ID :
186773
Mon, 06/06/2011 - 18:08
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/186773
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea to set up economic zone on islands on border with China
(ATTN: UPDATES with North Korea pledging to boost relations with China; ADDS background)
SEOUL, June 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea announced Monday that it will develop two islands on the border with China as an economic zone, a possible move to experiment with Chinese-style economic development.
North Korea "decided to set up the Hwanggumphyong and Wihwa Islands Economic Zone in order to boost the (North)-China friendship and expand and develop the external economic relations," the North's Supreme People's Assembly said in a decree carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
Quoting the decree, the KCNA said North Korea will wield its sovereignty over the zone and that the development will start from the Hwanggumphyong district.
The two islands that sit at the estuary of the Yalu River have long been tapped as a joint economic development zone between North Korea and China.
The North's announcement comes on the heels of leader Kim Jong-il's study tour of China's spectacular economic development in May. The week-long trip was Kim's third in just over a year.
China's Premier Wan Jiabao said Kim was invited to learn from China's economic development strategy.
China has been trying to lure North Korea to embrace the reform that lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty and helped Beijing's rise to the world's second-largest economy.
The North's decree gave no further details, but there have been reports that the two communist allies may likely break ground this week to develop Hwanggumphyong into "a center for tourism, logistics and manufacturing."
The move comes nearly a decade after North Korea ditched its fledging reform movement.
In 2002, the North designated its border city of Sinuiju as a special economic zone, but the plan fell through after Beijing arrested its governor, Yang Bin, a Chinese-Dutch entrepreneur, on bribery and kickback charges.
North Korea is now seeking to boost economic cooperation with China as part of its efforts to achieve its stated goal of becoming a prosperous country by 2012, the centennial of its late founding leader, Kim Il-sung.
Also Monday, the political bureau of the North's ruling Workers' Party "manifested a resolution to boost the bilateral friendship in all fields generation after generation," the KCNA said in a separate dispatch.
The rare meeting was held Monday to discuss the results of Kim's latest trip to China.
The 69-year-old leader has taken steps to extend his family dynasty into a third generation since he suffered a stroke in 2008. He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to make him the next leader.
The succession, if made, would mark communism's second hereditary power transfer. The elder Kim inherited power from his late father and president who died in 1994.
(END)
SEOUL, June 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea announced Monday that it will develop two islands on the border with China as an economic zone, a possible move to experiment with Chinese-style economic development.
North Korea "decided to set up the Hwanggumphyong and Wihwa Islands Economic Zone in order to boost the (North)-China friendship and expand and develop the external economic relations," the North's Supreme People's Assembly said in a decree carried by the North's official Korean Central News Agency.
Quoting the decree, the KCNA said North Korea will wield its sovereignty over the zone and that the development will start from the Hwanggumphyong district.
The two islands that sit at the estuary of the Yalu River have long been tapped as a joint economic development zone between North Korea and China.
The North's announcement comes on the heels of leader Kim Jong-il's study tour of China's spectacular economic development in May. The week-long trip was Kim's third in just over a year.
China's Premier Wan Jiabao said Kim was invited to learn from China's economic development strategy.
China has been trying to lure North Korea to embrace the reform that lifted millions of Chinese out of poverty and helped Beijing's rise to the world's second-largest economy.
The North's decree gave no further details, but there have been reports that the two communist allies may likely break ground this week to develop Hwanggumphyong into "a center for tourism, logistics and manufacturing."
The move comes nearly a decade after North Korea ditched its fledging reform movement.
In 2002, the North designated its border city of Sinuiju as a special economic zone, but the plan fell through after Beijing arrested its governor, Yang Bin, a Chinese-Dutch entrepreneur, on bribery and kickback charges.
North Korea is now seeking to boost economic cooperation with China as part of its efforts to achieve its stated goal of becoming a prosperous country by 2012, the centennial of its late founding leader, Kim Il-sung.
Also Monday, the political bureau of the North's ruling Workers' Party "manifested a resolution to boost the bilateral friendship in all fields generation after generation," the KCNA said in a separate dispatch.
The rare meeting was held Monday to discuss the results of Kim's latest trip to China.
The 69-year-old leader has taken steps to extend his family dynasty into a third generation since he suffered a stroke in 2008. He named his youngest son, Jong-un, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the North's ruling Workers' Party and a four-star general last year in the clearest sign yet to make him the next leader.
The succession, if made, would mark communism's second hereditary power transfer. The elder Kim inherited power from his late father and president who died in 1994.
(END)
