Park calls for Russia's support for NK denuclearization

By Kang Seung-woo

VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- President Park Geun-hye urged Russia to aggressively participate in the international pressure on North Korea over its nuclear program, calling the North a disconnected node undermining Eurasia’s prosperity.

She made the remark during her visit to the Far Eastern Russian city -- the first leg of her three-nation trip that will also take her to Hangzhou, China, and Vientiane, Laos.

“In order to steadily develop the Far East and expand its ties with the Asia-Pacific region, it is essential to maintain peace and stability in Northeast Asia,” Park said in her keynote speech at the Eastern Economic Forum, which Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also attended.

“In this respect, North Korea’s series of provocations have emerged as the biggest threat to the region, while becoming a disconnected node to Eurasia’s prosperity, stopping trilateral projects between South Korea, Russia and the North, including the ‘Rajin-Khasan’ project,” she said.

The project is a three-way logistics scheme involving the countries, but it has made little progress after Pyongyang’s nuclear test in January and long-range rocket launch the following month.

“Should the North stop its threats, the trilateral joint project could resume,” she said, adding that it may broaden cooperation that will include Japan and China.

Russia has growing interest in developing Eurasia, including the Far East, that is so far undeveloped economically, though it has huge potential, which is the main emphasis of Putin’s New Eastern Policy.