PYONGYANG, September 24. /TASS/. Delegations from Vietnam, Italy, China, including Taiwan, came to the DPRK’s capital to participate in the 13th Autumn International Trade Fair, the local Rodong Sinmun wrote on Sunday.
Representatives of Syria, Iran and some other countries are also expected to attend the event, the newspaper added.
The fair’s organizing committee expects more than 250 national and foreign companies to see samples of metallurgy, machinery, equipment, chemistry, electronic, transport, and food industries. As a rule, the local audience usually shows interest to household goods and medicines.
The Pyongyang Autumn International Trade Fair is supported by the Ministry of Foreign Trade, the DPRK’s Chamber of Industry and Trade and the Pyongyang city people’s committee. Usually, companies from neighboring China dominate at the show.
Situation on the Korean Peninsula
The International Trade Fair in Pyongyang will take place despite the aggravated situation on the Korean Peninsula.
On September 11, in response to the nuclear test conducted by Pyongyang a week before, the UN Security Council imposed new sanctions on the DPRK. In particular, they impose a ban on imports of North Korean textiles, as well as restrictions on the supply of oil and products of its processing to the country.
On September 15, North Korea fired another ballistic missile that flew over northern Japan’s Hokkaido Island towards the Pacific Ocean and fell some 2,200 km to the east of Cape Erimo. This is the sixth time since 1998 when a North Korean missile or its fragments fly over Japan’s territory. According to South Korea’s military, the missile was launched from Pyongyang’s area. The missile flew 3,700 km and reached an altitude of 770 km.
Earlier on Saturday, China’s seismology center reported a 3.4-magnitude earthquake in the DPRK’s northeast. The epicenter was at the depth of 0 kilometers, the service said. Japan’s NHK reported the quake was near the nuclear test grounds.
Since the Korea War of 1950-1953 finished by signing of truce only, technically the DPRK and the US are still in the state of a military counteraction. Pyongyang a few times invited Washington to sign a peace treaty if the US refuses from military drills and other hostile actions. The US, however, ignores this initiative of North Korea.