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China, North Korea Sign Agreements on Economic Zones

itaskol

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August 14, 2012

china said Tuesday it signed agreements with North Korea pushing forward their joint development of economic zones, as the new leader in Pyongyang seeks to improve his country’s impoverished economy.

The agreements cover the setting up and operation of management committees in the zones in North Korea, electricity supply in one of them, and agricultural cooperation, China’s commerce ministry said in a statement.

They were signed as part of a high-level meeting between the two sides presided over by China’s commerce minister Chen Deming and Jang Song-Thaek, a top North Korean official who is the uncle of leader Kim Jong-Il.

China is the only major ally as well as main trade partner of North Korea, a heavily militarized country that has carried out underground nuclear explosions and ballistic missile tests yet struggles to feed its people.

Kim Jong-Un, who assumed power after the sudden death last year of his father Kim Jong-Il, told a visiting Chinese Communist party delegation this month that he was seeking economic development, Chinese state media reported at the time.

North Korea’s reliance on China, with which it shares a border, has increased as international sanctions over its missile and nuclear programs tighten its ability to secure international credit and trade.

The Korean Central News Agency, Pyongyang’s official mouthpiece, reported Monday that Jang was leading a delegation for a third round of talks on the Hwanggumphyong and Wihwado Economic Zone and the Rason Economic Trade Zone.

North Korea and China are jointly developing the former on two islands in the estuary of the Yalu river that marks their border. Ground was broken in December. The Rason zone is in the northeastern part of North Korea near its borders with China and Russia.

China’s commerce ministry statement said that Hwanggumphyong and Wihwado will focus on sectors including information and tourism to “gradually become an intelligence-intensive emerging economic zone of North Korea.”

The Rason zone, meanwhile, will focus on areas including raw materials, equipment manufacturing, high-tech, apparel and high-efficiency agriculture, the statement said.

Rason will “gradually develop into an advanced manufacturing base for North Korea and an international logistics center and regional tourist center for Northeast Asia,” the statement said.

China’s importance to North Korea was highlighted by Kim Jong-Il traveling to China four times in less than two years at the end of his life. His last visit came in August 2011, just months before his death in December.

Agence France-Presse

China, North Korea Sign Agreements on Economic Zones | The Jakarta Globe
 
One of the two joint economic zones, Hwanggumphyong and Wihwado Economic Zone, occupy two islands by the same names on the mouth of the Yalu River are also visa free for visitors from the north.

This is the best news so far for the North Korean people. Good luck for all parties involved.
 
working with Koreans is not a good idea....
 
Kim Jong-Un is looking more cuddly and friendly with every public appearance. Terrifying Charisma, like his grandfather. You don't know what's going to happen anymore.
 
working with Koreans is not a good idea....
better let the koreans work for china.
first we have to know more about the north korean new leader. we do not know much about him.
 
Kim Jong-Un is looking more cuddly and friendly with every public appearance. Terrifying Charisma, like his grandfather. You don't know what's going to happen anymore.


It's his uncle, the vice chairman of the military Jang Song-Thaek, who went to China to sign all the agreements. It seems he is quite powerful on par of the young Kim at least for the moment and Kim , by all indications, looks like the saner generation of the previous two.

I begin to like Kim Jong-Un (金正恩) and rooting for him to take North Korea to the next level. If ever one man can change the fortune of a country, this is it!
 
good. A developing economy for North Korea will both stabilize and strengthen that country. It's probably against the US interest to see a prosperous north Korea though, so expect lots of rhetoric and criticism as the cooperation between China and North Korea develops.

It's probably good for South Korea too, as when it comes time for Korea to re-unify, they will have less of a burden economically.
 

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