Gov’t to take over S.
Korean firms’ assets in North’s tour zone (hit by May 24 measure)
Yonhap News Agency.
9/19/12
SEOUL, Sept. 19
(Yonhap) -- Seoul is considering buying South Korean firms' assets in
the Kumgang tour zone in North Korea as part of its widening efforts to
help local firms financially distressed by the suspension of inter-Korean trade
and economic cooperation.
… subcontractors for
Hyundai Asan, the local partner firm for the now-suspended Kumgang tour
program, according to government and industry sources.
The cross-border tour
program, which started in 1998 as a major symbol of softening inter-Korean
relations, was suspended in 2008 following the North's shooting death
of a South Korean woman tourist.
The council of about
30 South Korean subcontractors and investors in the tour program is now making
an arrangement with member firms in order to strike an asset buying deal with
the government on behalf of them.
According to the
group, the total investment, mostly in tourist facilities, made by the minor
Kumgang tour investors amounted to 133 billion won (US$118 million), besides
those by the major partner Hyundai Asan.
On Tuesday, the
Unification Ministry also announced its plan to grant 7.5 billion won to local
traders and entrepreneurs, hit by Seoul's imposition of economic sanctions on
North Korea on May 24, 2010 in
the wake of the North's sinking of the South's naval vessel Cheonan in
March of the same year.
Despite the North's
repeated demands for the tour program to resume, the South is keeping it
suspended, citing the North's lack of commitment to the safety of Kumgang
tourists.
U.S., Japan Agree on
Missile Defense Radar System
The Chosun Ilbo.
9/17/12
The United States and
Japan have agreed to place a new missile defense radar system on Japanese
territory to defend against a ballistic missile threat from North Korea.
U.S. Defense Secretary
Leon Panetta and Japanese counterpart Satoshi Morimoto announced the deal
Monday after a meeting in Tokyo.
Panetta said the
X-band radar is meant to protect Japan as well as the U.S. homeland. He
stressed the system is not directed at China.
The United States has
existing early warning radar systems on ships deployed in the region. Those
ships will now have more freedom to move around the area.
N.K., China push joint
port development projects
The Korea Herald.
9/17/12
North Korea and China
are jointly developing several North Korean ports lining its northern east coast, a
source in Beijing said Monday.
Under the joint deals
struck between North Korean and Chinese firms, the two countries are
re-developing as many as five ports along the eastern coast line linking
the Sonbong port near the northern border to the Wonsan port in the lower part,
the source said.
“The Rajin port in the
joint special economic zone between the North and China is officially under
co-development and the Chongjin port is also said to be under joint
development,” the source added.
The source’s remarks
constitute the first confirmation by a Chinese official of the two
countries’ joint development over ports other than the Rajin and
Chongjin ports.
China also signed a
deal with the North in 2008 to secure rights to use one pier at the Rajin port
before reportedly gaining rights to use three other piers there recently.
(Yonhap News)
