North Korea to open up economy with German Help ?

[LurkerBaba]

Pyongyang may be preparing to open up its economy. A report in a prominent newspaper claims the regime has enlisted the aid of German economic and legal experts to lay the groundwork for foreign investment in North Korean companies. The move could be made as soon as this year.

On New Year's Day, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for a "radical" economic renewal for his country and an end to decades of conflict with South Korea. Now, a German media report says he is moving quickly to fulfill at least the first pledge.

According to an article to be published on Saturday by the daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the communist regime in Pyongyang is preparing to open up the country's economy to foreign investors. Moreover, it has enlisted the assistance of German economists and lawyers to lay the groundwork for the move.

"There is a master plan," one of the economists involved in the plan told the paper. "They want to open up this year." The FAZ did not identify the economist, but noted that he works at a respected German university and that he had advised other governments in Asia in the past.

The economist told the paper that the country is primarily interested in modernizing its laws relating to foreign investment. However, North Korea is not intending to follow the Chinese model, which called for the creation of special economic zones for foreign investors, the economist told the FAZ. "Rather, they are interested in the Vietnamese model, in which specific companies were chosen as recipients of investments," the source said.

German Paper Reports North Korea Preparing Economic Opening - SPIEGEL ONLINE

 

[uvbar]

once north korea opens its economy all the west agenda of north korea being a rogue state will disappear as they want a cheaper substitute to china and north korea is pissed with china mistreating them

 

[bengalraider]

The opening up of the DPRK has the potential to change business dynamics in Asia in a big way, however i feel that the opening up will be limited to special Zones created near the borders that will be heavily policed to make sure no ideological changes in the country occur!.

 

[amoy]

N.Korea is already open, but to China mostly Additionally there's a thread on China importing Korean workers

Also an interesting read > North Korean Economy Watch � Blog Archive � China expanding mining rights in N. Korea

China has expanded its mining rights in North Korea to cover as many as 20 sites, a South Korean report said Thursday.

China is a leading investor in North Korea, which, according to a South Korean study, is believed to have enormous deposits of natural resources, including coal, nickel, molybdenum and bronze.

Further efforts to isolate the DPRK economically allow China to capture even more of these resources at bargain prices. The North Koreans, for their part, are not happy about this. According to the Steel Guru:

At an international conference held in Yanjiin in October, Director of the Economy Institute at the North Korean Academy of Social Sciences Mr Kim Chol Jun had revealed that his country is restricting exports of unprocessed resources. He added that "Mineral resources are exported at high prices by processing them. Exports of cheap unprocessed goods are a loss to the state."

South Korea's Unification Ministry estimates that underground mineral resources in North Korea are valued at about JPY 540 and the amount of deposits of magnetite used to trim the weight of automobile parts is the world's largest at 3 billion tonnes to 4 billion tonnes. In addition to iron ore, North Korea is said to be rich in such rare metals as molybdenum and rare earth.

On a positive note, Chinese takeover of the mines could possibly lead to greater investment in mine working conditions if only to increase output—-although no data is really available to determine if this is the case.

Expanding North Korea-China Economic Cooperation and the Future of the North Korean Regime: A 'Rentier State' Analysis - :: KOREA FOCUS ::