Russian envoy calls off meeting

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Russian envoy calls off meeting

A prominent Russian official in charge of a large delegation of business leaders and officials has unexpectedly canceled a much-anticipated three-day visit to South Korea that was supposed to move an energy project forward.

The Foreign Ministry said Oleg Safonov, a presidential representative to Russia’s Far East Federal District, was scheduled to arrive in Seoul yesterday afternoon, but a foreign ministry official said the Russians called off the trip on Saturday.

South Korea was expecting a discussion about importing natural gas from Russia following an agreement last year between the two countries’ presidents.

Escalated tensions on the Korean Peninsula had cast doubt over the ambitious project, which aims to pipe in Russian natural gas to South Korea as early as 2015, possibly via North Korea.

During the visit, Safonov, who ranks as a deputy prime minister, was scheduled to meet President Lee Myung-bak, Knowledge Economy Minister Lee Young-ho and Transportation Minister Chung Jong-hwan. The Foreign Ministry in Seoul played down the situation.

“There have been precedents when we could not make scheduled visits, too,” Moon Tae-young, Foreign Ministry spokesman, said.

“This has not been a breach of diplomatic courtesy,” he added.

Seoul had high expectations for the visit, which was arranged by South Korean Foreign Minister Yu Myung-hwan. “Safonov’s visit is expected to contribute in building a cooperative relationship with Russia’s Far East regional government to realize the visions for energy, iron and green silk roads,” Yu said last week before the trip was called off.

“Taking this opportunity, we will have a substantial discussion to reinforce cooperation between Russia and South Korea in developing the Far East regions,” Yu added.

The Russian deputy minister of the regional development ministry plus four regional governors and 30 major business executives were expected to have accompanied Safanov, who is in charge of 10 provinces in the Far East, including energy-rich Sakhalin Island.

Seoul was planning to discuss with Safonov and his team an alternative to the plan hatched last year, which involved shipping liquefied natural gas from Vladivostok to South Korea via the East Sea.

During a recent visit by Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, President Lee stressed Seoul’s hope to build the pipelines through the North.

According to presidential spokesman Lee Dong-kwan, the president told Lavrov that the North will benefit economically from the project and had asked for Moscow’s help to persuade Pyongyang.



By Ser Myo-ja [myoja@joongang.co.kr]
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