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A director of North Korea’s National Defense Commission’s policy bureau warned Thursday in an interview with the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) they would release the tapes of of a secret meeting with South Korean officials on inter-Korean summit.
“If everyone refuses to announce the truth and continues to focus on creating a conspiracy... then we will be forced to disclose the recordings,” the official who participated in the secret meeting warned, according to the KCNA.
The official explained very specific details about the secret meeting including South Korean officials’ alleged attempt to offer envelops of cash in exchange for a series of summits.
“Kim Cheon-sik stressed that the secret contact came about following President Lee Myung-bak’s direction and authorization for the sake of holding summit talks,” the official said. “He said that Unification Minister Hyun In-taek oversaw the entire process of the contact and that he was reporting to the presidential office.”
South Korean officials, however, argued there was no paying for a summit, saying, “North Korea’s argument is intended to shake South Korean government.”

N.Korea and China launch joint development projects　
Officials from China and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) have reached a consensus to jointly develop two economic zones in the DPRK, according to a press release issued by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce on Thursday.
From Tuesday to Thursday, Chinese and DPRK officials convened in northeast China’s Liaoning and Jilin provinces for the second meeting of the Development Cooperation and Joint Steering Committee. Their meeting concerned the development of the Rason Economic and Trade Zone and the Hwanggumphyong and Wihwa Islands Economic Zone. The joint development of the two economic zones in the DPRK will be “government-guided, enterprise-based and market-oriented,” according to the press release.
Both sides agreed to work together and give full play to their respective advantages in the development of the economic zones, the release said. China and the DPRK have agreed to build the economic zones into a model of Sino-DPRK economic and trade cooperation and a platform to promote economic and trade cooperation with the rest of the world, the release said.
Both sides also held launching ceremonies for several cooperative projects during the meeting, according to the press release.
The meeting was jointly presided over by Chen Deming, Chinese Minister of Commerce, and Jang Song Thaek, the administrative director of the Korean Workers’ Party. The committee held its first meeting in the DPRK’s capital of Pyongyang last November.
The Rason Economic and Trade Zone is located in the DPRK city of Rason, which is adjacent to Yanbian Prefecture in northeast China’s Jilin Province. The Hwanggumphyong and Wihwa Islands Economic Zone is located near the estuary of the Yalu River, a border river between the DPRK and China.
(Xinhua News)
　
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