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China arranging investment for N Korea:
report
AFP , SEOUL
Tuesday, Feb 16, 2010, Page 3
China is arranging a huge foreign investment deal to revive North Korea¡¦s
faltering economy amid an international drive to coax Pyongyang back to nuclear
disarmament talks, a report said yesterday.
Beijing is helping Pyongyang obtain more than US$10 billion in investment from
Chinese banks and multinational companies, South Korea¡¦s Yonhap news agency
said.
The deal was discussed a week ago when North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met
China¡¦s senior communist party official Wang Jiarui (¤ı®a·ç), it said.
A North Korean body known as the Korea Taepung International Investment Group
plans to conclude the deal next month, Yonhap said, adding that Chinese capital
would account for 60 percent of total investments.
Yonhap did not give any further details on what the investment plan would
involve.
It said China was brokering the deal because North Korea is demanding economic
aid from Beijing along with other incentives before returning to the six-party
nuclear forum which the North quit last April.
South Korean officials were not available for comment.
Chinese and North Korean nuclear negotiators held several days of talks in
Beijing last week aimed at restarting the forum chaired by China since 2003.
Media reports said Pyongyang was sticking to its two conditions for coming back:
a lifting of sanctions and a US commitment to discuss a formal peace treaty.
Washington, Seoul and Tokyo say the North must return unconditionally and show
commitment to scrapping its nuclear program before other issues are dealt with.
Tough UN sanctions brought by the North¡¦s pursuit of ballistic missiles and
atomic weapons have hurt its economy, restricting its access to international
credit.
The nation has relied on foreign aid to feed its people since it suffered a
devastating famine in the 1990s.
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