Why did Gazprom Chairman Miller Go to North Korea?

It has been revealed that Alexey Miller, chairman of the world’s largest gas company Gazprom (the Russian state-run gas company) visited North Korea on January 20 and 21 and interest has focused on the background of his visit .

Gazprom Chairman Alexey Miller, as one of the members of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s circle, attended the inauguration ceremony of President Roh Moo-hyun in 2003 and discussed a plan for energy cooperation between South Korea and Russia at Cheong Wa Dae.

Gazprom said that “Chairman Alexey Miller discussed cooperation on petroleum and gas issues with Premier of the DPRK Cabinet Pak Pong Ju, Vice-Premier of the Cabinet Roh Doo Chul, and Vice Minister of Petroleum Industry Jeong Chul Yoon,” but did not reveal the details of the discussion.

Experts on Russia forecast that there had been discussion about the development of gas and petroleum fields in North Korea, or a plan to provide Sakhalin gas by constructing gas pipelines linking the Russian Far East with South Korea via North Korea

In particular, there has been attention paid to the fact that Congressman Curt Weldon (R-PA), vice-chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, visited North Korea on January 11 through 14 prior to the Gazprom Chairman Miller’s visit to North Korea.

Ki-Hyun Kim kimkihy@donga.com