Peregrine to enter N. Korea

Peregrine to enter N. Korea

SEOUL (AFP): Hong Kong's Peregrine Group announced here yesterday it was hoping to sign a contract this weekend to set up what it called the first ever joint venture bank with North Korea.

"I am going up to North Korea this weekend ... to discuss final details of this joint venture which we hope will be the start of a conduit for foreign investors to participate in and help the North Korean economy to grow," Philip Tose, chairman of Peregrine Investment Holdings, told a press conference here.

Tose said he believed there were "great opportunities" in the isolated, communist state for international investors in "power, telecommunications and infrastructure" programs.

Tose declined to reveal details of the proposed joint venture with Daesung Bank, Pyongyang's main state-run bank, until after his trip to Pyongyang, which he said was a culmination of one-and-a-half year's contacts with the reclusive North.