China and North Korea may have failed to agree on how to promote the economic growth in Pyongyang, political analysts said. North Korean Premier Kim Jong-il's hope for more aid from China's central government may have not materialised as China's Premier Wen Jiabao wants "the initiatives of localities and enterprises" in joining economic projects in Pyongyang.
Professor Yoo Ho Yeol of Korea University explained that though the two nations, China and North Korea, wanted economic cooperation, they differ in their approach on how to go about it. "Even as the two nations move ahead with economic cooperation, they seem to differ over how they go about doing it," said Mr Yoo.
In a related Bloomberg report, a professor at Seoul-based Dongguk University said: "Kim Jong Il would have wanted the Chinese central government's pledge of investment, and there is little evidence to suggest this has materialized." Xinhua News Agency earlier reported that Mr Wen told South Korean President Lee Myung Bak last week in a meeting in Tokyo that China wants North Korea to learn and apply the lessons of its own market-oriented reforms.
North Korea's dependence on China deepened last year as exports of coal and other minerals to its main ally jumped and global sanctions left Kim Jong Il's regime increasingly isolated. China accounted for 83 percent of North Korea's $4.2 billion of international commerce in 2010, the Seoul-based Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency said today in an e-mailed statement. It has consistently risen since 2005.
Source: iWireNews
