Belarus to South Korea in 200ms: The Fastest Route Through Moscow and Hong Kong
Based on real RIPE Atlas measurements from GeoCables monitoring infrastructure, March 2026
At just
200ms, the Belarus–South Korea route is surprisingly efficient for a distance of over 7,000km. While landlocked Belarus has no direct submarine cable access, the path through Moscow and Hong Kong is one of the most well-optimized routes in our Eurasian measurement set.
The Traceroute
| Hop | Location | Network | RTT |
|---|
| 1–2 | Minsk, BY | A1 Belarus (AS42772) | 7ms |
| 3–6 | Minsk, BY | Business Network / NTEC (AS12406/AS60280) | 2ms |
| 7 | Moscow, RU | TransTeleCom (AS20485) | 11ms |
| 8 | Hong Kong, HK | (unknown carrier) | 178ms |
| 10–14 | Seoul, KR | Korea Telecom (AS4766) | 200ms |
The key jump: Moscow (11ms) to Hong Kong (178ms) —
167ms for ~6,400km. This is consistent with a direct fiber route from Moscow through China to Hong Kong, likely using TransTeleCom's trans-Siberian backbone connecting to Chinese carriers.
Why This Route Works So Well
Belarus → South Korea is one of the cases where BGP routing actually follows geography reasonably well:
The Trans-Siberian Fiber Route: Russia's TransTeleCom (AS20485) operates one of the world's longest terrestrial fiber networks — 75,000km running parallel to the Trans-Siberian Railway from Moscow to Vladivostok. From Vladivostok, submarine cables connect directly to South Korea and Japan. The Moscow–Hong Kong RTT of 167ms for ~6,400km implies an average propagation speed close to the theoretical maximum.
Korea Telecom's Clean Handoff: Once traffic reaches Hong Kong, Korea Telecom (AS4766) takes over with a clean direct route to Seoul. KT operates its own transpacific cable infrastructure including
Korea-Japan Cable Network (KJCN) and
AJC (Asia-Japan Cable).
Minsk to Seoul: The Full Picture
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Minsk → Moscow (11ms): A1 Belarus → NTEC → TransTeleCom. Clean domestic routing through Belarus's national exchange.
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Moscow → Hong Kong (178ms): TransTeleCom's trans-Siberian backbone, then handoff to Chinese carriers routing through Hong Kong.
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Hong Kong → Seoul (200ms): Korea Telecom direct — likely via
APG (Asia Pacific Gateway) or
EAC-C2C submarine cable.
200ms: Acceptable for Almost Everything
At 200ms round-trip, this connection supports:
- Web browsing: excellent
- Video calls: good (below 300ms threshold)
- Online gaming: acceptable for most genres
- Financial trading: marginal (traders typically need <50ms)
Monitoring Status
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Current RTT: 200ms |
Best path in our Eurasian database
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Path: Minsk → Moscow (TransTeleCom) → Hong Kong → Seoul (Korea Telecom)
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Key insight: Trans-Siberian terrestrial fiber outperforms routing through Europe for East Asian destinations