Rason Visit with Hanns Siedel Foundation

In August this year, we made a trip with the Hanns Seidel Foundation to Rason to explore the need for economic policy and business training. HSF mentions the trip:

...In August 2011, a delegation of Hanns-Seidel-Foundation and Choson Exchange, a Singaporean non-profit that facilitates educational exchange in the fields of economics, management, and business, visited Rason. Besides a visit of the 1st Rason International Trade Exhibition, meetings and talks with representatives of the Economic Department and the associated farm in the area of animal breeding (Chongye farm in Rajin) were the main focus of the trip. With Cha Kyong-Chol, Chairman of the Development Department and Economic Committee of the special city Rason, cooperation through conducting modern business training courses by Hanns-Seidel-Foundation and Choson Exchange has been agreed upon...

Please also read Andray's piece on infrastructure in Rason at 38North.

A bus bumps and bruises its way along the unpaved road, carrying would-be investors to Rason’s First Rason International Trade Exhibition which ran from August 21-25, 2011, in Sonbong. The windows are open, until a crimson humvee barrels past, its powerful suspension dancing on the road, leaving behind a plume of beige dust. The bus windows snap shut, the still air quickly gets hot and more than one of the passengers wishes we were Chinese high-rollers, being whisked to the Emperor Casino and Hotel, which sits beautifully on Korea’s East Sea, overlooking Bipa Island and flanked by lush green mountains and crystal waters...