Seoul firms to run 2nd N.K.-Russia logistics project

A consortium of Seoul firms is expected to run another pilot operation of a key logistics project involving South and North Korea and Russia in late April, a government official said Sunday.
  

The so-called Rajin-Khasan logistics project is the symbol of trilateral cooperation between the two Koreas and Russia at a time when inter-Korean relations remain stagnant.
  

In the previous pilot operation, 40,500 tons of Russian coal arrived in South Korea on a ship from the North Korean port city of Rajin in November after being transported from Russia's border city of Khasan on a re-connected railway.
  

"The companies are in the process of setting a specific schedule with the North and Russia as they are seeking to run a second operation late this month," said an official at the unification ministry, asking not to be named.
  

The logistics project involves three South Korean firms -- top steelmaker POSCO, shipper Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. and state train operator Korail Corp. They will decide on whether to clinch a formal contract based on the outcome of the two pilot operations.
  

The project could help realize South Korean President Park Geun-hye's vision for a united Eurasia.
  

In October 2013, Park unveiled her Eurasia initiative that calls for, among other things, infrastructure development and freer trade among Eurasian nations by linking their railways.
  

South Korea imposed the May 24 punitive sanctions on North Korea in 2010 following Pyongyang's deadly sinking of the Cheonan warship in March that year.
  

The move has suspended all trade and exchange programs with the North, apart from a joint factory park project in the North Korean border city of Kaesong. The three-way logistics project also has been regarded as an exception. (Yonhap)