North Korea Finances

North Korea has imported $156 million worth of weapons since 1995 despite severe food shortages and economic difficulties, South Korea's government said Tuesday. Most of the weapons came from Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics and from China, Seoul's Defense Ministry said in a report to the National Assembly. The communist North spent $12 million this year to buy 40 Soviet-designed MIG-21 fighter planes and eight helicopters from Kazakhstan and Russia, the ministry said.

The financially ailing Mt. Kumgang tourism project--one of the largest capitalistic ventures in North Korea and a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation--will be bailed out by the South Korean government, officials in Seoul said Wednesday. Rescuing the project, which had been funded by the Hyundai conglomerate, may cost as much as $22 million. The bailout is the latest sign that the South is putting more effort than the North into improving relations between the two nations. That the Mt.

The financially ailing Mt. Kumgang tourism project--one of the largest capitalistic ventures in North Korea and a symbol of inter-Korean cooperation--will be bailed out by the South Korean government, officials in Seoul said Wednesday. Rescuing the project, which had been funded by the Hyundai conglomerate, may cost as much as $22 million. The bailout is the latest sign that the South is putting more effort than the North into improving relations between the two nations. That the Mt.

North Korea has imported $156 million worth of weapons since 1995 despite severe food shortages and economic difficulties, South Korea's government said Tuesday. Most of the weapons came from Kazakhstan and other former Soviet republics and from China, Seoul's Defense Ministry said in a report to the National Assembly. The communist North spent $12 million this year to buy 40 Soviet-designed MIG-21 fighter planes and eight helicopters from Kazakhstan and Russia, the ministry said.

Clinton administration officials say a lack of money could soon halt work on a nuclear power plant under construction in North Korea that is the centerpiece of the 4-year-old deal to stop that country's nuclear weapons program. Despite a series of meetings over the past several months, the United States, Japan and South Korea have been unable to work out payment for the $5.1-billion project.

The U.S. and North Korea held a second day of bilateral talks in Berlin related to efforts to curb the communist state's nuclear weapons program. Officials said Washington's willingness to talk directly with Pyongyang, as North Korea has long sought, suggests it may be ready to compromise over a crackdown on North Korea's finances.

Clinton administration officials say a lack of money could soon halt work on a nuclear power plant under construction in North Korea that is the centerpiece of the 4-year-old deal to stop that country's nuclear weapons program. Despite a series of meetings over the past several months, the United States, Japan and South Korea have been unable to work out payment for the $5.1-billion project.