SUNDAY, APRIL 07, 2002
First car assembly plant opens in North Korea
AP
SEOUL: A South Korean automaker on Saturday opened North Korea's first car-assembly plant, the company said.
The $55-million factory can produce 20,000 subcompact cars a year, said Seoul-based Pyeonghwa Motors, which runs the plant.
The company is affiliated with the Unification Church, whose leader the Rev. Sun Myung Moon is a native of what is now North Korea. North Korean officials attended a ceremony to open the plant at Nampo, a port on North Korea's east coast, said the North's state news agency, KCNA.
The plant will assemble Siena subcompact cars, designed by the Italian automaker Fiat SpA, for the North Korean market as well as for export to China and Russia's Far East, Pyeonghwa said.
South Korean officials estimate that North Korea, with 22 million people, had only 262,000 cars in 2000, or one car for every 84 people.
Pyeonghwa plans to sell its cars for $10,000 to 13,000 - a price that may be too high for most North Koreans.
The North Korean government has promised to buy 1,000 cars a year, about half the number needed to break even, the company said. Pyeonghwa said it was attracted to North Korea by low wages.
On Saturday, a South Korean envoy returned from North Korea with agreements to boost economic exchanges between the two Koreas.
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