ID :
21966
Tue, 09/30/2008 - 21:41
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/21966
The shortlink copeid
Lee, Medvedev agree on upgraded partnership, gas pipeline project involving N. Korea By Yoo Cheong-mo
MOSCOW, Sept. 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and his Russian
counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, agreed at a Kremlin summit Monday to upgrade their
bilateral relations from a comprehensive partnership to a strategic cooperative
partnership by accelerating two-way cooperation in energy, resources and
industrial technologies, Lee's aides said.
In the first tangible and unprecedented three-nation project, the two leaders
agreed to send Russian natural gas through a pipeline to South Korea via North
Korea starting in 2015.
Under the contract signed between Korea Gas Corp. and Russia's Gazprom, the
Russian side is to send at least 7.5 million tons of natural gas annually for a
period of 30 years through a long-distance pipeline running from Vladivostok in
the Russian Far East to South Korea through North Korea.
The volume of 7.5 million tons represents an estimated 20 percent of South
Korea's annual natural gas consumption.
"Korea Gas Corp. and Gazprom will soon start a joint study on the construction of
a Russian-South Korean natural gas pipeline that passes across North Korea," said
Lee's office in a press statement.
"South Korea and Russia will also seek various other tripartite economic
cooperation projects involving North Korea through the gas pipeline project,
providing fresh momentum for inter-Korean economic cooperation," said the
statement.
Following the Kremlin summit, meanwhile, South Korea and Russia issued a 10-point
joint statement calling for promoting strategic and cooperative partnership
across the board, including politics, diplomacy, security, defense, energy,
economy and aerospace and polar development.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic
ties in 2010, both countries agreed to hold various cultural and tourism events,
while South Korea declared its support for Russia's entry into the World Trade
Organization.
"I and President Medvedev agreed to strengthen practical cooperation in energy,
aerospace, science-technology and various other fields. Specifically, Russian
natural gas will be supplied to the Korean Peninsula, while South Korean and
Russian railroads will be linked," Lee said in a joint press conference held
after the summit.
"We'll also seek ways to implement port development in the Russian Far East,
joint exploitation of Russia's offshore mines and South Korean companies'
participation in the Siberian development," said Lee.
Lee also said Medvedev accepted his invitation to visit South Korea in the near
future.
Regarding the North Korean nuclear issue, Lee said he and Medvedev agreed to work
together to promote denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and peace in
Northeast Asia. But Lee didn't mention whether he and the Russian leader
exchanged views on how to deal with the shaky six-nation talks on disabling North
Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Russia's stance on North Korea draws strong interest, as the communist North is
now on the brink of restarting its nuclear weapons program shut down in July last
year under a landmark disarmament deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia
and Japan.
Medvedev said at the press conference that he wishes to see the continuation of
inter-Korean political, economic and humanitarian contacts, calling for the two
Koreas' implementation of their 2007 summit agreements.
The Russian leader then declared that his government has strong interest in the
rail connection between the Korean Peninsula and Russia, indirectly pressuring
North Korea to cooperate in the envisioned tripartite rail and gas pipeline
projects.
Both sides also agreed to regularly hold vice minister-level strategic talks to
boost exchanges in military and defense fields, in particular.
Lee went on to meet separately with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to
confirm his summit agreements and desire to pursue across-the-board strategic
relationship with Russia.
Lee also met with a group of Russian journalists to urge Russia to pay greater
attention to its cooperation with Asia, rather than with Europe.
With the agreement, South Korea-Russia ties will be on par with Seoul's relations
with China. A strategic cooperative partnership calls for expanding the scope and
depth of exchanges in politics, military, foreign affairs, security and other
sensitive fields.
Lee, accompanied by first lady Kim Yoon-ok and 14 official and special delegates,
arrived in Moscow on Sunday for a three-day official visit, becoming the first
South Korean president to travel to Russia in his inaugural year. Lee and
Medvedev already met on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Japan in
July.
Following the summit, Lee and Medvedev observed their Cabinet ministers sign 13
memorandums of understanding calling for strategic partnership in the fields of
energy, resources, investment, industrial technology and information technology.
The MOUs covered joint exploration of petroleum, uranium and other natural
resources, construction of a Korea-only industrial complex near Moscow and
exchanges between science and technology institutions of both sides.
Specifically, South Korean and Russian ministries in charge of energy policy
agreed to hold regular meetings for strategic cooperation in the development of
Russian natural resources, while the Korea National Oil Corp. will conduct a
joint feasibility study on mines in the Russian Republic of Kalmykia.
