China, North Korea relationship given touch of glass

BEIJING, Nov 16 (Reuters) China's new ambassador to North Korea toured a glass factory that has been promoted as a symbol of friendship between the two countries, China reported today, in an apparent overture to its truculent neighbour.

Ambassador Liu Xiaoming visited the Chinese-funded glass plant on Tuesday, praising the bonds between the two communist states -- just last month at odds over Pyongyang's nuclear test.

''The Taean Friendship Glass Factory was built under the direct care of both country's most senior leaders, and is a crystallisation of the traditional friendship between China and North Korea in the new period under new conditions,'' Liu said, according to the foreign ministry Web site (www.fmprc.gov.cn).

China appeared eager to promote his visit as a gesture of goodwill after the two countries fell out over the October 9 nuclear test and Beijing's support for a UN Security Council resolution slapping sanctions on North Korea.

Since then, North Korea has agreed to return to six-party talks aimed at dismantling its nuclear arsenal. But no date has been set for those talks, which involve the two Koreas, China, the United States, Japan and Russia.

The glass plant is one of the few large Chinese-backed production projects in North Korea that has actually been completed.

Others, such as a steel smelter announced next year, remain mired in disagreement and red tape.

Forty km outside Pyongyang, the factory was completed in October last year. Liu, who studied in the United States, became ambassador to North Korea this year.

But the pictures of the factory on the Chinese foreign ministry Web site showed a glum scene with no vehicles outside the main building and few of the plant's reported 1,250 staff on the production line.

''Building a factory is easy, managing it is hard,'' Liu told Chinese staff at the plant.

REUTERS DKA BST1341