South Korea Moves Forward with Joint Economic Project with Russia and North Korea Despite Sanctions

It makes it much harder for the United States to criticize China for violating UN sanctions in support of North Korea when the ROK is so easily able to set up projects like this with North Korea that makes the Kim regime money:

As the two Koreas and Russia speed up a groundbreaking joint logistics project, a government official here said Friday that a key question is whether it can be operated with stability.

Inter-Korean economic cooperation has often been hamstrung by military tensions on the peninsula, noted the unification ministry official.

He confirmed the government’s view that the Rajin-Khasan project is not in breach of bilateral and U.N. sanctions on the North.

Under the envisioned program, South Korea’s top steelmaker POSCO will bring in Russian coal via the North Korean port of Rajin. Two other South Korean firms — Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. and Korail Corp. — are joining the project.

“Since it is a normal international commercial trade, it’s my understanding that there is no problem with the U.N. sanctions,” the official told reporters on background.  [Yonhap]

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