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Noon in Korea @NoonInKorea
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Per Russia's railroad commission, it will cost upwards of $4 billion and take 3-5 years to connect the railway system (Trans-Korean Railway) on the Korean peninsula to the Trans-Siberian Railway.
news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.d…
This is from the Russian railroad commission so it prolly doesn't include the cost of connecting the Trans-Korean Railway: i.e., linking SK's KoRail to NK rail and renovating NK's aging railway system. But that cost may cover the cost of connecting Rajin, NK to Khasan in Russia
Officials from KoRail (SK railroad commission) were in Moscow and they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Russian officials after the Moon-Putin summit. The MoU calls for cooperation and research to pull off linkage to Trans-Siberian Railroad
news.joins.com/article/227403…
The railway link being referred to here is the Busan-Rajin-Vladivostok route to connect to Trans-Siberia. SK's own estimate for connecting and renovating the inter-Korean railway system is $35 billion: this includes high-speed rail from Seoul to Sinuiju
businessinsider.com/north-korea-so…
Why does it cost much more than $4 bil? If you remember those journos from 5 countries who went to NK to watch Punggye-ri explode, their overnight journey from Wonsan to Gilju was at 30 mph. SK has to invest in capex to upgrade rail speed to minimum 60 mph
news.donga.com/3/all/20180430…
63% of the $35 billion budget is earmarked for upgrading to high-speed rail from Seoul to Sinuiju, which goes through Pyongyang. This is the high-demand route leading to Beijing and SK envisions 217 mph TGVs. Now we know why it costs so much more than Russia's $4 billion estimate
So that $4 billion only covers Rajin-Vladivostok and rail work on the Russian side. SK's own budget for upgrading NK rail is $26 billion (West Side) and $9 billion (East Side). NK rail isn't much to speak of. It's not built for speed and will require retrofitting to connect to SK
But this grand plan to link the Trans-Korea Railway and then connect to the Trans-Siberian one is waiting for the removal of sanctions, which could take place when NK denuclearizes or takes significant measures toward it. It's still in the planning stage
english.donga.com/Home/3/all/26/…
The dedication ceremony here is only for the Rajin-Khasan portion that was primarily being used to transport coal. So that portion and the Khasan-to-Vladivostok route may still need significant capex to repurpose for connection to the Trans-Siberia Railway
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Donga reports an economic delegation composed of representatives of US agricultural & German mining businesses visited NK in late Sept. The German concern is interested in NK's magnesite/graphite reserves and US agro biz looked at investment opportunity
news.donga.com/List/PoliticsN…
The timing of this was late Sept when Pompeo's 4th visit had been decided and US-NK dialogue was ongoing. NK treated this economic delegation well. The US concern is supposedly the largest one that sells agro & animal protein prods (Cargill, Tyson Foods?)
sedaily.com/NewsView/1S5Y4…
Front page news in SK courtesy of Donga. NK is known to have rather large mineral reserves other than just coal: copper, lead, iron ore, tungsten plus rare earth/rare metal elements like molybdenum. SK estimates it's worth $3.6 trillion (on the low side) imnews.imbc.com/replay/2018/nw…
Read 7 tweets
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Foreign Minister Kang in another mini-controversy after Japan's Nihon-Kezai reports SoS Pompeo "blew up on her" after learning about the military agreement signed by SK and NK at the Pyongyang summit. N-K quotes Pompeo, "What do you think you're doing?"
news.joins.com/article/230344…
N-K: "There was no prior discussion about the nature of the military agreement SK struck with NK." Pompeo was said to be particularly upset about the 'no fly zone' established within proximity of MDL. US reconnaissance planes regularly fly near the area for surveillance of NK
Kang pretty much acknowledged something like that happened when asked about it at the National Assembly: "I wouldn't characterize it as 'furious' or 'blew up' but there was dissatisfaction re not being fully informed. So yes, I was asked a lot of questions"
Read 8 tweets
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Japan declines to attend a naval event in Jeju after repeated calls by SK not to arrive with its Rising Sun Flag symbolizing Imperial Japan. However the real reason why it chose not to attend is more intricate.
koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20…
What happened is SK kept telling Japan's Embassy and Defense Minister that only the national flag should be flown. But Japan insisted it will come bearing the Rising Sun Flag. Then apparently SK NSA Chung and new Defense Minister Jung came up with a ploy
english.yonhapnews.co.kr/national/2018/…
They leaked news that the lead vessel of the host country may switch to ROKS Dokdo, which is the largest SK navy vessel. Dokdo is an island but also the name of this LPH-class amphibious vessel with a platform that can launch helis, Ospreys and even VTOLs
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