N. Korea, China likely to break ground on joint projects next week

SHENYANG, China, June 3 (Yonhap) -- North Korea and China are likely to break ground next week on a joint project to turn an island near their border into an industrial complex, people familiar with the project said Friday. The two sides are scheduled to hold a ceremony on Tuesday to develop the North Korean island of Hwanggumpyong in the Yalu River as a center for tourism, logistics and manufacturing. "Preparations have been completed for the groundbreaking ceremony," a person in the Chinese border city of Dandong said on condition of anonymity because no formal announcement has been made. The two sides also appeared to have held a similar ceremony in Rason, the North's free trade zone in the northeast, on Thursday, the people said. The North designated Rason as a special economic zone in 1991 and has since striven to develop it into a regional transportation hub near China and Russia, but no major progress has been made. The two ceremonies were abruptly canceled last month when North Korean leader was visiting China, spurring speculation over whether the two sides had differences regarding the projects. Kim visited China at Beijing's invitation to study China's vibrant economy and seek ways to revive the North's faltering economy. China has repeatedly tried to coax its impoverished ally to embrace the reform that lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty and helped Beijing's rise to the world's second-largest economy. Pyongyang rolled back its fledging reform movement after its experiment with limited reforms in 2002 backfired. In a reminder of chronic economic woes, the North is seeking food assistance from the United States. North Korea is seeking to boost economic cooperation with China as Pyongyang is struggling to achieve its stated goal of becoming a prosperous country by 2012. In Seoul, Prime Minister Kim Hwang-sik expressed hope that the North would introduce reform and openness to improve the livelihoods of its 24 million people. South Korea "is making efforts to induce reform and openness" in the North, Kim told lawmakers at the parliament, without elaborating.