Estimated read time: Less than a minute
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
(AP) - ZONE OF CAPITALISM: The Rason Special Economic Zone, some two decades old, is intended to be a petri dish of North Korean capitalism, and leaders plan to expand the experiment all over the country.
ECONOMIC EXPANSION: Last month, North Korea announced plans to create economic zones in every province. But it's unclear how far Pyongyang is willing to go. A look at Rason suggests that it is not so desperate to revive its moribund economy that it will risk major changes.
IN RASON: In appearance, Rason remains in every way an outpost city _ albeit one that is better off than most in the North. Its showcase enterprises _ the Sonbong Textile Factory, a seafood processing plant, a sprawling but seemingly yet-to-open chemical production complex _ are hardly cutting-edge or transformative.
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
