Russia and South Korea have reached a preliminary agreement to resume test shipments of Russian coal via the North Korean port of Rason and expect to complete the first deliveries by the end of this year, Russian Deputy Transport Minister Vladimir Tokarev told Sputnik on Thursday
SEOUL (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 05th September, 2019) Russia and South Korea have reached a preliminary agreement to resume test shipments of Russian coal via the North Korean port of Rason and expect to complete the first deliveries by the end of this year, Russian Deputy Transport Minister Vladimir Tokarev told Sputnik on Thursday.In 2014-2015, three test shipments of Russian coal to South Korea were carried out via Rason as part of the plan on reconstructing the railway running through Russia's Khasan to Rason. Following Pyongyang's nuclear and missile tests in January-February 2016, Seoul suspended its participation.
"We have managed to reach an agreement, in line with which they [South Korea] will return to the Khasan-Rason test project concerning coal transportation. I hope we will manage to implement it by the end of the year," Tokarev said, following talks in Seoul.
According to the deputy minister, it is difficult to predict how the project will develop considering that Pyongyang is restricted by international sanctions. But the main task now is to ensure that the first shipment is completed, the official said.
The Khasan-Rason railway reconstruction project was launched in 2008 to facilitate the shipment of cargo to destinations via the Sea of Japan. The Russian Railways company owns 70 percent of the shares in the joint venture, while 30 percent belong to the port of Rason. The reconstruction was finished in September 2013 and in November of that year, Moscow and Seoul agreed on South Korea's participation in the project.
