A key Russian official on economic cooperation with South and North Korea arrived in Seoul Thursday as the three countries are pushing for a joint logistics project.
Alexander Galushka, minister for development of the Far East, plans to meet with senior South Korean officials, including Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae, during his two-day stay in Seoul.
"Minister Ryoo is scheduled to meet Minister Galushka at 3 p.m. tomorrow," a unification ministry official told reporters.
They are expected to discuss trilateral economic cooperation among Russia and the two Koreas including the Rajin-Khasan program, which is on a test run, added the official.
The South's steelmaker POSCO is seeking to bring in Russian coal via the North's port of Rajin. POSCO has formed a consortium with two other South Korean firms -- Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. and Korea Railroad Corp.
Galushka is also expected to brief the results of a top North Korean official's recent trip to Russia, according to the ministry official.
Choe Ryong-hae, the Workers' Party of Korea secretary, made a weeklong trip to Moscow and two Far Eastern cities earlier this month, where he had meetings with President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Galushka apparently attended the meetings and he also had separate talks with Ri Kwang-gun, vice-minister of North Korea's External Economic Relations, who accompanied Choe.
Having traveled to Pyongyang in October, Galushka is viewed as acting as a sort of messenger between the two Koreas.
An informed source said he will likely request South Korea's support for the North's efforts to modernize its railway and discuss the possibility of Russian firms operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex.
Meanwhile, a Chinese-flagged 56,000-ton ship, carrying 40,500 tons of Russian coal, is scheduled to arrive in Pohang, home to POSCO's main factory, on Monday in the first pilot operation, according to the unification ministry. (Yonhap)
