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The latest issue of DPRK Business Monthly is now available as a complimentary PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore. This regular publication looks at current international, domestic, and peninsular affairs concerning North Korea while also offering commentary and tourism information on the country.

In international news, Russian Ambassador to North Korea Aleksandr Timonin denied reports that construction on the trans-Korea pipeline had been harmed by North Korea’s financial demands, while also saying that separate Russian – North Korean and Russian – South Korean talks were continuing.

In a separate interview, Russian Minister for Far East Development Viktor Ishayev said, “Construction of a gas pipeline to South Korea is being planned. This pipeline, incidentally, will go through North Korea and will collect about US$100 million annually in transit fees. I must stress that this is not a three-way agreement.”

The pipeline agreement between Russia and North Korea was first reached by Kim Jong Il and then-President Dmitry Medvedev in August 2011, but has reportedly received the blessing of the DPRK’s present leader Kim Jong Un as well.

In regional news, a Chinese company has announced plans to invest US$20 million in a gold mine in North Korea as well as in the country’s first five-star hotel.

The mine, with deposits of 50 tons of gold, is in Unsan County in North Phyongan Province in northwestern North Korea near the Chinese border. The report said Weijin Investment Group is the first Chinese company from Hunan Province to invest in North Korea.

“North Korea is backward in infrastructure construction, so we can fulfill the requirements of mineral resources exploitation by offering technology and management support to the country’s key projects like highways and hotels,” said Weijin Chairman Xia Juhua.

He said Wejin plans to construct a 30-story, five-star hotel to be completed this year, as well as investment in the rare earth sector in North Korea.

In inter-Korean news, South Korea's Yonhap News Agency reported that a majority of South Korean companies are interested in inter-Korean economic cooperation, as the new government is expected to improve strained relations with North Korea, a poll showed.

According to the survey of 500 South Korean companies by the Korean Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 73 percent of the respondents said that they have or will have an interest in economic cooperation with North Korea.

On the domestic front, North Korea will soon allow foreign visitors access to the Internet via the nation’s Koryolink 3G service, according to reports from the Associated Press Pyongyang bureau. The Egyptian firm that built North Korea’s cell tower infrastructure, Orascom Telecom, reportedly told foreign residents in Pyongyang that Internet service would be launched no later than March 1.

To read further about these topics, and much more, please download the complimentary DPRK Business Monthly PDF.

DPRK Business Monthly is produced by North Korea expert Paul White.