The renewal of commercial ties appeals to Russian nationalists, who remember the cross-border solidarity of communist days. Last spring, members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia demonstrated against the war in Iraq outside North Korea's consulate in Nakhodka, a port city near Vladivostok. Some carried signs reading "An attack on Pyongyang is an attack on Russia." The Liberal Democrats did unexpectedly well in parliamentary elections on Sunday, drawing 11.6 percent of the national vote.
But today, economic interests rather than ideology or geopolitics drive Primorye's projects with North Korea. For example, when the regional government recently decided to admit as many 5,000 North Korean workers on labor contracts, it was billed as a way to lower local food prices by stepping up farm production.
Rehabilitating the Najin refinery, closed for seven years, would spare the city from having to obtain its fuel supplies by rail from a Russian refinery 966km north of Vladivostok. Renovating the port of Najin, which can berth 17 midsize freighters at a time, would relieve cargo congestion in Vladivostok and Nakhodka, Russia's two principal Pacific ports. Russian repair and administration of the port would be paid for through fees.
"Our interest in the port of Najin is understandable," said Gorchakov, whose trip to North Korea in October was his first since the Soviet era. "Everything is clear for Russians in the port -- the machinery, the piers."
Renovating the railroad crossing has two aims -- first to allow Russia to make use of the port of Najin, and later to facilitate a plan to transship South Korean products to Europe by way of North Korea and the Trans-Siberian Railway.
On Saturday, South Korea and North Korea agreed to start building signal, communication and electricity systems for their own cross-border railway next spring, steps that could make inter-Korean train service possible late next year.
Though North Korea and South Korea remain at odds over a number of issues, their economic relationship has been quietly growing since 1988, and this year South Korea became North Korea's largest export market, surpassing China.
RSS