Russian expert urges Koreas to move forward with trilateral railway project

South and North Korea need to revitalize a long-discussed project with Russia to link railways across the three nations to keep the momentum of easing inter-Korean tensions, a Russian expert said Friday, days after Moscow reopened a rail track with Pyongyang. Discussions for the project to connect the Trans-Siberian Railway (TSR) with the Trans-Korean Railway (TKR) have been under way for more than a decade, but they were dragged on at snail's pace due mainly to North Korea's provocations, such as its nuclear and missile tests. After a five-year renovation, Russia on Sunday reopened a 54-kilometer track linking the Russian eastern border town of Khasan to the North's port of Rajin. Oleg Ivanov, chair of the Political Science Department at the Diplomatic Academy in Russia, described the trilateral railway project as a "leverage to compel" Seoul and Pyongyang to forge economic cooperation. "It has definite economic benefits like doubling the speed of South Korean shipments to Europe," Ivanov said in an op-ed piece for China's state newspaper Global Times. "It is important that the leadership of both Koreas support projects like the railways and power links. These projects will bring both Koreas closer to each other and will be an important stabilizing factor between the two countries," he said. On the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in Russia earlier this month, South Korean President Park Geun-hye held talks with her Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, during which she asked Putin to push for the three-nation railway project.