SEOUL, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Russia is close to agree to write off 80 percent of debts owed by North Korea in a bid to boost its influence on Pyongyang, a Seoul newspaper said Friday.
During talks on Dec. 17-22, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Storchak and his North Korean counterpart Kim Yong Gil reached the agreement on the debt cut, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper said, citing unidentified sources in Moscow. The two sides have agreed to finish the deal before March, the sources were quoted as saying.
North Korea has borrowed 3.8 billion roubles from the Soviet Union since the 1960s to build power plants and industry facilities. Russia has estimated the debt at $8 billion including interest, according to the largest newspaper in Seoul.
"Moscow's move to cut the debt seems aimed at boosting trilateral economic cooperation involving Russia, and North and South Korea and inducing Pyongyang into the six-nation talks on the North's nuclear problem," the source said.
In another bid to increase its influence on the Korean peninsula, Russia has prepared to provide electricity to the energy-starved North, the daily said. Russia has joined the six-party talks, aimed at persuading North Korea to end its nuclear programs.
