Russia and Korea Plan Gas Pipeline Project

Russia and Korea are mulling over a plan to build a new natural gas pipeline to link the two countries.

Republic of Korea Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-Hwan said Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov "explained details of the consultation between Russia and North Korea with regard to the construction of Russian natural gas pipelines passing through North Korea. I appreciated such efforts by Russia, and we agreed to co-operate closely on this matter."

The discussions of gas pipeline construction prospects are now being held at the level of heads of gas companies of Russia, North Korea and South Korea, Lavrov said. The negotiations so far have been between Russia and North Korea and Russia and South Korea, Lavrov noted.

"I think that if the experts agree at the corporate level, political support will be provided in all three capitals. [Expert consultations] in respect of the gas pipeline are proceeding with sufficient concreteness," Mr Lavrov said.

"We view that this project – which is part of the preparatory process for bringing in a larger amount of Russian natural gas from the far east region starting from 2015 – will be a win-win deal for both Koreas, providing a considerable cash revenue for North Korea through which the pipeline will run on one hand, and large amounts of natural gas for us, which will help bring down the price of imported natural gas, on the other," Sung-Hwan added.