North Korea Launches Sharp Attack on Chinese Investor

Jakarta Globe, David Chance,September 05, 2012

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's son Kim Jong Un attends a massive military
 parade marking the 65th anniversary of the ruling Workers' Party in Pyongyang,
North  Korea in this Oct. 10. 2012 file photo. North Korea lashed out at a Chinese
 company that had complained of corruption and fraud in a multi-million dollar investment
 in the reclusive state, and accused the Xiyang Group of reneging on its deal. (AP Photo/
 Vincent Yu, File)

               

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Seoul. North Korea lashed out at a Chinese company that had complained of corruption and fraud in a multi-million dollar investment in the reclusive state, and accused the Xiyang Group of reneging on its deal.

The statement, carried on Wednesday by the North Korean state news agency KCNA, came at a sensitive time for the North as it seeks Chinese investment to revive its moribund economy and as its new leader Kim Jong Un has asked for a state visit to China, its main backer.  

Xiyang Group, on a Chinese website, described its investment in an iron-ore powder venture as “a nightmare” and said that the North had violated its own investment laws.

“It [Xiyang] has carried out only 50 percent of its investment obligations though almost four years have past since the contract took effect,” KCNA quoted a spokesman for its Commission for Joint Venture and Investment as saying.

North Korea rarely criticizes China or any Chinese entities in public, and the KCNA article said that the Xiyang comments had been whipped up by “hostile forces” in an orchestrated media campaign to blacken the country’s name.

North Korea’s special economic zones are governed by a patchwork of laws and have so far failed to attract large amounts of Chinese investment into a country that has been hit with international sanctions after its nuclear tests in 2006 and 2009.

The country sits on significant deposits of coal, iron ore and gold and has substantial reserves of rare earths. But a rickety infrastructure and uncertain laws deters investors.

Between 2003 and 2009, Chinese investment in North Korea stood at $98.3 million, just 12 percent of the amount Chinese firms have invested in South Korea, according to Chinese data cited in a 2011 report by Drew Thompson, a Korea specialist who now works at the US Department of Defense.

Jang Song Taek, the uncle of North Korea’s new ruler visited Beijing last month to ask for new investment and to try to get China to agree to a state visit for Kim, who has ruled the North since the death of his father. 

Reuters

Related Article:

A Summary" – Apr 2, 2011 (Kryon channelled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Religion, Shift of Human Consciousness, 2012, Intelligent/Benevolent Design, EU, South America, 5 Currencies, Water Cycle (Heat up, Mini Ice Ace, Oceans, Fish, Earthquakes ..), Middle East, Internet, Israel, Dictators, Palestine, US, Japan (Quake/Tsunami Disasters , People, Society ...), Nuclear Power Revealed, Hydro Power, Geothermal Power, Moon, Financial Institutes (Recession, Realign integrity values ..) , China, North Korea, Global Unity,..... etc.) - (Text version)

“….. Here is the prediction: China will turn North Korea loose soon. The alliance will dissolve, or become stale. There will be political upheaval in China. Not a coup and not a revolution. Within the inner circles of that which you call Chinese politics, there will be a re-evaluation of goals and monetary policy. Eventually, you will see a break with North Korea, allowing still another dictator to fall and unification to occur with the south. ….”