South Korea will ship Russian coal through a North Korean port next week to test-run a cross-border logistics project.
 
A South Korean corporate consortium participating in the Rajin-Khasan logistics partnership project said Thursday that it will transport 40-tons of Russian coal from Rajin, North Korea to Pohang, South Korea beginning November 24. The consortium consists of steelmaker POSCO, the Korea Railroad Corporation and Hyundai Merchant Marine.
 
Officials of the three companies will oversee the process of loading the Russian coal onto a ship at the North Korean port from November 24 to 28.
 
The ship will leave Rajin on November 28 and arrive in Pohang two days later.
 
For the trial run of the logistics project, officials of POSCO and Hyundai Merchant Marine recently requested that the government allow them to visit the North. The government is expected to soon approve their requests.
 
POSCO currently imports two million tons of Russian coal a year by ship via the Russian port of Vladivostok.
 
The steelmaker is considering increasing the imports of Russian coal if the sea route via the North Korean port of Rajin turns out to be more cost-effective.
 
The South Korean consortium is currently investing in Russia’s share in order to participate in the logistics project, since South Korean businesses are virtually barred from directly investing in North Korea with Seoul’s economic sanctions on Pyongyang in place.
 
Seoul’s Eurasia initiative of linking Siberia, Central Asia and Europe will likely gain momentum if the economic benefits of the logistics project are proven.
 
The Rajin-Khasan project aims to develop a 54 kilometer rail track connecting the North and Russia, and modernize the North's Rajin Port into a logistics hub.