North Korea launched a ferry service to the Russian city of Vladivostok on Wednesday to develop links and boost economic cooperation, the North’s state media said, as it faces increasing isolation over its weapons development.<\/b>
\nNorth Korea launched a ferry service to the Russian city of Vladivostok on Wednesday to develop links and boost economic cooperation, the North’s state media said, as it faces increasing isolation over its weapons development.
Experts have said North Korea\u2019s leader, Kim Jong Un, may be hoping closer ties with Russia would help if China, the North\u2019s main economic benefactor, steps up sanctions against it over its weapons programs, in defiance of U. N. resolutions. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday that while Moscow was opposed to any new countries acquiring nuclear weapons, the world should talk to North Korea rather than threaten it. The ferry, the Mangyongbong, set sail from the North Korean port of Rajin, the North\u2019s KCNA news agency said. \u201cMangyongbong\u2019s operation as the Rajin-Vladivostok international tourist liner will make a positive contribution to developing marine transport and economic cooperation and tourism between the two countries, \u201d it added. The Russian consul general based in the nearby city of Chongjin saw the ferry off, it said. The Mangyongbong was in service between the North and Japan before Japan suspended its operations in 2006 after a North Korean missile test.<\/p>\n