North Korea seeks investors for brewery

North Korea is in a search of foreign investors willing to invest USD 39 million in a new brewery in Wonsan, an eastern port city where country leader Kim Jong Un has big development ambitions, Reuters reports.

This isolated country has recently announced more than 100 separate projects seeking foreign investment in the Wonsan-Kumgang Development Zone, a mountainous region where leader Kim keeps palaces and a summer residence.

- They're looking at this as a new East Asian business and tourism hub - said Michael Spavor, an independent consultant who is helping a Wonsan investment committee raise more than USD 150 million in foreign funds, including those for the brewery whose production capacity should be around 50 million liters of beer a year.

- It's a nice area, it's on the coast, and it has the same qualities and infrastructure that once made places like Shenzhen and Hong Kong such attractive investment zones - said Spavor, who will lead a delegation of investors to Pyongyang next month to discuss the brewery and other projects.

As Reuters reminds, many prospective investors are deterred by the isolation of the Pyongyang government, which is under heavy sanctions over its nuclear programme and human rights record.

Wonsan should also get a bus terminal, restaurants, petrol stations and the $90 million refurbishment of a government hotel on the water's edge.

Poor infrastructure and rising demand mean many North Korean cities produce their own beers, although none sell as well as Taedonggang Beer, a lager produced in a factory made from old British parts that was personally ordered by late leader Kim Jong Il.

According to Spavor, North Korean beer tastes great and despite the really big demand for it on the east coast, there's no large-scale brewery in the region capable of generating the supply.