NK sees Coke as ’strategic’ link to US

By Kim Young-jin

North Korea has stepped up efforts to bring Coca-Cola into the country in a bid to improve ties with Washington and says it is willing to tinker with market principles to do so, Forbes Magazine reports.

In an article slated to run in its Oct. 10 edition, the magazine details a recent meeting between an American investor and the head of a North Korean investment body in Pyongyang in which the latter expressed high hopes for the introduction of the symbolic American soft drink.

“Coke is strategic. I hope that Coke will serve as a bridge for relations between the two governments,” it quoted Park Chol-su, president of North Korea’s Taepung International Investment Group as saying.

According to the report, Park said his group, established by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il, hoped the symbolic American product would help bring market principles to the North’s planned economy.

“Costs are based on the demands of the market, but we will respect your price,” it quoted him as telling the investor Gabriel Schulze. “If the price is too high, it will be restricted.”

It added Pyongyang appeared eager to introduce U.S.-based fast-food joint KFC to the country as well.

The report comes three months after executives of the two companies visited the Stalinist state, where a quarter of the population is estimated to need food assistance.

China, the North’s main benefactor, has pushed Pyongyang to follow its path of reform. But analysts remain skeptical that it will do so and expect the regime to continue leveraging its nuclear program to compel regional players to provide aid.

Still the introduction of such companies would fall in line with the North’s drive to invite foreign investment to buoy its economy. It has implemented an ambitious plan to expand its GDP from $30 billion last year to $1 trillion by 2020.

Schulze noted the heavy risk associated with investing in the North, which has earned heavy sanctions for its missile and nuclear tests, underscoring the challenges Pyongyang faces in bringing in Western investment.

On Monday, a source told Yonhap News that Pyongyang is working to open new travel routes between China and the Mt. Geumgang resort in the North, including new flights from cities there in what appears to be its latest bid to attract hard currency via tourism.

If confirmed, the move would come shortly after it ran a trial cruise from its northeastern port city of Rajin to the scenic resort. The report added the North was considering converting a nearby military base into an airport.

Whether such plans will materialize remains in question as the two Koreas remain in dispute over how to handle Southern-owned assets there. Seoul halted a joint tourism program there in 2008 after a tourist was shot dead for apparently breaching the resort’s boundary.

Schulze acknowledged that all foreign investment goes straight toward bolstering the regime but added Coke’s symbolic power could ultimately pay dividends.

“Selfish ambition can still drive positive change and development, particularly in the economy, which can make a real difference in the lives of North Koreans,” he said.