Korean trains in historic link-up "But Thursday's crossing remains largely symbolic, the BBC's Charles Scanlon says. North Korea has so far only agreed to a one-off test-run...South Korea has agreed to supply it with $80 million (£41m) worth of economic aid for the development of light industry." International cohesion The examples of Britain and Ireland, India and Pakistan, Israel and Palestine, the break-up of the former Soviet Union and of former Yugoslavia, let alone many African states, suggest that, over the last few decades, the long-standing tendency for social units to increase has stalled. Arguably, there is a counter-movement, one of the most important being the European Union. Moreover, the possiblity exists that NAFTA might lead to some form of overarching governent on the American continent. The train crossing is said to have been primarily symbolic (which is why we didn't label it at as "integration"). Despite this, it potentially represents a move away from discord and fragmentation towards more cohesion and understanding between two political entities.