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South Korean President Lee Myung-bak telephoned Russian President Dmitri Medvedev on May 20 to congratulate him on his recent inauguration and discuss commercial relations and North Korea’s nuclear program. The call followed a meeting between state-owned Russian Railways CEO Vladimir Yakunin and South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan, in which Yakunin asked Yu for help in rebuilding the strategic railway line.
The steps mark high-level movement on an old issue that has lately gained more interest.
Though talks on the joint renovation of a Russo-Korean railway have spanned several years, beginning again in 2006, no rail links have been laid. The 34-mile railway in question will join North Korea’s Rajin Port to Russia’s Khasan border settlement, and from there to the Trans-Siberian Railroad (TSR) and beyond. The short Khasan-Rajin rail line is Russia’s next step in gaining access to an ice-free port on the Pacific. To this end, North Korean authorities signed an agreement with Yakunin in 2007 to open Rajin Port to foreign trade. In March 2008 the Russians and North Koreans discussed technical aspects of the project, and both sides agreed to start construction soon. Shipment of goods to Europe is scheduled to begin by the end of 2008, though this is unlikely.
Russia’s talks with South Korea May 20 were meant to assure Seoul that Moscow still wants South Korean goods to come up the line. The Khasan-Rajin link will encourage hopes for future land links with South Korea.
Seoul primarily wants a railroad to transit North Korea and Russia to help South Korea tap into European markets. This step is crucial to Seoul’s drive to become Northeast Asia’s economic and transshipment center on a par with Hong Kong or Singapore. It would convert South Korea’s geographical situation from one of vulnerability — sandwiched as it is between China and Japan — into one of strength.
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