Russia Aims for North Korea Minerals after Canceling Debt

Russia hopes to develop North Korea's mineral resources after canceling the isolated state's debts, the minister for development of Far Eastern Russia, Alexander Galushka, said on Thursday.

Russian President Vladimir Putin in May signed a law canceling 90 percent of North Korea's $10.94 billion debt to Russia from Soviet-era loans.

The remaining 10 percent must be paid back over 20 years.

"This became a stimulus for our future relations with North Korea. This debt was hanging over us. Now this factor is gone," Galushka said after talks in Russia's Far Eastern city of Vladivostok with North Korean officials, cited by the Interfax news agency.

Galushka said the two sides "discussed concrete projects in the area of mineral resources, developing sites with mineral resources and geological exploration."

The two sides raised "the possibility of the Korean side paying either for goods supplied or as part of investment cooperation on the basis of giving Russian companies' access to North Korea's sites with mineral resources," he said.

North Korea in turn agreed to offer Russian investors Internet and cell phone access as well as simpler visa rules, Galushka said.

"They are giving Russian investors and staff access to modern communications methods -- that is the Internet and mobile access," Galushka said.

Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska's Basic Element holding has agreed to look into reconstructing a power station in Pyongyang and is set to decide by the end of this year whether to mine copper and anthracite in North Korea, Galushka said.

Trade between Russia and North Korea in 2013 amounted to just $112 million, Galushka said.

North Korea had warm ties with the Soviet Union based on shared ideology. Russia retains relatively close ties with its neighbor but has backed Western powers in dealing with Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions.