Yonhap
10/5/2007
South Korean electronics giant Samsung Electronics Co. will consider investing in North Korea if the communist country provides better infrastructure and business-related regulations as promised in an agreement reached during the just-ended inter-Korean summit talks, the company’s top executive said Friday.
“We will review investment opportunities in the North if Pyongyang provides systems and regulations needed for safe business operation there, and guarantees improvement in the passage of civilians, customs clearance and communications as promised, along with a stable supply of electricity and water,” Yun Jong Yong, head of Samsung Electronics, said in a statement issued after returning from Pyongyang.
Yun and other business leaders accompanied President Roh Moo-hyun for the second-ever inter-Korean summit talks.
As they wrapped up the three-day summit, President Roh and his North Korean counterpart, Kim Jong-il, on Thursday agreed to a number of inter-Korean business projects, including accelerating the expansion of an industrial complex in the North’s border city of Kaesong, where more than 20 South Korean small- and medium-sized enterprises run facilities.
They also agreed upon improving related regulations for the passage of civilians, customs clearance and communications, which many businessmen have cited as challenges hindering operation in the North.
Yun said the leaders of the two Koreas had more “tangible” negotiations — especially on inter-Korean economic cooperation — than then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung had with the North Korean leader at the previous meeting held seven years ago.
Since the 1990s, Samsung Electronics has been engaged in business in the North, including software development projects, but has made little large-scale investment in the communist country.
