By Kim Young-jin
North Korean leader Kim Jong-il will likely hold summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev on Wednesday, a day later than expected, officials said as the reclusive leader continued his trip to the neighboring country.
The meeting could be pushed back to enable Kim to make a symbolic stop at an oil pipeline, an intelligence source said.
Reports said Kim’s armored train was headed to the eastern Siberian city of Ulan-Ude, where the summit will be held, on the third day of Kim’s first trip to Russia in nine years.
"On his way to Ulan-Ude, Kim is likely to stop off at the city of Skovorodino," the official told Yonhap News on condition of anonymity. "If so, the summit will be delayed by a day."
A stop at Skovorodino, the starting point for a pipeline between eastern Siberia and China, would continue the trip’s focus on energy cooperation.
Speculation was high that Medvedev could try to coax Kim to cooperate in denuclearization talks by offering lucrative projects in the energy and transport sectors. Russia is a member of the six-party talks on Pyongyang’s denuclearization.
Moscow has been pushing the idea of building a pipeline through the Korean Peninsula to sell Siberian natural gas to the South, a project that could earn Pyongyang hundreds of millions of dollars a year in handling fees.
Such a move would also help ease soaring tension in the wake of two deadly provocations by the North last year.
It also wants to link its Trans-Siberian Railway with South Korea through the North, a move that would facilitate shipping between Europe and the South.
Analysts say the rapidly-developing country seeks cooperation with the North for economic reasons as well as to reduce tension and stave off instability on its border.
Moscow last year strongly condemned Pyongyang’s disclosure of a uranium enrichment program that provides a second track to nuclear weapons, prompting speculation Medvedev could urge Kim to take steps to resume the six-party forum.
A recent flurry of diplomacy including the bilateral meetings among the North, Washington and Seoul, have nudged the forum closer to an eventual resumption.
Seoul wants Pyongyang to halt all its nuclear activities and allow U.N. inspectors to verify the suspension before resuming the stalled talks, which halted in 2009 after the North stormed away in response to international sanctions.
Observers said Kim could also request more food aid than the 50,000 tons of grain the Kremlin has offered to help the North cope with severe summer flooding.
Another Seoul official said Kim could arrive in Ulan-Ude, a lake town some 3,000 kilometers from Bureiskaya tonight and spend the night there before the summit. Russian media said security has been tightened there.