ID :
202541
Sun, 08/21/2011 - 10:42
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/202541
The shortlink copeid
N. Korean leader tours power station ahead of talks with Medvedev
(ATTN: RECASTS throughout with comments by diplomatic sources; CHANGES headline)
By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il toured a hydro-electric power station in eastern Siberia on Sunday ahead of his summit with his Russian counterpart, diplomatic sources said.
Kim's special train arrived at a train station in the Amur region at 10:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. Korea Time) and received a red carpet welcome by the Russian president's envoy to the Far Eastern Region, Viktor Ishayev, and other senior officials amid tight security, the sources said.
Kim's trip to the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station fueled speculation that the two countries could discuss enhancing bilateral cooperation in energy.
In recent years, Russia proposed transmitting surplus electricity produced by the power station to South Korea via North Korea. It has also proposed building a pipeline through the Korean Peninsula to sell Siberia natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest natural gas consumers.
The project, if realized, could help ease tensions on the divided peninsula and bring much-needed hard currency to North Korea. North Korea can expect to earn more than US$500 million a year in handling charges over the gas pipeline, according to South Korean analysts.
Kim is scheduled to leave for Ulan-Ude, the third-largest city in eastern Siberia, at 4 p.m. local time (3 p.m. Korea Time) for summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, according to sources.
North Korea and Russia did not give a time frame for the summit talks, though an informed source in Moscow said Saturday that the summit will be held in Ulan-Ude on Tuesday.
A South Korean official said Kim is presumed to be heading to Ulan-Ude without stopping after a trip to the Amur region and is expected to arrive in the summit venue on Tuesday, some 3,800 kilometers from the Russian border city of Khasan.
Kim crossed the border on Saturday for his first trip to Russia since 2002.
His latest trip comes just months after the reclusive leader held summit talks with the Chinese president in Beijing in his third trip to his country's closest ally in just over a year.
The trip will boost "the (North)-Russia friendship," the KCNA said in a dispatch.
The bilateral relations cooled following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the North's former mentor, two decades ago. North Korea has relied heavily on China for trade, aid and diplomatic support in recent years.
Russia and China have been involved in talks to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. The North quit the disarmament-for-aid talks in 2008, but it has expressed its interest to rejoin the talks that also involve the two Koreas, the United States and Japan.
Kim's trip came weeks after North Korea and the United States held rare high-level talks in New York on how to resume the six-nation nuclear talks.
Meanwhile, Kim's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, is not accompanying his father on the trip, though top military, economic and other officials, including Vice Premier Kang Sok-ju, were traveling with the North Korean leader, according to the KCNA dispatch.
In May, Kim Jong-un greeted his father in a North Korean border city after his father returned home from a trip to China. The junior Kim, a four-star general, is being groomed to succeed his father as North Korea's next leader.
entropy@yna.co.kr
By Kim Kwang-tae
SEOUL, Aug. 21 (Yonhap) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong-il toured a hydro-electric power station in eastern Siberia on Sunday ahead of his summit with his Russian counterpart, diplomatic sources said.
Kim's special train arrived at a train station in the Amur region at 10:30 a.m. local time (9:30 a.m. Korea Time) and received a red carpet welcome by the Russian president's envoy to the Far Eastern Region, Viktor Ishayev, and other senior officials amid tight security, the sources said.
Kim's trip to the Bureiskaya hydro-electric power station fueled speculation that the two countries could discuss enhancing bilateral cooperation in energy.
In recent years, Russia proposed transmitting surplus electricity produced by the power station to South Korea via North Korea. It has also proposed building a pipeline through the Korean Peninsula to sell Siberia natural gas to South Korea, one of the world's largest natural gas consumers.
The project, if realized, could help ease tensions on the divided peninsula and bring much-needed hard currency to North Korea. North Korea can expect to earn more than US$500 million a year in handling charges over the gas pipeline, according to South Korean analysts.
Kim is scheduled to leave for Ulan-Ude, the third-largest city in eastern Siberia, at 4 p.m. local time (3 p.m. Korea Time) for summit talks with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, according to sources.
North Korea and Russia did not give a time frame for the summit talks, though an informed source in Moscow said Saturday that the summit will be held in Ulan-Ude on Tuesday.
A South Korean official said Kim is presumed to be heading to Ulan-Ude without stopping after a trip to the Amur region and is expected to arrive in the summit venue on Tuesday, some 3,800 kilometers from the Russian border city of Khasan.
Kim crossed the border on Saturday for his first trip to Russia since 2002.
His latest trip comes just months after the reclusive leader held summit talks with the Chinese president in Beijing in his third trip to his country's closest ally in just over a year.
The trip will boost "the (North)-Russia friendship," the KCNA said in a dispatch.
The bilateral relations cooled following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the North's former mentor, two decades ago. North Korea has relied heavily on China for trade, aid and diplomatic support in recent years.
Russia and China have been involved in talks to end North Korea's nuclear weapons programs. The North quit the disarmament-for-aid talks in 2008, but it has expressed its interest to rejoin the talks that also involve the two Koreas, the United States and Japan.
Kim's trip came weeks after North Korea and the United States held rare high-level talks in New York on how to resume the six-nation nuclear talks.
Meanwhile, Kim's heir apparent son, Kim Jong-un, is not accompanying his father on the trip, though top military, economic and other officials, including Vice Premier Kang Sok-ju, were traveling with the North Korean leader, according to the KCNA dispatch.
In May, Kim Jong-un greeted his father in a North Korean border city after his father returned home from a trip to China. The junior Kim, a four-star general, is being groomed to succeed his father as North Korea's next leader.
entropy@yna.co.kr