In addition, a consortium of Korea Electric Power Corp., Korea Resources Corp.
and LG International will participate in uranium mine development projects to be
carried out by a subsidiary of the Russian entity AtomRed-MetZoloto, known as
ARMZ.
Seoul's Knowledge Economy Ministry signed an MOU with the Moscow State Government
on the creation of a Korea-only industrial park on the outskirts of the Russian
capital, which will house about 30 Korean plants in the initial phase.
Two-way trade between South Korea and Russia surged from US$4.18 billion in 2003
to $15.06 billion in 2007, representing annual average growth of 38 percent.
South Korea's investment in Russia as of June this year totaled $1.5 billion, or
1 percent of the aggregate foreign investment in Russia. The investment has been
rapidly growing in recent years, with a 3.6-fold increase reported last year.
Addressing a joint meeting of South Korean and Russian business leaders in Moscow
earlier on Monday, Lee said he will seek to link the trans-Korean railway, or
TKR, with Russia's trans-Siberian railway, known as the TSR, for its eventual
connection to Europe.
Lee also envisioned closer two-way cooperation in the exploitation of Russia's
abundant oil and gas resources, as well as in the development of the farm lands
and forestry resources in the Russian Far East.
The president dubbed the railroad, energy and agricultural cooperation with
Russia the "New Silk Road" projects, referring to an extensively interconnected
network of trade routes across the ancient Asian continent.
"At present, it takes about 40 days to transport freight from Busan to Europe by
sea. But the transport period can be halved if the TKR and TSR are connected,"
Lee said.
"The railway link between the two Koreas and Europe via Russia would help boost
global peace and ease tensions in Northeast Asia, as well as on the Korean
Peninsula. Subsequent infrastructure construction projects surrounding the Korean
Peninsula-Europe railways will also be mutually beneficial."
Lee emphasized the importance of the so-called "energy silk road" and South
Korea's participation in the Russian Far East's forestation and agricultural
plantation businesses.
"Joint development of Russia's oil and gas resources will create enormous
synergies for both sides. Russia will secure a stable buyer of its natural gas,
while South Korea will be able to secure its own stable energy import source,"
said Lee.
The South Korea-Russia Business Forum meeting was attended by 100 South Korean
entrepreneurs and 150 Russian business executives. The participants agreed to
establish the "South Korea-Russia Business Dialogue" to actively assist their
governments' efforts to upgrade bilateral relations to a strategic partnership
level.
counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, agreed at a Kremlin summit Monday to upgrade their
bilateral relations from a comprehensive partnership to a strategic cooperative
partnership by accelerating two-way cooperation in energy, resources and
industrial technologies, Lee's aides said.
In the first tangible and unprecedented three-nation project, the two leaders
agreed to send Russian natural gas through a pipeline to South Korea via North
Korea starting in 2015.
Under the contract signed between Korea Gas Corp. and Russia's Gazprom, the
Russian side is to send at least 7.5 million tons of natural gas annually for a
period of 30 years through a long-distance pipeline running from Vladivostok in
the Russian Far East to South Korea through North Korea.
The volume of 7.5 million tons represents an estimated 20 percent of South
Korea's annual natural gas consumption.
"Korea Gas Corp. and Gazprom will soon start a joint study on the construction of
a Russian-South Korean natural gas pipeline that passes across North Korea," said
Lee's office in a press statement.
"South Korea and Russia will also seek various other tripartite economic
cooperation projects involving North Korea through the gas pipeline project,
providing fresh momentum for inter-Korean economic cooperation," said the
statement.
Following the Kremlin summit, meanwhile, South Korea and Russia issued a 10-point
joint statement calling for promoting strategic and cooperative partnership
across the board, including politics, diplomacy, security, defense, energy,
economy and aerospace and polar development.
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic
ties in 2010, both countries agreed to hold various cultural and tourism events,
while South Korea declared its support for Russia's entry into the World Trade
Organization.
"I and President Medvedev agreed to strengthen practical cooperation in energy,
aerospace, science-technology and various other fields. Specifically, Russian
natural gas will be supplied to the Korean Peninsula, while South Korean and
Russian railroads will be linked," Lee said in a joint press conference held
after the summit.
"We'll also seek ways to implement port development in the Russian Far East,
joint exploitation of Russia's offshore mines and South Korean companies'
participation in the Siberian development," said Lee.
Lee also said Medvedev accepted his invitation to visit South Korea in the near
future.
Regarding the North Korean nuclear issue, Lee said he and Medvedev agreed to work
together to promote denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and peace in
Northeast Asia. But Lee didn't mention whether he and the Russian leader
exchanged views on how to deal with the shaky six-nation talks on disabling North
Korea's nuclear weapons program.
