DPRK to remove inactive Chinese companies from Rajin

Quoting from the article (h/t Oliver):

North Korea is preparing to remove inoperative foreign companies from a special economic zone in the country’s northeast, officials said after a report that some Chinese firms in the area were asked to leave.

“North Korea appears to have conducted a survey in October to sort out companies that exist only on paper from the Rajin-Sonbong economic zone,” Kim Ho-nyoun, spokesman for the Unification Ministry, told reporters.

He was responding to a request to confirm a recent report by a local daily, the Dong-a Ilbo, that Pyongyang has asked an unspecified number of Chinese firms there to evacuate by the end of November. The firms did not comply with the request since it was not mandatory. About 250 Chinese firms are on the registry, according to the daily.

Although pure speculation, this could also be due to the influence of the Russian government—who has made no secret of its desire to invest in the Rajin. Russia is also upgrading the railway track from Kashan to Rajin.

Source:
N Korea to remove inactive cos from Rajin-Sonbong Economic Zone
Asia Pulse Businesswire
(Yonhap)
December 16, 2008