Russia to Build North Korea Railway

In a bid to encourage political engagement by the country and compete with the Suez Canal, Russia is to build a rail link across North Korea to South Korea. This will enable freight by railway to go from Western Europe to the Pacific in under 14 days rather than 45 days by sea via the Suez Canal.

The recent increase in piracy off the Horn of Africa has reduced the reliability of eastbound sea routes and increased costs due to security. Moving freight by rail to the Pacific will cost more but get bulk shipments across the world far more quickly. One of the first shipments will be of steel smelting grade coal from Russia.

The general feeling is that this will not replace sea routes altogether due to the costs involved, but will be a middle ground between cheap but slow sea and high cost but fast air freight.

Geopolitics plays a role in this too. Russia will control a major freight transport route, while North Korea will be encouraged to trade with the rest of the world, reducing its belligerence. In trading, it should be less isolated and engage better with the rest of the world.