Korean gas pipeline moves back onto agenda after leaders meet

Russia and North Korea have agreed on the creation of a tripartite commission involving South Korea to ship gas through the Korean peninsula.

At their summit in Siberia, President Dmitry Medvedev said he and and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had agreed to bring the normally hostile North and South Koreas together in the name of business."We achieved certain results on gas cooperation. In particular, a decision has been taken to create a special commission for gas transit to the Republic of Korea via the territory of the DPRK."The agreement could see approximately 1100 Kilometres of pipeline constructed from Russia along the Korean peninsula, with about 700 kilometres through North Korea.This agreement comes after earlier deal on joint gas supplies between South Korea’s Kogaz and Gazprom was stalled in 2009 due to poor relationships between the North and South Korea. The construction of the gas pipeline could help guarantee the restoration and strengthening of trust between Seoul and Pyongyang, said Georgy Toloraya, director of research programmes at the Centre for Modern Korean Studies, Institute of World Economy.Business RT spoke with Julian Lee from the Centre for Global Energy Studies about the proposals.