Chinese Travel Agency Woos Investment in N.Korea

Chinese travel agency Young Pioneer Tours has established a company to invest in North Korea in the apparent hope that international sanctions against the isolated country will be lifted soon.

Radio Free Asia on Tuesday said it was YPT that arranged the fateful trip to the North of U.S. student Otto Warmbier, who was arrested in Pyongyang for trying to steal a propaganda poster and died on return to the U.S. after a year and seven months in jail.

The subsidiary has set up a website to recruit potential investors to do business in the North.

The firm describes itself as providing customers with business information collected in the North as well as legal services related to doing business in North Korea and international sanctions. It also offers tailor-made analysis for customers and arrangements for news coverage or film shoots there.

It says the firm is based in China and has several years of business experience in North Korea.