SEOUL, June 11. /TASS/. The participation of the Republic of Korea in the Northern Sea Route will significantly increase its competitiveness, Chung Jae-Hung, Director of the Center for Chinese and Russian Studies at the Sejong Institute, said in an interview with TASS.
The analyst recalled that the new President of the Republic of Korea, Lee Jae-myung, indicated his intention to pragmatically build relations with Russia, approaching them from the point of view of national interests, rather than ideological values.
"[The new authorities of the Republic of Korea] will approach relations with China and Russia from the position of their restoration, the focus will be on intensifying economic cooperation and humanitarian exchanges, [they] will strive to expand cooperation in the areas of supply chains, logistics, energy, and production," the expert said.
"It seems that using Busan as a key transit point of the Northern Sea Route can seriously increase competitiveness in the logistics sector in the Eurasian region," he noted.
"If the government of President Lee Jae-myung intensively uses the Northern Sea Route, the distance for delivering goods from Busan to Europe will be reduced from 20,000 km to 15,000 km, and the delivery time will be significantly reduced: from about 40 days to 30 days. This will significantly increase the competitiveness of the Republic of Korea in the logistics sector," the analyst stressed.
Speaking in port cities during the election campaign, Lee Jae-myung repeatedly mentioned the advantages of the Northern Sea Route and the need to prepare for its use in the future. Recently, the new president ordered the transfer of the Ministry of Marine and Fisheries from the city of Sejong to Busan.
According to the expert, the international order is moving from a unipolar world led by the United States and the West to a multipolar one, in which the Republic of Korea can become a "mediator between Eurasia and the West."
Chung Jae-Hung believes that the desire to improve relations and practical economic cooperation with China and Russia expands the "space for strategic maneuver," strengthens the diplomatic position of the Republic of Korea and will give it more choice, but does not weaken the alliance with the United States, which the Lee Jae-myung government continues to consider the basis of foreign policy.
"President Lee Jae-myung opposed the intervention of the Republic of Korea in the problems of Ukraine and Taiwan, and the possibility that the government of the Republic of Korea will officially intervene in these problems is completely ruled out," the director of the Center for Chinese and Russian Studies concluded.
In February 2022, Lee Jae-myung said that Vladimir Zelensky provoked the conflict due to his inexperience. Later, as an opposition leader, Lee Jae-myung criticized the government for allowing arms supplies to Ukraine and issuing loans to Kiev.
The Northern Sea Route is the main sea line in the Russian Arctic. The length of this artery totals 5,600 km from the Kara Strait to the Providence Bay.