South Korea’s Kogas Ready to Start Gas Pipeline Project With Russia via DPRK

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - South Korea is ready to immediately start a joint project with Russia to build a gas pipeline to South Korea via North Korea once certain conditions are met, President and CEO of Korea Gas Corporation Kogas Seung-II Cheong told Sputnik on the margins of the World Gas Conference in Washington DC.

"First, the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and also lifting of international sanctions are the prerequisites to promote that project — pipeline to South Korea via North Korea. The conditions should be met before we talk about the project in detail," Cheong said on Tuesday. "But Kogas has been consulting with their Russian counterparts about this project for a long time. So we think if the conditions are met we can easily resume the consultations with Russian counterparts about this project."

When asked whether Kogas would be ready to start the project immediately after a diplomatic decision is reached, Cheong said, "yes." "I hope the diplomatic efforts to ease tensions in the Korean Peninsula will bear fruit in near future," he added.

Vitaly Markelov, the deputy chairman of the Gazprom management committee, said earlier in June that Russian energy giant Gazprom has resumed talks with South Korea on the possible construction of a gas pipeline via North Korea.

The idea of building a gas pipeline that would run from Russia to South Korea through North Korea — along with the plan to link the railways on the Korean Peninsula with the Russian railway network — was first considered more than 10 years ago but has been repeatedly delayed due to the discord between the two Koreas.

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The situation on the peninsula has improved since the Winter Olympics, held in South Korea’s Pyeongchang last month, with North Korean athletes participating in the Games.

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the Korean crisis have recently intensified. In April, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in held a landmark summit during which they reiterated their goal to denuclearize the Korean Peninsula and bring a formal end to the Korean War in the near future.

Moreover, on June 12, US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un met in Singapore, where they issued an agreement that requires Pyongyang to denuclearize in exchange for a freeze of the US-South Korean military drills and eventual sanctions relief.

Kogas Seung-II Cheong also told Sputnik that Kogas sees prospects for joint projects with North Korea once sanctions against Pyongyang are lifted. When asked whether Kogas sees prospects for projects with North Korea once the sanctions are lifted, Cheong said, "I think so."