Russia postpones choosing companies for operations in North Korea till year-end
KRASNOYARSK. Feb 27 (Interfax) - Russia has postponed for more than a year selecting the companies it will propose for operating solid mineral resource extraction projects in North Korea.
"We must define the list of fields and the companies that will develop them over the course of 2015. The names of the investors I cannot identify right now," First Deputy Far East Development Minister Alexander Osipov told Interfax on Friday on the sidelines of the Krasnoyarsk economic forum.
In June 2014, following talks between Russian Far East Development Minister Alexander Galushka and North Korean External Economic Affairs Minster Ri Ryong-nam held on Russky Island in Vladivostok, it was agreed that Russia would provide the list of companies ready to take part in projects to develop solid mineral resources in North Korea by October 1, 2014.
North Korea will allow the Russian companies to develop the mineral resources in exchange for upgrading the railroad network under a project dubbed "Pobeda." Originally, Omsk-based Mostovik was to have played a key role in rebuilding 3,500 kilometers of rail lines. However, Mostovik has since declared bankruptcy and its general director and chief beneficiary, Oleg Shishov, is currently under arrest on suspicion of embezzling funds meant for construction of an oceanarium in Vladivostok.
Galushka said implementation of the Pobeda project would continue moving forward despite Mostovik's problems. Bridge Group, which is to complete surveying on a pilot stretch of rail line between Pyongyang and Nampo by the end of 2015, has been named the new operator for the project.
Meanwhile, at the end of February it emerged that Russian Railways (RZD) was taking part in the project, rebuilding a 150-kilometer stretch of rail line.