Kim’s Russia visit gives Moscow a major economic and diplomatic opportunity
by Nina Achmatova
Russian analysts believe the Kremlin’s honest broker status in a gas pipeline project might bring Seoul and Pyongyang together and open up the latter. The ‘dear leader’ is expected to meet Medvedev.
Moscow (AsiaNews) – The visit by Kim Jong-il, North Korea’s ‘deal leader’, who arrived on Saturday, could help Russia not only to boost trade between the two countries but also to mediate between Seoul and Pyongyang. At least, this is what some major Russian newspapers are saying in relation to the North Korean leader’s first trip to Russia in nine years.
Kim’s armoured train arrived in Khasan, in Russia Far East, on the first leg of a weeklong trip, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. The North Korean leader does not like to travel by plane for security reasons.
The trip and the dear leader’s movements are top secret and are made public only at the last moment. Today and tomorrow, he will meet Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, a presidential statement said. The meeting will likely take place in Ulan Ude, Siberia.
Before travelling to the capital of the predominantly Buddhist province of Buryatia, Kim could stop at Skovorodino, sources told Yonhap. The town will be a relay point on an oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to China. Kim’s stopover is in connection with Russia’s proposal to supply oil to the Korean Peninsula.
Indeed, Kim and Medvedev might discuss a proposal to build a pipeline providing Russian gas to the two Koreas. Both Seoul and Moscow want Pyongyang to allow the pipeline to cross its territory.
For its part, North Korea wants economic aid at a difficult time in its history with famine haunting the Communist nation again. On Friday, Moscow announced that it was going to ship 50,000 tonnes of wheat to its poor neighbour.
According to the Associated Press, North Korea could earn up to US$ 100 million a year from the pipeline, but talks are being held up by the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear programme.
As a neutral sponsor of the gas pipeline, Moscow wants to broker a deal between the two Koreas and bring some semblance of peace along the 38th parallel, Gazeta and Kommersant wrote.
Such a plan is also part of Russia’s broader diplomacy, which aims at carving a role for itself on various fronts, from Libya to the Middle East, to increase its weight on the international scene.
Kim’s armoured train arrived in Khasan, in Russia Far East, on the first leg of a weeklong trip, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. The North Korean leader does not like to travel by plane for security reasons.
The trip and the dear leader’s movements are top secret and are made public only at the last moment. Today and tomorrow, he will meet Russian President Dmitri Medvedev, a presidential statement said. The meeting will likely take place in Ulan Ude, Siberia.
Before travelling to the capital of the predominantly Buddhist province of Buryatia, Kim could stop at Skovorodino, sources told Yonhap. The town will be a relay point on an oil pipeline from eastern Siberia to China. Kim’s stopover is in connection with Russia’s proposal to supply oil to the Korean Peninsula.
Indeed, Kim and Medvedev might discuss a proposal to build a pipeline providing Russian gas to the two Koreas. Both Seoul and Moscow want Pyongyang to allow the pipeline to cross its territory.
For its part, North Korea wants economic aid at a difficult time in its history with famine haunting the Communist nation again. On Friday, Moscow announced that it was going to ship 50,000 tonnes of wheat to its poor neighbour.
According to the Associated Press, North Korea could earn up to US$ 100 million a year from the pipeline, but talks are being held up by the deadlock over North Korea’s nuclear programme.
As a neutral sponsor of the gas pipeline, Moscow wants to broker a deal between the two Koreas and bring some semblance of peace along the 38th parallel, Gazeta and Kommersant wrote.
Such a plan is also part of Russia’s broader diplomacy, which aims at carving a role for itself on various fronts, from Libya to the Middle East, to increase its weight on the international scene.
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