Rason Port
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Rasŏn Port, also referred to as Rajin Port, is an ice-free port in the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea) in the North Pacific Ocean on the northeast tip of North Korea. It is in the Rason Special Economic Zone in the Kwanbuk region.
The city of Rajin-Sŏnbong - two closely connected urban areas - is also often referred to as Rajin. While the name for the two locations was officially shortened from "Rajin-Sŏnbong" to "Rason" in 2000, Rajin is still commonly used to refer to the port.
Location
The satellite photo below shows the approximate location of Rasŏn port, North Korea.
Administration
The Rason Special Economic Zone is administered by the Committee of External Economic Cooperation (CPEEC).[1]
The Khasan-Rajin rail-and-port venture Rason Transnational Container Transportation JVC (RasonConTrans), owned by Russian Railways, is a project in which Moscow invested $300 million in the hope of setting up a strategically located transshipment hub. Even though RasonConTrans is exempt from United Nations Security Council sanctions (additional details below), it has reportedly struggled to attract major customers since late 2017.[2] RasonConTrans is 70 percent Russian-owned, with 30 percent held by the port of Rajin.[3]
Coal handling
China
Rason borders Jilin province of China and Khasansky District in Primorsky Krai of Russia. In 2010, China was making investments in the port as it gave it access to the Sea of Japan. Coal was shipped from nearby Chinese mines to Shanghai.[4]
For years, the coal trade was a lucrative earner for Pyongyang, North Korea's capital – its main ally and key economic partner China imported 22 million tonnes worth nearly US$1.2 billion in 2016.[3]
Mongolia
Mongolia planned to ship 25,000 tonnes of coal to North Korea (DPRK) in 2015 through the port.[5]
South Korea
In October 2014, South Korean authorities said they planned to bring 35,000 tonnes of Russian coal through North Korea’s Rason port in the next month. Three South Korean companies - KORAIL, POSCO and Hyundai Merchant Marine – were expected to work on the North Korean project, which South Korean authorities hoped would link the country to the trans-Siberian railway.[6]
In November 2014, the first shipment carrying 40,500 tons of Russian coal arrived in South Korea without incident in the first test run of the project. The so-called Rajin-Khasan logistics project was a symbol of three-way cooperation and an exception to other punitive sanctions.[7]
U.N. bans & Russia
In August 2017, the U.N. banned North Korea from trading coal.[8][9] The 15-member body had been unanimously boosting sanctions on North Korea since 2006 in a bid to choke off funding for Pyongyang’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs.[10]
The sanctions did not apply to activities at the Rajin-Khasan port and rail project related to exporting "Russia-origin" coal. As a 2018 fact sheet noted, that sectoral sanctions did not apply with respect to the following: "Coal procurements that are notified by the exporting State to the Committee in advance and confirmed on the basis of credible information that the coal has originated outside [North Korea (the DPRK)] and was transported through the DPRK solely for export from the Port of Rajin (Rason), and that such transactions are unrelated to generating revenue for the DPRK’s nuclear or ballistic missile programs or other prohibited activities."[11]
Between 2015 and 2017, the Rason Port's volumes doubled each year. RasonConTrans' deputy director Roman Minkevich was targeting three million tonnes in 2018, with a future goal of five million tonnes. Attempts have been reportedly been made to use Rason Port as a way to bypass restrictions.[3]
In 2018, about 9,000 tons of North Korean coal, worth at least $325,000, appeared to have been shipped to South Korea after having been unloaded and reloaded at Kholmsk Port, on the Russian island of Sakhalin, in an apparent attempt to obscure the origin of the coal, according to a South Korean Foreign Ministry official and a United Nations report. The U.N. report listed the North Korean Wonsan Port and Chongjin Port as the likely sources of the coal.[8]
Three intelligence agencies also said that the Russian port of Nakhodka (see EVRAZ Nakhodka Trade Sea Port) had become a hub for transporting North Korean coal to South Korea and Japan to avoid sanctions.[12]
Project Details
- Operator: Committee of External Economic Cooperation, Rason Transnational Container Transportation JVC (RasonConTrans)
- Location: Rason, North Korea
- Capacity (Million tonnes per annum): 5[13]
- Status: Operating
- Type: Exports and Imports
- Source of Coal: Russia, Mongolia, China
Articles and resources
References
- ↑ "Information on Entry & Investment into Rajin-Sonbong District," North Korean government, accessed November 2012
- ↑ "Russia’s Policy Toward North Korea: Following China’s Lead," 38 North, December 23, 2019
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 "North Korean coal piles up as Russian product sails away," Yahoo News, December 4, 2017
- ↑ "Strategic Implications of China's Access to the Rajin Port," The Jamestown Foundation, March 18, 2010
- ↑ Robert Ritz, "Mongolia partners with North Korea to deliver its coal to port of Rajin," Mongol Beat, February 27, 2015
- ↑ "North Korea, South Korea, Russia to cooperate on coal shipment," NK News, October 15, 2014
- ↑ "Rajin – South Korea water shipment," North Korean Economy Watch, December 7, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 "South Korea Suspects 9,000 Tons of North Korean Coal Made It Into the Country," Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2018
- ↑ "U.N. cap on North Korean coal exports could decrease North Korean export earnings," EIA, June 9, 2017
- ↑ "U.S. targets North Korea coal shipments with new sanctions," Reuters, December 9, 2020
- ↑ "Fact Sheet compiling certain measures imposed by Security Council," Resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013), 2094 (2013), 2270 (2016), 2321 (2016), 2356 (2017), 2371 (2017), 2375 (2017), and 2397 (2017), Security Council Committee, April 17, 2018
- ↑ "North Korea exported coal to South Korea and Japan via Russia to avoid sanctions, spies say," South China Morning Post, January 27, 2018
- ↑ "Rason Transnational Container Transportation JVC," RasonConTrans (RCT), accessed October 2021
Related GEM.wiki articles
Wikipedia also has an article on Rason Port. This article may use content from the Wikipedia article under the terms of the GFDL.
