Daewoo says may build shipyard in N.Korea

South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co wants to invest about $150 million to construct a shipyard in North Korea, the company said on Friday.

Daewoo (042660.KS: Quote, Profile , Research), the world's second-largest shipbuilder, is ready to move ahead with the plan as soon as the North guarantees free movement of goods, South Korean workers and funds as well as full communications and customs services, it said.

"To digest growing orders, we have to produce more whether it's at home or abroad," a Daewoo spokesman quoted its CEO Nam Sang-tae as saying.

"Domestic shipbuilders have been going abroad for cheap labour and lenient regulations. In this situation, there is no reason not to have interest in the North which has the same language and culture."



The leaders of North and South Korea on Thursday ended a summit, only their second since the 1950-53 Korean War, and agreed for South Korean firms to invest in shipyards in the North Korean ports of Nampo and Anbyon.

Nam was in the North as part of the summit delegation and had good discussions with North Korean shipping officials, the company said.

Daewoo wants its plant in Anbyon on the North's east coast, with a capacity to build 200,000 tonnes of ship sections annually, Nam was quoted as saying.


Source:Reuters