N. Korea to remove inactive companies from Rajin-Sonbong economic zone

SEOUL, Dec. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea is preparing to remove inoperative foreign
companies from a special economic zone in the country's northeast, officials said
after a report that some Chinese firms in the area were asked to leave.

"North Korea appears to have conducted a survey in October to sort out companies
that exist only on paper from the Rajin-Sonbong economic zone," Kim Ho-nyoun,
spokesman for the Unification Ministry, told reporters.
He was responding to a request to confirm a recent report by a local daily, the
Dong-a Ilbo, that Pyongyang has asked an unspecified number of Chinese firms
there to evacuate by the end of November. The firms did not comply with the
request since it was not mandatory. About 250 Chinese firms are on the registry,
according to the daily.
The zone was created in 1991 in the area bordering Russia to attract foreign
investment, but Seoul officials say it has largely failed to achieve that goal.
The report came after North Korea reduced to half the number of South Korean
officials and managers in another industrial enclave at Kaesong, just north of
the heavily armed inter-Korean border early this month.
North Korea has said the cutback is part of initial retaliatory measures against
Seoul's tough stance toward Pyongyang and indicated it may shut down the Kaesong
complex without a policy shift by the South.
sshim@yna.co.kr
(END)