Sanctions Against N.Korea Not Affecting Russian Railways’s Rajin Project

New package of sanctions against North Korea adopted by the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday does not affect the trilateral Rajin-Khasan railway project, the Russian Railways company said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Under the project, soft coal is being transported to the North Korean district of Rajin from the Russian border city of Khasan on a reconnected 54-kilometer (33-mile) railway, and then shipped to South Korea.

"According to paragraph 29a of the UN Security Council resolution, the restrictions do not apply to Khasan-Rajin project focused on energy transit from Russia to third countries using the port of Rajin," the company told RIA Novosti.

The company added that it intends to continue constructive cooperation with its partners on the project, in particular with Seoul.

Under the contracts concluded by now some 2.5 million tonnes of the Russian coal will be transported through the North Korean port in 2016-2017, the company pointed out.

The sanctions under the new resolution adopted earlier in the day in response to recent nuclear and ballistic tests conducted by Pyongyang are due to affect multiple sectors of North Korea's economy, making all cargo entering and leaving the country subject to inspection and limiting or prohibiting the nation's export of coal, iron, gold, titanium and rare natural minerals. The resolution also bans conventional arms sale as well as the delivery of aviation and rocket fuel to Pyongyang.

In early January, Pyongyang said that it had successfully tested a hydrogen bomb. The following month, North Korea fired a long-range rocket to allegedly place a satellite into orbit in defiance of UN Security Council resolutions.