DPRK's economic zone a signal for peace

On Dec 23, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea released its Dec 21 decision to build the "Kangnam Economic Development Zone" in Pyongyang, where foreign investors will be offered preferential land and tax policies. The construction of an economic development zone to attract foreign investment might be Pyongyang's way of signaling it wants to help restore peace on the volatile Korean Peninsula.

This should be seen as a welcome move, as in recent times tensions have risen sky-high on the peninsula, raising fears of even a nuclear war either due to the DPRK's nuclear and missile tests or owing to the joint military drills of the United States and the Republic of Korea.

The peninsula has been caught in a vicious circle of the United Nations (and the US and some other countries) imposing stricter sanctions on the DPRK as punishments for its continued nuclear and missile tests, and Pyongyang responding by conducting more such tests, apparently to thwart a military attack from the US.