The news came one week after North Koreanleader Kim Jong Il told a visiting high-level envoy from Beijing thathe was committed to a nuclear-free Korea. Kim subsequently dispatchedhis top nuclear envoy to Beijing for talks on the resumption ofsix-nation negotiations on ending its nuclear program in return for aid.
Severalstate-run Chinese banks and other multinational companies neared anagreement to invest about $10 billion to build railroads, harbors andhouses in North Korea following their negotiations with Pyongyang'sofficial Korea Taepung International Investment Group, according toSeoul's Yonhap news agency.
