Recently, Republic of Korea Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Kim Sung-Hwan made an official visit to the Russian Federation and discussed key aspects of Russian-Korean co-operation in the political, economic, commercial and humanitarian spheres with Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov.

One of the potential projects raised by these talks includes a new gas pipeline which will extend from Russia to North Korea.

Mr Sung-Hwan said “Minister 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.”

Mr Lavrov said that 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. The negotiations so far have been between Russia and North Korea and Russia and South Korea.

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“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,” said Mr Lavrov.

Mr Sung-Hwan added “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.

“Of course, there still remain negotiations with Russia’s Gazprom as well as practical and technical issues. I hope that these issues will be resolved without a hitch, leading to progress in co-operation between South and North Korea, and among the two Koreas and Russia. I will exert efforts toward this.”