By Jun Ji-hye
South Korea is likely to suspend its participation in the Rajin-Khasan project, a joint logistics program involving the two Koreas and Russia, after shutting down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea, officials said Thursday.
"Inter-Korean economic cooperation and exchanges have been suspended amid North Korea's provocative actions, and this will also affect the Rajin-Khasan project," an official from the Ministry of Unification told reporters on the condition of anonymity, noting that there is a possibility that it will be put on hold indefinitely.
The project is aimed at transporting bituminous coal produced in Western Siberia to South Korean ports through the North's port city of Rajin and Russia's border town of Khasan.
The comment came a day after Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo announced that South Korea is shutting down the GIC, the first sanction unilaterally made by the South Korean government against Pyongyang, to cut off the North's financial resources suspected of being used in the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
A South Korean consortium, comprised of POSCO, Hyundai Merchant Marine and the Korea Railroad Corporation, was seeking to sign a formal contract with a Russian contractor early this year to officially begin the project. If it began officially, Seoul would have to pay harbor usage fees to the North.
The official said the government now has no choice but to suspend all of its administrative support regarding the project, such as allowing company officials to visit the North to carry it forward, as part of its punitive measures against the North's Feb. 7 launch of long-range rocket.
At the time, an official said Russia also needs to review such a sanction.
The Park Geun-hye government has said that the Rajin-Khasan project is an integral part of its Eurasia initiative aimed at connecting roads and railways for the construction of multi-purpose logistics networks among Eurasian nations.
Embarked on in 2008, Pyongyang and Moscow have been refurbishing a railway between Rajin and Khasan. Seoul decided to take part in the project at a summit between Park and Russian President Vladimir Putin in November of 2013.
A total of three trial runs have been conducted to study the feasibility of the joint logistics project, during which South Korean firms received 45,000 tons, 140,000 tons and 120,000 tons of Russian bituminous coal, respectively.
The government's decision to shut down the GIC and the possible suspension of the Rajin-Khasan project is in line with the United Nations sanctions that ban "bulk cash" transfers to the North, as the hard currency is suspected of being siphoned into the North's development of WMDs.
Observers raise the possibility that the suspension of the project would arouse Russia's opposition.
On Feb. 7, the North launched a long-range rocket in what seems to be a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of some 12,000 kilometers, far enough to hit the U.S. mainland.
This followed the North's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, during which Pyongyang claimed it had detonated a hydrogen bomb.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
South Korea is likely to suspend its participation in the Rajin-Khasan project, a joint logistics program involving the two Koreas and Russia, after shutting down the Gaeseong Industrial Complex (GIC) in North Korea, officials said Thursday.
"Inter-Korean economic cooperation and exchanges have been suspended amid North Korea's provocative actions, and this will also affect the Rajin-Khasan project," an official from the Ministry of Unification told reporters on the condition of anonymity, noting that there is a possibility that it will be put on hold indefinitely.
The project is aimed at transporting bituminous coal produced in Western Siberia to South Korean ports through the North's port city of Rajin and Russia's border town of Khasan.
The comment came a day after Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo announced that South Korea is shutting down the GIC, the first sanction unilaterally made by the South Korean government against Pyongyang, to cut off the North's financial resources suspected of being used in the development of weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
A South Korean consortium, comprised of POSCO, Hyundai Merchant Marine and the Korea Railroad Corporation, was seeking to sign a formal contract with a Russian contractor early this year to officially begin the project. If it began officially, Seoul would have to pay harbor usage fees to the North.
The official said the government now has no choice but to suspend all of its administrative support regarding the project, such as allowing company officials to visit the North to carry it forward, as part of its punitive measures against the North's Feb. 7 launch of long-range rocket.
On Feb. 4, a few days before Pyongyang launched the rocket, the ministry also hinted at including the Rajin-Khasan project on the list of government sanctions if the isolated state pushed ahead with the launch.
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At the time, an official said Russia also needs to review such a sanction.
The Park Geun-hye government has said that the Rajin-Khasan project is an integral part of its Eurasia initiative aimed at connecting roads and railways for the construction of multi-purpose logistics networks among Eurasian nations.
Embarked on in 2008, Pyongyang and Moscow have been refurbishing a railway between Rajin and Khasan. Seoul decided to take part in the project at a summit between Park and Russian President Vladimir Putin in November of 2013.
A total of three trial runs have been conducted to study the feasibility of the joint logistics project, during which South Korean firms received 45,000 tons, 140,000 tons and 120,000 tons of Russian bituminous coal, respectively.
The government's decision to shut down the GIC and the possible suspension of the Rajin-Khasan project is in line with the United Nations sanctions that ban "bulk cash" transfers to the North, as the hard currency is suspected of being siphoned into the North's development of WMDs.
Observers raise the possibility that the suspension of the project would arouse Russia's opposition.
On Feb. 7, the North launched a long-range rocket in what seems to be a test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) with a range of some 12,000 kilometers, far enough to hit the U.S. mainland.
This followed the North's fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6, during which Pyongyang claimed it had detonated a hydrogen bomb.
Follow Jun Ji-hye on Twitter @TheKopJihye
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