OREANDA-NEWS Trade between Russia and South Korea for the seven months of 2018 increased by 30%, to $15 billion. This information was reported at the Eastern Economic Forum by the trade representative of Russia in South Korea Mikhail Bondarenko.

Moscow considers the idea of joint development of the Northern Sea route with Seoul to be promising.

"The expansion of regional cooperation has helped to change the negative trend of recent years associated with the reduction of Russian-Korean trade," Bondarenko said.

He noted that relations in the energy sector are developing. Negotiations to increase purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG) are successfully under way. South Korean companies are involved in the modernization of ports and shipyards in the far East. It is also planned to jointly develop the Northern sea route.

Bondarenko stressed that special attention is paid to the creation of new enterprises in the priority development areas and in Vladivostok, in cooperation of Seoul with EAEU countries.

In June, Gazprom has resumed talks with South Korea on the construction of a gas pipeline through North Korea. The parties discussed the possibility of implementing this project since 2008, but after the deterioration of relations between Seoul and Pyongyang in 2011, the negotiations on the gas pipeline were suspended.

Today, South Korea is the sixth largest trading partner of Russia: it accounts for 3.6% of the total foreign trade turnover of Russia. Russia carries different goods to South Korea, but the volume of their supplies is much inferior to hydrocarbons. Thus, food products and agricultural raw materials are in second place in terms of exports. In the third place – metals and products from them.

The fourth Eastern Economic Forum was held at the campus of the far Eastern Federal University on Russky island on September 11-13.  Earlier in the framework of the WEF-2018 met Russian President Vladimir Putin and permier-Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe.

At the end of the meeting, the head of the Russian Federation stated that the parties agreed to organize in the South Kuril Islands, the third mission of Japanese business. According to the head of the Japanese government, Japanese businessmen will visit the Islands in late October.