Chinese investors bank on Bicycles to make money in North Korea

Pyongyang, North Korea - August 2005 (file) 1.Wideshot street intersection in downtown Pyongyang with traffic controller and little traffic 2.Midshot traffic controller at street intersection 3.Close-up trafffic controller at street intersection Pyongyang, North Korea- 15 May 2007 4.WideShot cyclists riding along on pavement in downtown Pyongyang 5.Midshot cyclists riding along on pavement in downtown Pyongyang Pyongyang, North Korea - 11 April 2007 6. Wideshot exterior Pyongjin Bicycle Joint Venture Company 7. Wideshot assembly line in Pyongjin Bicycle Joint Venture Company 8. various workers assembling bicycles 9. SOUNDBITE (Korean): Sim Hak Chol, Manager, Pyongjin Bicycle Joint Venture Company "Our joint venture company will, in the future, improve the quality of the bicycles to meet domestic demand, and to enter international markets in a more active way". 10.Various assembling bicycles 11.Wideshot pan of assembled bicycles 12.SOUNDBITE (Mandarin): Liang Tongjun, President, Pyongjin Bicycle Joint Venture Company "As an investor coming from China, we have accumulated a lot of experience in the work of investment and joint ventures in the DPRK. I hope that this could be a big help to other foreign investors who are going to invest in the DPRK". 13.Wideshot bicycles in storeroom Pyongyang, North Korea- 8 June 2007 14. various cyclists riding on road in suburbs of Pyongyang 15.MS cyclists riding on road in suburbs of Pyongyang ENDS LEAD IN: North Korea is changing, if only very slowly. In spite of ongoing international tensions over its nuclear programme and resulting sanctions, North Korea is open for business, and foreign investment. China in particular views North Korea as a good place to invest and is trying to get a foothold in the tightly-controlled state. One Chinese company is hoping that bicycles, a favourite form of transport in countries across Asia, will be a good investment in North Korea. STORYLINE: The streets of North Korea's capital Pyongyang are very quiet. There are few cars and no traffic jams. The city is famous for its female traffic controllers. They act as human traffic lights, standing at intersections and directing passing vehicles. A familiar sight in many other cities across Asia, bicycles here are few and far between. In fact, some former foreign residents say that until the early 1990s, bikes were banned across the city. Things are changing though and bicycles are now permitted, but not on all streets. But in secretive North Korea, it is difficult to find out exactly what the regulations are. One Chinese company is hoping these restrictions won't last forever. They've opened a bicycle factory and hope it will pay off in the future as North Korea develops. Tianjin Digital opened its Pyongjin Bicycle Joint Venture Company in Pyongyang in 2005. The company claims that it has the rights to make bicycles in Pyongyang for twenty years. Its bicycle assembly plant was even given the seal of approval with a visit by North Korea's top leader, Kim Jong Il, in 2005, shortly after it opened. With two hundred North Korean workers and four Chinese technicians, the plant has the capacity to put together up to 300,000 bicycles a year, according to Tianjin Digital's Chinese President of the joint venture, Liang Tongjun. The bicycles sell for between thirty and seventy US dollars which is a lot of money in North Korea. It is difficult to compare prices and purchasing power in North Korea, because of the huge difference in official and unofficial exchange rates, and the lack of published statistics about incomes. Its local Korean manager, Sim Hak Chol, is very ambitious, and keen to expand the company's work. Keyword-wacky You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6fb6ae8a49f39b9628fafe465fe869ea Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork