South Korea is ready to agree to laying a pipeline on its territory, the gas by which it will flow from Russia directly to North Korea. This was stated by the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Korea, Kang Kyung Hwa. "If the security situation on the Korean Peninsula improves, we will be able to revisit the draft natural gas pipeline with the participation of Russia and the North and South of Korea," the agency "Renhap" quotes the minister. According to Seoul, the implementation of such a large international project and even the very participation of Pyongyang in the negotiations on energy cooperation "could be a catalyst that would help ease geopolitical tensions in the region".

Kang Kyung-hwa stressed that the share of Northeast Asian countries, including such countries as China, Russia, Japan, Korea, accounted for about a third of global gas consumption. Therefore, cooperation in this field was very useful not only for Seoul and Pyongyang, but for the whole region. However, until now, politics hindered energy cooperation. On the eve, on Thursday, March 29, the DPRK and the Republic of Korea announced the holding of an inter-Korean summit on April 27. Bilateral contacts between the Koreas intensified after the Winter Olympics in South Korean Pyeongchang.