ADB official expects N. Korea to join bank in a few years

Asian Economic News, Sept 18, 2000

MELBOURNE, Sept. 13 Kyodo

A top official of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on Wednesday predicted that North Korea will be admitted to the bank within several years.

''North Korea will join in a few years,'' ADB Vice President Shin Myoung Ho, from South Korea, told Kyodo News.

Shin was attending a conference of the Geneva-based World Economic Forum.

North Korea applied for ADB membership in late August.

Shin noted that Japan and the United States continue to oppose North Korea's membership. The country is still on the U.S. State Department's list of state sponsors of terrorism, and Japan has demanded that North Korea clarify allegations that it abducted at least 10 Japanese nationals in the 1970s and early 1980s.

Shin emphasized, however, all other ADB members support Pyongyang's membership, adding that normalization of diplomatic relations between Pyongyang and Tokyo, Pyongyang and Washington would lead to North Korea's participation in the bank.

North Korea has long wanted to join the ADB. However, an application for membership it made in 1997 was rejected.

If North Korea were to become a member, it would have access to low-interest loans, grants and technical assistance that could hasten the country's development.

A total of 58 countries and territories hold membership in the ADB, of which the United States and Japan are the two largest shareholders.

South Korea has expressed hope that North Korea will be allowed to join international organizations to help the North open up to the international community.