By Jung Sung-ki
Staff Reporter

China's northeastern Jirin Province has acquired the right to use North Korea's Rajin Port for 10 years, a news report said Monday.

The report said an official of the province made public the agreement at China's National People's Congress Sunday. The session, which opened Friday, will continue through March 14.

As a result, Yanji City will be able to export coal from Jirin to Japan and other nations via the East Sea from Rajin, the report quoted the official as saying.

Rajin is considered a hub that will help the northeastern Chinese region's forays into the Pacific region.

North Korea is also considering building economic development zones in and around the area with the support from Chinese investments, it said.

Meanwhile, Japan's Sankei Shimbun said that North Korea has decided to fully open Rajin to foreign firms.

A senior North Korean official recently visited the region and pledged that Pyongyang will fully open the city to foreign companies in six months, the newspaper reported.

Last month, Yonhap News said that China had decided to invest about $10 billion in North Korea to revive its communist neighbor's faltering economy.

Beijing will invest the money to build railroads, harbors and houses in the cash-strapped North through the latter's Taepung International Investment Group, a newly established international cooperation agency, the report said.

Citing an unidentified source privy to Taepung group affairs, Yonhap said two major Chinese banks and some other multinational business organizations have almost concluded the deal with the North Korean investment agency.

gallantjung@koreatimes.co.kr