A SINGAPOREAN law firm has become the first solely-owned foreign legal firm to open a branch office in North Korea.
The North Korean Parliament, the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly, gave Kelvin Chia Partnership licence No. 1 earlier this month to open a branch in Pyongyang.
Shortly after receiving the licence, Kelvin Chia Partnership opened an office with four lawyers - two North Koreans and two Singaporeans. It is its sixth branch outside Singapore.
Kelvin Chia Partnership is now one of two foreign law firms to have an office in North Korea. Last month, British lawyer Michael Hay announced that he had opened the first joint-venture firm, Hay, Kalb Associates, in Pyongyang on Aug 15.
The recent spate of foreign law firms opening in North Korea to draft contracts and handle intellectual property issues for their multinational clients reflects the growing interest in the so-called 'hermit kingdom' from foreign investors.
'Everybody is looking at the last socialist country in the world, which still hasn't opened up,' said Jilin University Professor Zhang Bao-ren, who studies North Korea's economy.
Kelvin Chia Partnership decided to open a branch in North Korea after one of its clients, a Swiss pharmaceutical company, set up a factory there last year.
Since it established its Pyongyang branch, some of its Singapore-based clients have begun exploring the possibility of investing in North Korea.
Currently, the biggest group of foreign investors in North Korea after South Koreans are the Chinese, who adapt easily to the business environment in the communist neighbour.
There are no figures available on the number of Singaporeans doing business in North Korea. Many of them do not want others to know that they have business operations there.
Said Mr Kelvin Chia, managing partner of Kelvin Chia Partnership: 'There are some sensitivities to some disclosures. I think it is because some of them have got shareholders who are not able to invest in that country.
'They do not want to be seen as supporting or being involved in the North Korean regime at this point in time because of the nuclear issue and so on.'
North Korea is very eager to attract foreign investment and catch up with two other communist countries, China and Vietnam, which have successfully attracted billions of US dollars in foreign investments.
The United States has imposed economic sanctions on North Korea since the 1950-53 Korean War. Still, Mr Chia points out that Vietnam had successfully attracted foreign investments even before the US lifted its trade embargo on the country in 1994.
The main obstacle to foreign investment in North Korea is the nuclear weapons issue.
Mr Chia said that in this respect, the North Koreans still have a lot to learn about providing a secure environment for foreign investors.
'The logic the North Koreans use is that you should tell your clients to come in because we have a very strong army. Your investments here are going to be secure,' said Mr Chia.
'The last thing our clients want to hear is that you've got a strong army. They want to make sure that it's peaceful and there's no threat of war.'
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