NK has pacts on investment guarantees with 17 nations

North Korea has concluded investment guarantee treaties with a total of 17 countries since 1996, with Denmark being the first, the National Intelligence Service (NIS) said Saturday.

The other 16 countries are Nigeria, Laos, Russia, Romania, Macedonia, Malaysia, Mali, Bangladesh, Bulgaria, Switzerland, Indonesia, Yugoslavia, Egypt, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovakia.

North Korea signed an agreement on investment guarantees with South Korea during the 4th inter-Korean ministerial-level talks in December last year.

The treaties concern the treatment of those with most favored nation status, protection of investors¡¯ interests and rights in the event of the nationalization of invested companies, methods of resolving disputes and guarantees on remittance of investment earnings.

Since North Korea has been promoting the establishment of diplomatic ties with Western countries, the number of countries with whom Pyongyang maintains formal relations is expected to further increase, an NIS spokesman said.

Lee Jae-Ho leejaeho@donga.com