South Korea tests Arctic shipping route, raising concern in the West
A South Korean container ship completed a voyage to Western Europe along Russia's northern coast in October, cutting at least 10 days from the fastest Suez route. Analysts say Seoul also wants to keep ties with Moscow, which worries Ukraine and its allies.
A South Korean container ship, the PanStar Acro, completed a round trip from the port of Busan to Rotterdam in October via the Northern Sea Route (NSR), an Arctic Ocean passage along Russia's northern coast. The voyage took 50 days, at least 10 fewer than the fastest journey through the Suez Canal. The result strengthens Seoul's hopes of using the route for trade with Europe, but it also raises concern among countries opposing Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Route and climate change
The vessel left Busan on August 22, sailed around Russia to Felixstowe in southern England, continued to Rotterdam in the Netherlands and Gdansk in Poland, and returned along the NSR. PanStar Acro is not an icebreaker, though it has some ice-resistant design features. The NSR is about 7,000 kilometers shorter than the Suez route and avoids the volatile Middle East.
For decades the route was impassable because of polar ice. As climate change makes the ice retreat, navigation is becoming possible, although commercial ships sometimes need an icebreaker escort. According to the Arctic Council, 1,812 vessels operated in the Arctic last year, a record and 40% more than in 2013.
Economic and political calculations
Joseph Kristanto, a maritime security analyst at Singapore's S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, says the route could lower costs and transit times, strengthen Busan's role as a hub and create opportunities for South Korean shipbuilding. President Lee Jae-myung's government plans regular commercial services on the NSR by 2030.
Kristanto warns of a new strategic dependency on Russia, since Moscow exerts considerable control over navigation along its Arctic coast, for example through regulations and icebreaker assistance. European diplomats are also concerned by the alleged delivery of about 165,000 tons of fuel to Russia in August aboard sanctioned Russian tankers.
Andrei Lankov, a professor at Seoul's Kookmin University, says Seoul wants to signal to Moscow that it is willing to manage relations, hoping Russia will not give North Korea advanced military technology. In September, South Korea reacted angrily when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told the UN General Assembly that two North Korean prisoners of war had been moved to South Korea, and it withdrew several diplomats from Kyiv. Lankov sees the dispute as partly performative. Analysts expect Seoul to take a cautious, incremental approach.
