초록

Abstract ▼

1. Introduction
The Russo-Korean Gas Pipeline has raised much expectation but has not shown much progress to date. The initiative for a cooperative project connecting a gas pipeline with Russia has regularly attracted attention since the 1990s, while the signing of a memorandum of understanding (

1. Introduction
The Russo-Korean Gas Pipeline has raised much expectation but has not shown much progress to date. The initiative for a cooperative project connecting a gas pipeline with Russia has regularly attracted attention since the 1990s, while the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between South Korea and Russia in 2008 strengthened expectations of advances in the Russo- Korean gas pipeline project. However, North Korean risks stemming from the regime’s instability and military adventurism have left pipeline project-related discussions at a standstill up to this day.
The Russo-Korean gas pipeline project has prompted not only the Korean government in pursuit of stable energy sources but also all related countries to anticipate tremendous economic profits and political ripple effects. Therefore, conventional research on the Russo-Korean gas pipeline has focused on the expected economic and political effects of the pipeline’s completion.1) Numerous research reports optimistically suggested that the pipeline will, in the long term, solve South Korea’s energy shortages as well as North Korea’s political problem, and serve as infrastructure for Korean unification. However, the exacerbation of North Korea- related risks, the largest factor of concern, has stalled the project.
Internal circumstances in North Korea rapidly shifted with Kim Jong-Il’s death and Kim Jong-Un’s emergence while the ensuing missiles and nuclear test provocations worsened relations between the two Koreas. Discussions of the pipeline project, perceived as a new attempt at reconciling the two Koreas, lost steam before it even began.