China and North Korea agrees to Open a New Container Shipping Route

* Article from Asahi Shimbun *

N. Korea, China eye shipping route
By Daisuke Nishimura
September 6, 2010 (Japan Standard Time)

China and North Korea have agreed to open a container shipping route from the North's Rason special economic zone, sources close to the Hunchun-based shipping company involved in the deal said. Hunchun is on China's border with Russia and North Korea.

The agreement was reached during the Northeast Asia Investment and Trade Expo, which runs until Monday in Changchun, China.

The new route, which starts at Rajin in North Korea, is expected to open by the end of December at the earliest, the sources said.

It is expected to handle about 300,000 tons of cargo annually, they said.

The envisioned route will link Rajin with foreign ports, such as Busan, but will be limited at its startup. It will begin shipping products into China from Europe and the United States via China's Qingdao.

Cooperation between China and North Korea has accelerated in the northeast amid heavy international sanctions levied against North Korea after the sinking of a South Korean warship in March.

In the Tumenjiang river area, other projects are also under way, including repairs to a cross-border bridge in Hunchun.

A private company based in Dalian, Liaoning province, is working to develop a pier at Rajin port. And sources said a company in Jilin province has acquired the right to use a pier at North Korea's Chongjin port, to the south of Rajin.

In a forum at the trade expo, North Korea's vice trade minister expressed hope that his country could make Rason into "a base for world-class processing trade and intermediate trade."

Meanwhile, China's inland Jilin province aims to secure sea routes to the Sea of Japan via North Korea's Rajin and Chongjin ports.

The Chinese government last year designated the Tumenjiang river area, which includes the Yanbian autonomous prefecture, Jilin and Changchun, as a pilot development zone.