동방경제포럼서 남북러 3각협력 세미나 무산... 남북간 경색국면 영향 미친 듯

Delegations from South and North Korea are in Vladivostok, Russia for the Eastern Economic Forum... to discuss trilateral economic cooperation with Moscow.
There was a three-way meeting scheduled for Wednesday but it's been abruptly called off... and the North Korean delegation was curiously absent from the forum.
Our Oh Jung-hee has the latest.
Representatives of the two Koreas and Russia were set to discuss their trilateral economic cooperation at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Wednesday,... but the seminar was cancelled at the last minute.
This... due to what the Forum said was the delegations' scheduling reasons.
The main agenda would have been the "Three Mega Projects" among Seoul, Pyeongyang and Moscow.
They include connecting the Trans-Siberian Railway and Trans-Korean Railway,... building a gas pipeline between South Korea and Russia that runs through North Korea,... and forming a shared electrical grid among the three countries.
A senior official from South Korea's Presidential Committee on Northern Economic Cooperation was to attend the event,... as well as Russia's Deputy Foreign Minister and Far East Development Minister.
But North Korea did not notify who would be representing Pyeongyang for the seminar... and on Wednesday, the event was abruptly called off.
The North Korean delegation led by the regime's Vice Premier Ri Ryong-nam arrived in Vladivostok earlier this week,... but was absent at the forum on Wednesday.
With top officials from South and North Korea converging on Vladivostok,... the possibility had been raised of a surprise high-level inter-Korean meeting.
But with the three-party seminar cancelled, those hopes have now been dashed.
Watchers say that the current atmosphere on the Korean Peninsula -- where dialogue has stalled between South Korea, the U.S. and North Korea -- may have affected these setbacks at the Russian forum.
Oh Jung-hee, Arirang News.