MOSCOW, October 2. /TASS/. The implementation of the joint North Korean-Russian Rajin-Khasan coal transportation project depends on progress in North Korea’s denuclearization, South Korean Ambassador to Russia Woo Yoon-keun said in an interview with Russia’s leading news agencies.
"The implementation of the Rajin-Khasan project is linked to progress in North Korea’s denuclearization," the diplomat said.
The ambassador noted that the sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council and the restrictive measures levied by the US and South Korea against Pyongyang created obstacles to implementing the project.
Exports of Russian coal via the North Korean port of Rajin stopped in early 2018 despite the special exceptions provided for by the UN Security Council’s resolutions, which prohibit countries from importing coal from North Korea. However, the latest such document passed last December contains a clause, according to which the sanctions do not apply to Russian coal supplies as part of the Rajin-Khasan railway project.
The project to restore the railway from Russia’s Khasan station to North Korea’s port of Rajin was carried out in 2008-2014 by a joint Russian-North Korean venture, which involved Russian Railways. The total investment volume amounted to 10.6 bln rubles ($161.6 mln). The terminal at the Rajin port opened in July 2014. Two years later, Russian coal was shipped from Rajin to South Korea by sea as part of a pilot project.
The capacity of the Rajin-Khasan section and the terminal is 5 mln tonnes per year. From the port, the cargo was delivered to South Korea and China. Its recipients in South Korea were POSCO, Hyundai Merchant Marine and Korail Corporation.