Samsung to send delegation to the North

Samsung Group`s economic cooperation team will be visiting North Korea for five days from July 25. The group announced Monday that the Samsung team will visit Pyongyang via Beijing from July 25 through 29, led by Samsung Electronics vice chairman Yoon Jong-Yong. It said that the delegation will be consisting of 30 executives, including Won Dae-Yon, president of Cheil Synthetic, Park Young-Hwa, vice president of Samsung Electronics, and Bae Jung-Choong, president of Samsung Life Insurance.The visit to North Korea is designed to hold a lighting ceremony on July 27 of an 9.5M x 6.2M electric sign, which is the same size as the one installed beside Samsung Life Building in Seoul, donated by Samsung for installation in a gymnasium in Pyongyang. Along with the lighting ceremony, Samsung will hold a table-tennis competition for unification, where 16 players from South and North Korea will be participating.The 30-member economic cooperation team will include 20 executives from Samsung subsidiaries and 8 South Korean ping-pong players. They will have an inspection tour of electronic assembly plants and textile plants in Pyongyang and discuss matters related to building a massive electronic complex in North Korea on a site of a half million pyong.Samsung Electronics, which has been producing color TVs in Pyongyang and audio equipment and phone sets in Nampo since last March under a processing contract, is considering to add speakers and monitors. Industry sources said that Samsung`s projected visit would serve as a momentum to diversify South-North Korean major economic cooperation projects, which had been dominated by Hyundai Group.Meanwhile, the Samsung team is expected to be accompanied by six South Korean journalists, including reporters of Joongang Ilbo and broadcasters. It would be the first time that North Korea allow South Korean journalists to join in the tour of a private company.