Moscow, Seoul Resume Talks on Possible Gas Pipeline Across North Korea - Envoy

VLADIVOSTOK (Sputnik) - Moscow and Seoul have resumed discussion of a possible project that implies laying gas pipeline from Russia to South Korea across North Korea, Russian Trade Representative in South Korea Mikhail Bondarenko told Sputnik.

"We are trying to defreeze it now. It is a very costly and politically risky project. But after South Korean president's trip to us, it is again being discussed. Back then, we did not even discuss it, it was suspended, but now we are returning to it, we are calculating it," Bondarenko said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) on Tuesday.

READ MORE: North Korea May Enter European Markets Through Cooperation With Moscow — Embassy

The fourth EEF kicked off earlier on Tuesday and will last through Thursday on the island of Russky in Vladivostok.

Earlier in September, South Korean Embassy's Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) Director General Kim Jong-kyung said if North and South Korea could reach agreements that would allow to commence the gas supplies through the territory of North Korea, Moscow and Seoul would become one step closer to the implementation of South Korean President Moon Jae-in's plans to increase bilateral trade to $30 billion by 2020.