U.S. businesses explore investment in N. Korea

SEOUL, Dec. 17 (Yonhap) -- A U.S. business delegation visiting North Korea
returned home Thursday after a four-day trip aimed at exploring its investment
environment, state media said.

The team of American corporate leaders "had an exhaustive discussion with
officials in the economic field of the DPRK on the issues arising in creating
(an) environment for investment," the North's Korean Central News Agency said.
DPRK stands for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea.
The delegation was led by Charles Boyd, a retired U.S. Air Force four-star
general and current president of Business Executives for National Security, a
non-partisan Washington-based organization. They visited Kim Il Sung University,
the Tower of the Juche Idea, the Grand People's Study House, the Pyongyang Metro,
the Pyongyang Textile Mill and the Pyongyang 326 Electric Wire Factory during
their stay, the report said.
The report gave no further information, such as which areas the U.S. team was
interested in investing or whether there would be follow-up meetings. North Korea
and the U.S. do not have diplomatic relations, and the normalization of ties is a
key demand Pyongyang has attached to giving up its nuclear program.
A day earlier, Kim Yong-nam, North Korea's ceremonial head of state and president
of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, and Foreign Minister Pak
Ui-chun separately met with the U.S. business representatives.
hkim@yna.co.kr
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