Koreas hold groundbreaking ceremony for railway project www,apnews.com

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korean officials attended a groundbreaking ceremony Wednesday for an aspirational project to modernize North Korean railways and roads and connect them with the South.

The ceremony at the North Korean border town of Kaesong came weeks after the Koreas conducted a joint survey on the northern railway sections they hope to someday link with the South.

The ambitious project is among a variety of peace gestures agreed between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and liberal South Korean President Moon Jae-in as they push ahead with engagement amid a stalemate in larger nuclear negotiations between Washington and Pyongyang.

But beyond on-site reviews and ceremonies, the Koreas cannot move the project much further along without the removal of U.S.-led sanctions against the North.

During his three summits with Moon and a meeting with President Donald Trump in June, Kim signed vague statements pledging a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula without describing how and when it would occur. But followup nuclear talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled for months over the sequencing of the denuclearization that Washington wants and the removal of international sanctions desired by Pyongyang.

About 100 South Koreans, including government officials and lawmakers, attended the ceremony. They were greeted by North Korean officials including Ri Son Gwon, who heads an agency dealing with inter-Korean affairs. Armida Salsiah Alisjahbana, executive secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, and officials from China, Russia and Mongolia also attended the ceremony, according to South Korea’s Unification Ministry.

The Seoul government plans to conduct further surveys on North Korean railways and roads before drawing up a detailed blueprint for the project. Actual construction will proceed depending on the progress in the North’s denuclearization and the state of sanctions against the country, the ministry said.

“We plan to hold detailed negotiations with the North to coordinate on the specific levels we want to achieve in the modernization of railways and roads and how to carry out the project,” said Eugene Lee, the ministry’s spokeswoman.

Even if the North takes concrete steps toward denuclearization and gains sanctions relief, some experts say updating North Korean rail networks and trains, which creak slowly along the rails that were first built in the early 20th century, could take decades and massive investment.

Seoul said it received an exemption to sanctions from the U.N. Security Council to proceed with Wednesday’s ceremony as it involved the usage of South Korean transport vehicles and goods. The Koreas’ joint survey of North Korean railways in November, which also required U.N. approval, marked the first time a South Korean train traveled on North Korean tracks.

The Koreas in December 2007 began freight services between South Korea’s Munsan Station in Paju and the North’s Panmun Station to support operations at a now-shuttered joint factory park in Kaesong. The South used the trains to move construction materials north, while clothing and shoes made at the factory park were sent south. The line was cut in November 2008 due to political tensions over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

The Kaesong factory park was shut down under the South’s previous conservative government in February 2016 following a North Korean nuclear test and long-range rocket launch.

You can now own Putin’s limo! Russia to begin mass producing Aurus cars www.rt.com

Mass production of Russia’s new Aurus limousine, developed for the presidential motorcade, will begin in the eastern region of Tatarstan. The first vehicles will roll off the production line in 2020.
The project will be implemented at the production facilities of Russia's automobile company Sollers in the special economic zone of Alabuga, Tatarstan Republic, according to the Trade Minister Denis Manturov.

Mongolia's Tax Collectors are the Real Winner in National Lotto www.bloomberg.com

Mongolia’s effort to get its citizens to pay taxes by enrolling them in a lottery is delivering a big payout -- for the government.

Seismic activity in UB increases by 200! www.news.mn

Seismic activity is relatively low in and around the Mongolian capital as compared to the western parts of the country. This year, a total of 873 mini-quakes occurred in Ulaanbaatar – mostly too small to be felt – however, this represents an increase of 200 on 2017. The epicentres have been in Emeelt, Khustai and Avdar Mountain. Furthermore, seismic activity has been increasing in Mungunmorit and Dzuunkharaa, a town in the Selenge province.

Mongolia expels 531 foreign nationals www.news.mn

A total of 531 foreign nationals from 29 countries have been expelled from Mongolia due to illegal stay or violating visa regulations. Most of them were Chinese (972), North Korean (42) followed by Americans (15), Russians (14), Australians (10) and Germans (8).

600,000 tons of enhanced fuel to be produced by September 2019 www.zgm.mn

Cabinet held an extended irregular meeting last Friday to review the actions on air pollution reduction and made relevant decisions, including the transfer of State ownership stakes of Tavan Tolgoi Fuel LLC, which is producing enhanced fuel as raw coal consumption will be banned next year.

At the meeting, the Cabinet decided to transfer the stakes of Tavan Tolgoi Fuel LLC to be held by the State to Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry and Ministry of Energy. Accordingly, the related ministers are now responsible for the annual production of 600,000 tons of enhanced fuel, monitoring the supply and reporting the results to the Cabinet.

Ministers were also ordered to install advanced technology and equipment of deep processing coal in order to create reserves and manufacturing international-standard enhanced fuel. A study determined the annual consumption of enhanced fuel in Ulaanbaatar city to be 600,000 tons. Erdenes Tavan Tolgoi JSC will be responsible for financing the necessary funds under a strict monitoring of law enforcement in a publicly transparent manner.

