There’s a Gas Pipeline Deal to Be Done With Kim Jong Un. Any Takers?
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin commemorates the 2011 opening of a natural gas pipeline in Vladivostok, near the border with China and North Korea.
Photographer: Alexei Druzhinin/RIA Novosti/AP Photo
The idea of building a conduit to carry natural gas from the Russian Far East to South Korea has been around since the 1990s. From 2008 to 2011, as Russia’s gas giant, Gazprom PJSC, was building a pipeline as far as Vladivostok, the company signed a memorandum of understanding with North Korea and a framework agreement with Seoul’s Korea Gas Corp. to extend it south.
It went nowhere, primarily because of the politics surrounding Kim’s bid to build up his nuclear and missile programs. With North Korea’s relations with the U.S., Seoul, and China now on the mend, and South Korea trying to reduce its dependence on coal and nuclear power, the pipeline would seem an obvious piece of economic diplomacy.