RAJIN, North Korea - Destitute NorthKorea's push to breathe new life into economic relationshipswith its neighbors China and Russia appears to be bearing fruitin its far north of the country where foreigners are busyhelping rebuild a crumbling infrastructure.
A top local official told reporters on Tuesday that Chinaand Russia had invested heavily in the region in order to gainaccess to its three east coast ports in the towns of Rajin andSongbon, which are the main centers for the secretive North'sRason Special Economic Zone.
"Rason is situated well geographically, and providesfavorable conditions for investment," the city's vice mayorHwang Chol-nam said through an interpreter.
The ports would more than halve the distance Chinese firmsneeded to ferry goods from landlocked Yanji in Jilin province tothe major industrial center of Dalian which is also a shippinghub for northeast China.