China, Russia, Japan and the Republic of Korea (ROK) have agreed to jointly launch a new regular cargo and passenger sea route linking China and Japan, a local official in northeast China told Xinhua Tuesday.

The route, which is expected to open early next year, will span a distance of about 800 sea miles from Huichun, a major Chinese port city in northeast China's Jilin Province to Niigata in Japan transiting Russia's Zarubino and ROK's Sokcho.

The Huichun-Zarubino-Sokcho-Niigata route will be the only direct cargo and passenger transportation line between the four countries around the Sea of Japan, said Ren Puyu, vice mayor of Huichun.

The government of Huichun, Russia's Primorsky Region Berkut Co., Dongchun Shipping Limited Company of the ROK and Japan's Economic Research Institute for Northeast Asia signed an agreement to develop the route in Changchun, the provincial capital of Jilin on Sunday, according to Ren.

(Xinhua News Agency September 5, 2006)