Russia's stance on North Korea draws strong interest, as the communist North is
now on the brink of restarting its nuclear weapons program shut down in July last
year under a landmark disarmament deal with South Korea, the U.S., China, Russia
and Japan.
Medvedev said at the press conference that he wishes to see the continuation of
inter-Korean political, economic and humanitarian contacts, calling for the two
Koreas' implementation of their 2007 summit agreements.
The Russian leader then declared that his government has strong interest in the
rail connection between the Korean Peninsula and Russia, indirectly pressuring
North Korea to cooperate in the envisioned tripartite rail and gas pipeline
projects.
Both sides also agreed to regularly hold vice minister-level strategic talks to
boost exchanges in military and defense fields, in particular.
Lee went on to meet separately with Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to
confirm his summit agreements and desire to pursue across-the-board strategic
relationship with Russia.
Lee also met with a group of Russian journalists to urge Russia to pay greater
attention to its cooperation with Asia, rather than with Europe.
With the agreement, South Korea-Russia ties will be on par with Seoul's relations
with China. A strategic cooperative partnership calls for expanding the scope and
depth of exchanges in politics, military, foreign affairs, security and other
sensitive fields.
Lee, accompanied by first lady Kim Yoon-ok and 14 official and special delegates,
arrived in Moscow on Sunday for a three-day official visit, becoming the first
South Korean president to travel to Russia in his inaugural year. Lee and
Medvedev already met on the sidelines of the Group of Eight summit in Japan in
July.
Following the summit, Lee and Medvedev observed their Cabinet ministers sign 13
memorandums of understanding calling for strategic partnership in the fields of
energy, resources, investment, industrial technology and information technology.
The MOUs covered joint exploration of petroleum, uranium and other natural
resources, construction of a Korea-only industrial complex near Moscow and
exchanges between science and technology institutions of both sides.
Specifically, South Korean and Russian ministries in charge of energy policy
agreed to hold regular meetings for strategic cooperation in the development of
Russian natural resources, while the Korea National Oil Corp. will conduct a
joint feasibility study on mines in the Russian Republic of Kalmykia.
In addition, a consortium of Korea Electric Power Corp., Korea Resources Corp.
and LG International will participate in uranium mine development projects to be
carried out by a subsidiary of the Russian entity AtomRed-MetZoloto, known as
ARMZ.
Seoul's Knowledge Economy Ministry signed an MOU with the Moscow State Government
on the creation of a Korea-only industrial park on the outskirts of the Russian
capital, which will house about 30 Korean plants in the initial phase.
Two-way trade between South Korea and Russia surged from US$4.18 billion in 2003
to $15.06 billion in 2007, representing annual average growth of 38 percent.
South Korea's investment in Russia as of June this year totaled $1.5 billion, or
1 percent of the aggregate foreign investment in Russia. The investment has been
rapidly growing in recent years, with a 3.6-fold increase reported last year.
Addressing a joint meeting of South Korean and Russian business leaders in Moscow
earlier on Monday, Lee said he will seek to link the trans-Korean railway, or
TKR, with Russia's trans-Siberian railway, known as the TSR, for its eventual
connection to Europe.
Lee also envisioned closer two-way cooperation in the exploitation of Russia's
abundant oil and gas resources, as well as in the development of the farm lands
and forestry resources in the Russian Far East.
The president dubbed the railroad, energy and agricultural cooperation with
Russia the "New Silk Road" projects, referring to an extensively interconnected
network of trade routes across the ancient Asian continent.
"At present, it takes about 40 days to transport freight from Busan to Europe by
sea. But the transport period can be halved if the TKR and TSR are connected,"
Lee said.
"The railway link between the two Koreas and Europe via Russia would help boost
global peace and ease tensions in Northeast Asia, as well as on the Korean
Peninsula. Subsequent infrastructure construction projects surrounding the Korean
Peninsula-Europe railways will also be mutually beneficial."
Lee emphasized the importance of the so-called "energy silk road" and South
Korea's participation in the Russian Far East's forestation and agricultural
plantation businesses.
"Joint development of Russia's oil and gas resources will create enormous
synergies for both sides. Russia will secure a stable buyer of its natural gas,
while South Korea will be able to secure its own stable energy import source,"
said Lee.
The South Korea-Russia Business Forum meeting was attended by 100 South Korean
entrepreneurs and 150 Russian business executives. The participants agreed to
establish the "South Korea-Russia Business Dialogue" to actively assist their
governments' efforts to upgrade bilateral relations to a strategic partnership
level.
