Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Home
Business
Business Home
Economy
Technology
Media
Small Business
Legal
Deals
Earnings
Social Pulse
Business Video
The Freeland File
Aerospace & Defense
Markets
Markets Home
U.S. Markets
European Markets
Asian Markets
Global Market Data
Indices
M&A
Stocks
Bonds
Currencies
Commodities
Futures
Funds
peHUB
World
World Home
U.S.
Brazil
China
Euro Zone
Japan
Mexico
Russia
India Insight
World Video
Reuters Investigates
Decoder
Politics
Politics Home
Election 2012
Campaign Polling
Tales from the Trail
Political Punchlines
Supreme Court
Politics Video
Tech
Technology Home
MediaFile
Science
Tech Video
Tech Tonic
Social Pulse
Opinion
Opinion Home
Chrystia Freeland
John Lloyd
Felix Salmon
Jack Shafer
David Rohde
Bernd Debusmann
Nader Mousavizadeh
Lucy P. Marcus
David Cay Johnston
Bethany McLean
Anatole Kaletsky
Edward Hadas
Hugo Dixon
Ian Bremmer
Lawrence Summers
Susan Glasser
The Great Debate
Steven Brill
Jack & Suzy Welch
Frederick Kempe
Christopher Papagianis
Mark Leonard
Breakingviews
Equities
Credit
Private Equity
M&A
Macro & Markets
Politics
Breakingviews Video
Money
Money Home
Tax Break
Lipper Awards 2012
Global Investing
MuniLand
Unstructured Finance
Linda Stern
Mark Miller
John Wasik
James Saft
Analyst Research
Alerts
Watchlist
Portfolio
Stock Screener
Fund Screener
Personal Finance Video
Money Clip
Investing 201
Life
Olympics
Health
Sports
Arts
Faithworld
Business Traveler
Entertainment
Oddly Enough
Lifestyle Video
Pictures
Pictures Home
Reuters Photographers
Full Focus
Video
Reuters TV
Reuters News
Article
Comments (0)
Slideshow
Pictures
Olympic best
Our top photos from the London 2012 Olympic Games. Slideshow
Highlights from the closing ceremony
Video: Photographing the Olympic best
Olympic bloopers
Full coverage: London 2012
Follow Reuters
Facebook
Twitter
RSS
YouTube
Read
Deep magnitude 7.5 quake off Russia, north of Japan
13 Aug 2012
Analysis: Are Israelis tough enough for a long war with Iran?
13 Aug 2012
New campaigner Ryan under fire from hecklers and Obama
|
2:22am EDT
California fires threaten nudist resort, hundreds of homes evacuated
13 Aug 2012
Apple expert shines light on Samsung sales in U.S.
13 Aug 2012
Discussed
137
Obama’s lead over Romney grows despite voters’ pessimism
122
Romney to announce vice presidential choice Saturday
93
Standard Chartered questions New York action
Sponsored Links
Pictures
Reuters Photojournalism
Our day's top images, in-depth photo essays and offbeat slices of life. See the best of Reuters photography. See more | Photo caption
The surface of Mars
The continuing search for signs of life on the Red Planet. Slideshow
Quakes hit Iran
Two powerful quakes strike northwest Iran. Slideshow
China signals strong support for decaying North Korea economy
Tweet
Share this
Email
Print
Related News
North Korea's Kim tells China, economy a priority
Fri, Aug 3 2012
U.N. team to tour flood-hit North Korea, no word from leader Kim
Tue, Jul 31 2012
North Korea confirms mystery woman is leader's wife
Wed, Jul 25 2012
Exclusive: Kim plans economic change in North Korea
Fri, Jul 20 2012
North Korea says U.S. hostility forcing it to "reexamine" nuclear program
Fri, Jul 20 2012
Analysis & Opinion
Ye Shiwen: Innocent until proven guilty
Why going public sucks, Facebook edition
Related Topics
World »
China »
North Korea »
1 of 3. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R), flanked by his uncle North Korean politician Jang Song-thaek, leaves a military parade to mark the birth anniversary of the North's late leader Kim Jong-il in Pyongyang, in this February 16, 2012 file photo taken by Kyodo. North Korean leader Kim Jong-un's uncle and the man seen as the power behind the young and untested dictator went to Beijing on Monday in the latest signal that the reclusive state is looking seriously at ways to revive its broken economy. Mandatory Credit
Credit: Reuters/Kyodo/Files
By Xiaoyi Shao and Nick Edwards
BEIJING |
Tue Aug 14, 2012 3:47am EDT
BEIJING (Reuters) - China on Tuesday promised to help major firms invest in impoverished neighbor North Korea, signaling strong support for the North's untried young leader just as he is believed to be planning reforms to his country's broken economy.
Vice Commerce Minister Chen Jian, writing in Communist Party mouthpiece the People's Daily, said priority would be given to two economic zones China and North Korea set up just over a year ago and which would represent a rare major foray by isolated Pyongyang into international commerce.
