The government is expecting to sign an official agreement next year on the Rajin-Khasan logistics project as the first shipment of Russian coal arrived in South Korea over the weekend through the North's Rajin Port in a test operation of the project.
 
A Seoul official of the Unification Ministry said Monday that the contract on the project is unlikely to be signed this year, but will likely be finalized next year. 
 
The official said that the timing could change depending on the results of negotiations, adding that the government will seek another round of test operation if necessary. 
 
The official said that key issues in dispute between Russia and three South Korean firms include harbor costs and project management. 
 
The official added that Seoul paid almost nothing to Pyongyang in the recent test operation, which reportedly cost four million U.S. dollars. 
 
In the first test run, some 40-thousand tons of Russian coal arrived over the weekend at South Korea's port of Pohang through the North Korean port of Rajin.
 
Meanwhile, Unification Ministry spokesman Lim Byeong-cheol said Monday in a regular news briefing that the recent test shipping operation was meaningful as a project that can lay the foundation for realizing the Eurasia Initiative, peace in Northeast Asia and the renovation of the South Korean economy.
 
The spokesman, however, said that the Seoul government is not considering further measures for now such as a project to modernize Rajin Port.