Russian Railways has been negotiating the reconstruction of the eastern section of the Trans-Korean Railroad and its linkup to the Trans-Siberian Railroad for the past few years. The issue was brought up in August 2002, when President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il discussed the idea of creating an uninterrupted rail line from Far Eastern ports to Western Europe.
"We are ready to consider holding a three-way meeting of co-chairmen of intergovernmental commissions to discuss joint projects," said Konstantin Pulikovsky, a co-chairman of Russia's intergovernmental commissions with South and North Korea on economic and scientific-technical cooperation.
Russian rail engineers are planning to resume the construction of a rail link between the Russian town of Khasan and North Korea's Najin this year.
"This 54-kilometer segment will link the Trans-Korean and Trans-Siberian railroads," Mikhail Zainchenko, the head of Russia's Far Eastern Railways Department, said earlier.
He said some Russian oil companies are interested in investing in the development of the railway network, given that the port of Najin houses a large inactive oil refinery with capacity of up to 6 million metric tons a year (120,000 bbl/d).
By expert estimates, up to 200,000 heavy-weight containers could be delivered from South Korea to Western Europe each year if the project is implemented. The journey will take 10-12 days and will be the cheapest means of freight transportation from South Korea.
Russia and South Korea decided to continue implementing the project this summer despite the uneasy situation surrounding Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions and provocative missile exercises.
This situation was aggravated in October after the reclusive communist state carried out underground nuclear tests, which provoked international protests and calls for the resumption of talks on the program frozen since late 2005.
In June 2003, South and North Korea held a ceremony to link their railways in eastern and western parts of their 'demilitarized zone', the most heavily-armed border in the world.
Pulikovsky said North Korea's debt to Russia totals $8 billion, including interest, and that stagnation in Russian-North Korean talks on the debt in the last three years has substantially impaired bilateral economic and science and technical cooperation.
He said possible ways of restructuring the debt are being sought.