The comments coincide with this week's trip to China by Jang Song-thaek, the powerful uncle of young dictator Kim Jong-un and seen as likely to be a driving force for reforms.
"We will support big Chinese companies who are willing to invest in North Korea to broaden the economic and trade cooperation with North Korea, to push the two sides to upgrade two-way trade and investment structures and study the feasibility of cooperation on big projects," Chen wrote.
In a statement issued after a meeting between Chinese Commerce Minister Chen Deming and Jang, the ministry said the joint economic zones had "entered a substantive development phase".
Their development has "important meaning for further consolidating and developing traditional friendly relations and ... for promoting regional peace and prosperity", it added.
North Korea's official media said Jang had gone to China to discuss commercial projects between the two countries.
The trip is seen as the latest sign that Kim is looking seriously at ways to revive his reclusive country's decaying economy which has been in decline for years and is unable even in years of good harvests to feed its 24 million people.
North Korea already relies heavily on China to support its economy, dragged down by decades of mismanagement and international sanctions over its weapons programmes.
China, for its part, lives in terror of a political or economic collapse in North Korea which could send a wave of refugees into its poor northeast.
"Only North Korea's economic opening up can truly ensure peace and stability on the Korean peninsula," said Wei Zhijiang, an expert on the two Koreas at Zhongshan University in southern China.
"China wants to play an important constructive role in North Korea's economic opening up and integration into the international community," he added.
Kim's father, who died last December, flirted with reform but never really let it take root, wary of anything that might undermine his family's iron grip over the state.
But the new leader has presented a very different image to his father and is believed to want economic and agricultural reform. Jang has long advocated such reforms.
In another sign that Kim may be looking to end international isolation, he has sent the country's nominal head of state Kim Yong-nam this month to Vietnam and Laos, where he was reported to have discussed economic development.
In another tentative sign that Pyongyang is opening up, officials from Japan and North Korea will meet for the first time in four years in Beijing on August 29, Japan's top government spokesman said. They will discuss the retrieval of the remains of Japanese who died on the Korean peninsula during World War II and possibly discuss North Korea's abductions of Japanese citizens.
Vice Minister Chen said there were good opportunities to develop ties between the two nations - Beijing is Pyongyang's only major ally - and to expand fast-growing bilateral trade, which he said was up 24.7 percent in the first half of 2012 on a year earlier, worth some $3.1 billion.
Total trade between the two countries was $5.7 billion in 2011, up 62.4 percent, Chen cited data from China's Customs Administration as saying.
ECONOMIC ZONES
Chen said the first priority was to "actively and steadily push forward the development and cooperation of two economic zones" that the two had established in June 2011.
The zones are in Rason on the North's east coast, and in Hwanggumphyong, an area on the border between the two countries that is yet to be developed.
"Governments should bring existing economic and trade mechanisms into play appropriately and push forward and improve the two-way trade and investment environment," Chen said.
He called for expanding and deepening the cooperation between North Korea and China's north eastern Liaoning and Jilin provinces which border the country, and to strengthen cooperation on building infrastructure.
The two countries have planned to develop a new industrial district on the Yalu River that runs along their border, but the construction of a bridge that will be part of the project has been suspended because of disagreements on how to proceed.
(Additional reporting by Ben Blanchard, Chris Buckley and Sui-Lee Wee in Beijing, Stanley White in Tokyo and Jack Kim and David Chance in Seoul, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)
World
China
North Korea
Tweet this
Link this
Share this
Digg this
Email
Reprints
We welcome comments that advance the story through relevant opinion, anecdotes, links and data. If you see a comment that you believe is irrelevant or inappropriate, you can flag it to our editors by using the report abuse links. Views expressed in the comments do not represent those of Reuters. For more information on our comment policy, see http://blogs.reuters.com/fulldisclosure/2010/09/27/toward-a-more-thoughtful-conversation-on-stories/
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment on reuters.com.
Add yours using the box above.
Edition:
U.S.
Africa
Arabic
Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
France
Germany
India
Italy
Japan
Latin America
Mexico
Russia
Spain
United Kingdom
Back to top
Reuters.com
Business
Markets
World
Politics
Technology
Opinion
Money
Pictures
Videos
Site Index
Legal
Bankruptcy Law
California Legal
New York Legal
Securities Law
Support & Contact
Support
Corrections
Connect with Reuters
Twitter
Facebook
LinkedIn
RSS
Podcast
Newsletters
Mobile
About
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
AdChoices
Copyright
Our Flagship financial information platform incorporating Reuters Insider
An ultra-low latency infrastructure for electronic trading and data distribution
A connected approach to governance, risk and compliance
Our next generation legal research platform
Our global tax workstation
Thomsonreuters.com
About Thomson Reuters
Investor Relations
Careers
Contact Us
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.