Lee proposes Northeast Asian economic community By Yoo Cheong-mo

SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia, Sept. 30 (Yonhap) - South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Sunday proposed the formation of a Northeast Asian economic community by promoting tripartite cooperation projects with Russia and North Korea, including the link of the three countries' railways.

"I wish the inter-Korean railway would be connected to the trans-Siberian railway
as soon as possible. The project will boost the development of the Russian Far
East and Siberia and be beneficial to all three countries," Lee said in an
address at Saint Petersburg State University.
"Moreover, the rail link project will help expand human and logistics exchanges
between Europe and Asia, advancing the era of Eurasia, which accounts for half of
the world's population and trade and a third of the global gross output," said
Lee.
Lee then noted that the division of the Korean Peninsula poses the biggest
obstacle to peace and stability in Northeast Asia.
Lee made the address after receiving an honorary doctorate from the Russian
university, the alma mater of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Russian Prime
Minister Vladimir Putin.
Lee, who held talks with both Medvedev and Putin in Moscow on Monday, stopped
here on his way home.
Notably, Lee and Medvedev agreed to work together to send Russian natural gas
through a pipeline to South Korea via North Korea starting in 2015 and link the
inter-Korean railway with the trans-Siberian railway for its eventual connection
to Europe.
ycm@yna.co.kr
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