and South Korea crossed the heavily armed border on Thursday, restoring for the first time an artery severed in the 1950-1953 fratricidal war and fanning dreams of unification.

It took the two Koreas 56 years to send the trains -- one starting in the South and one in the North -- across the Cold War's last frontier for the runs of about 25 km (15 miles).

The trains carried 100 South Koreans and 50 North Koreans -- including celebrities, politicians and a South Korean conductor from one of the last trains to cross before the rail link was cut in 1951.