Jang's Execution may hit China-DPRK projects
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E-mail China Daily, December 14, 2013
A report in the Republic of Korea newspaper Chosun Ilbo said China and the DPRK signed an agreement on a special economic zone on Monday, the day the DPRK announced Jang had been purged.
Lyu Chao, a researcher in Korean studies at Liaoning Academy of Social Sciences, said, "If the report is accurate, it shows that Beijing-Pyongyang ties will not be affected by Jang's case too much."
He said many economic cooperation projects between China and the DPRK have proceeded well since Kim took office two years ago.
The DPRK designated 14 new special economic development zones this year, on top of the four zones already in the country, according to an article carried in October on the website of the Rodong Sinmun newspaper run by the DPRK's ruling Workers' Party of Korea.
In March, Kim called on regional governments to set up special zones in each city and province.
The 67-year-old Jang, who was married to Kim's aunt, used to be vice-chairman of the National Defense Commission and secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea administration department.
But he was stripped of all posts and titles on Sunday for "anti-party and counter-revolutionary crime".
The KCNA said Jang was "a traitor who perpetrated anti-party, counter-revolutionary factional acts in a bid to overthrow the leadership of our party and state and the socialist system," and that he was a corrupt womanizer.
The ROK's Unification Ministry expressed deep concern on Friday over Jang's execution.
"The government is closely monitoring the series of incidents that are happening in North Korea with deep concern," Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Eui-do said in a televised statement.
He said the ROK will prepare fully for "all possibilities" in the DPRK, adding that it will consult closely with its allies.
US State Department deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf criticized the way the DPRK government treated Jang, saying the United States is following developments closely.
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