North Korea to export water to the South
of dictator Kim Jong-il, is to be sold in South Korea later this
month.
The water from scenic Mount Myohyang north of the capital Pyongyang will cost about 800 won (€0.57) per half-litre. The Seoul-based importer Shinmyung International plans to ship 50 metric tons of the water each week.
"This is the first delivery of spring water via consultations with the North Korean government, and I hope it can help improve inter-Korean relations," said company chief Park Jong-eun.
Inter-Korean relations have stalled in recent months after hundreds of North Koreans defected to the South amid an ongoing dispute over North Korea's nuclear weapons ambitions.
Allegedly, an agreement was reached last August, but delayed because North Korea insisted the product be labeled as being from the "Democratic People's Republic of Korea." A demand the South Korean authorities only recently agreed to.
The water is tipped to sell successfully in the South, whose consumers have been eager to buy products from the North as relations in the Korean peninsula begin to thaw.
In 2000, another South Korean company opened a mineral water bottling factory near Mount Kumgang. The water was an instant success, selling about 2,500 tons before the North Korean Government cut the supplies and demanded a thirty-fold increase price.
The first shipment of Mount Myohyang arrived at Incheon Port last Friday, where it is currently undergoing customs clearance.
