BEIJING - North Korea and
China have agreed to link special economic zone projects
in their respective border cities - Sinuiju and Dandong
in the northeastern Chinese province of Liaoning,
informed Chinese sources said Thursday.
North
Korea recently embarked on preparations to restart the
project to transform Sinuiju into a special
administrative zone, as soon as the dispute over the
North's nuclear weapons program is settled, the sources
said.
Pyongyang also began behind-the-scenes
work to lure foreign investments into the project while
putting final touches to a blueprint for the
development, they said.
Sinuiju, a western North
Korean city, is at the mouth of the Yalu River on the
West Sea. The city became important after a bridge over
the Yalu, linking it with Dandong, was opened in 1910.
It is today a major rail transportation center between
North Korea and China.
Separately, China has
been working to develop a 34-square-kilometer special
development zone on the outskirts of Dandong.
The latest Sino-North Korean agreement calls for
merging the two special zone projects in Sinuiju and
Dandong, the sources said.
Under the accord,
Sinuiju and Dandong plan to construct new expressways
along the border river of Yalu and a second Yalu River
bridge southeast of the existing one, they said. The
North is also planning to build a new 70-kilometer
highway between Sinuiju and Mount Myohyang, a renowned
mountain resort in the center of the country. Details of
the Sinuiju-Dandong joint development plan were not made
public.
The plan for turning Sinuiju into a
special enclave with independent legislative, executive
and judicial powers was announced by North Korea in
September 2002, but fell apart after the arrest of its
governor.
Yang Bin, a Chinese-Dutch tycoon, was
arrested on charges of illegal land use, bribery and
fraud, just days after he was named the first governor
of the Sinuiju complex. He is currently under house
arrest in Shenyang, a city north of Beijing.
The
North is said to have unofficially designated Sha
Rixiang, a Korean-born Chinese emigrant, as Yang's
successor.
Beijing virtually agreed on the
appointment of Sha and is cooperative toward his efforts
to lure foreign investment into the Sinuiju special
zone, sources said.
Sha will soon visit North
Korean leader Kim Jong-il to brief him on the blueprint
for developing Sinuiju and measures to effectively
secure foreign investment, the sources said.
They said that Sha recently visited Shenzhen, a
port located near Hong Kong, and four other Chinese
cities showcasing China's capitalistic pursuit of
economic development for studies, and Dandong to discuss
the joint development plan.
(Asia
Pulse/Yonhap)
Sep 3, 2004
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