Tavan Tolgoi Fuel LLC currently has 8,099 tons of enhanced fuel reserves and is expected to manufacture 600,000 tons by September 15, 2019.

As a pilot run, the early production was sold to 1,876 households of 28th khoroo of Sukhbaatar district, conducting several surveys. The study found that the product has already created demand as users had positive feedback for the fuel.

Additionally, the Cabinet further reviewed other actions on air pollution reduction. As exempted from customs duty, over 2,300 air purifiers and energy-efficient heaters were imported this year. A total of 862 air purifiers were installed at 142 medical centers, district hospitals and children’s cabinets of maternity hospitals under the Ulaanbaatar Clean Air Project, as well as another 5,200 air purifiers from the State Budget. As a result, PM 2.5 components in the air reduced by 13-29 percent in hospitals.

According to officials, 45 stoves and 68 boilers were dismantled in the last one year, and by connecting 10 stoves to district heating network, raw coal consumption was reduced by 70,000 tons, PM2.5 emission by 510 tons and sulfur emission by 560 tons.

Enhanced fuel has already created demand as users had positive feedback in early production
Report shows that MNT 8.3 billion was spent on night-time electricity discounts for 118,000 households of ger districts and about 15 percent of total households in ger districts have shifted to electrical heating appliances within the last one year. Furthermore, technical capacity of providing 4 kWt electrical heating appliances to 421,000 households have been completed so far.

Six entities have been selected to supply 80,000 tons of enhanced fuel to over 26,000 households in Songino khairkhan district. This is estimated to cut raw coal consumption by 150,000 tons and PM2.5 emission by 150 tons.

Around 65,000 children and 117,000 children of target group were included for influenza vaccinations and necessary changes were made to student holiday schedules.

The Cabinet also informed that MNT 1 billion worth financial support was granted to seven provinces with the highest pollution, which allowed them to prepare Air Pollution Reduction Program and set the areas in need for air quality improvement.

Japan govt. approves steps for foreign workers www.nhk.or.jp

The Japanese government has approved a set of policy measures to make it easier for foreigners to live and work in Japan.

SouthGobi announces update on status of CIC Convertible Debenture www.southgobi.com

This announcement is made by SouthGobi Resources Ltd. (the “Company”) pursuant to Rule 13.09(2)(a) of the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and the Inside Information Provisions under Part XIVA of the Securities and Futures Ordinance (Chapter 571 of the Laws of Hong Kong).
The Company is in default under the convertible debenture between China Investment Corporation (“CIC”) and the Company signed in November 2009 (the “Convertible
Debenture”) as a result of the Company having now been suspended from trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange (“TSX”), halted from trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, for a period of more than 5 trading days since December 17, 2018. Trading on the TSX will
remain suspended until clarification regarding the business and affairs of the Company is announced and trading on the SEHK will remain halted pending the publication of an insider information announcement.
Pursuant to the terms of the Convertible Debenture, CIC may, at its discretion, provide notice to the Company and declare all principal, interest and other amounts owing under the Convertible Debenture immediately due and payable, and take steps to enforce payment
thereof, which would have a material adverse effect on the business and operations of the Company and the value of the Company’s common shares could be materially and negatively affected.
- 1 -
* For identification purposes only
The Company and CIC are having active and close discussion on the issues related to the
Convertible Debenture and the deferral agreement executed on June 12, 2017. As of today,
the Company has not received any such notice from CIC to demand any payments nor
declare any outstanding balances immediately due and payable, as a result of the above
mentioned trading suspension and trading halt and other event(s) of default.
The Company will provide further updates of the status of this matter as appropriate.

South Korea invited officials from China, Russia and Mongolia to attend the commencement ceremony of inter-Korean railway docking www.qknews.com

Overseas Network Dec. 24 - Dec. 26, the commencement ceremony of the inter-Korean railway and highway docking project will be held at Banmen Station in Kaesong, Korea. According to Yonhap News Agency on the 24th, South Koreas Unification Ministry said the ceremony was attended by eight officials from China, Russia, Mongolia and the United Nations, in addition to Zhao Mingjun, Minister of Unification, Kim Hyun-mei, Minister of Land and Transport, and Li Shanquan, Chairman of the Peaceful Reunification Commission of the Korean Motherland. Reported that the above eight overseas people attended the ceremony at the invitation of the Korean side.

China’s imports to top $2 trillion in 2018 – Beijing www.rt.com

The total volume of Chinese imports is going to set a fresh record this year, exceeding the two trillion dollar level, according to Song Xianmao, a senior official at China’s Ministry of Commerce.
Song added that Beijing is planning to step up efforts to boost the quality of foreign trade and further expand imports.