Yonhap
8/1/2007
Pyeonghwa Motors Corp., a South Korean automaker with exclusive rights to produce cars for the North Korean market, said Wednesday it has been in talks with Chinese automaker Brilliance Automotive Holdings Ltd. to assemble trucks in North Korea, a company official said Wednesday.
In North Korea, Pyeonghwa Motors is assembling some 600-700 vehicles, including sport-utility ones, sedans and mini buses, a year at its plant in Nampo, near the capital Pyongyang.
The North has requested Pyeonghwa Motors to produce trucks for farmers and factory workers, the official said.
“We will soon select a truck model after consultations with North Korean and Chinese sides,” the official said on the condition of anonymity, citing protocol.
If the North Korean plant begins production of trucks, annual vehicle sales of Pyonghwa Motors in North Korea will exceed 1,000 units, the official said.
The North’s economy went into a steep decline in the early 1990s after the collapse of the Soviet Union, according to reports released by South Korea’s Bank of Korea.
However, since the late 1990s, the North Korean economy has been growing again, helped by an influx of foreign aid and better weather, the South’s central bank said.
