Translated material
The Trans-Korean project is under threat
The deterioration of relations between the US and North Korea will deprive Russia of a billion dollars
First Deputy Minister of Transport of Russia Vladimir Yakunin said in Khabarovsk that the project for the reconstruction of the Trans-Korean Railway with its access to the Russian Trans-Siberian Railway in the Tumangan-Khasan area is under threat due to the war in Iraq. He also noted that freezing this project could deprive Russia of $1 billion in profits.As is known, it was planned that investors from Japan, South Korea and Russia would allocate more than $3 billion for the reconstruction of railway tracks in the DPRK. To implement the project, Russia proposed creating a financial consortium. However, due to tense relations between the United States and the DPRK, especially aggravated against the backdrop of the war in Iraq, the creation of the consortium may be postponed indefinitely. The fact is that potential investors of the project - Japan and South Korea, despite their interest in connecting the Trans-Korean Railway with the Trans-Siberian Railway, will follow American sentiments. According to Russian railway workers, if relations between the United States and North Korea do not improve, the project will have to be frozen until better times.
The Russian side has already actually begun modernizing a 240-kilometer section of the Far Eastern Railway - from the Khasan station bordering the DPRK to the connection with the Trans-Siberian Railway at the Baranovsky station near Vladivostok. According to the Ministry of Railways, with the successful implementation of the project to connect the Trans-Korean and Trans-Siberian Railways, the Russian side would be able to attract transit traffic in the amount of 500 thousand 20-foot containers per year. In this case, annual profits could be $1 billion.