Path-breaking North Korea fund launched in UK

The principals in the team of the first UK-registered fund investing in communist North Korea said on Tuesday that other asset management firms might follow their footsteps in what they say is uncharted investment territory.
The Chosun Development and Investment Fund LP is managed by Anglo-Sino Capital, a London-based fund management company, with Koryo Asia acting as the fund's investment adviser firm.
North Korea, which is one of the poorest nations in the world, offers great promise amid signs that the country's economy is opening up, Colin McAskill, founder and senior partner of Koryo Asia and a director of Anglo-Sino Capital, told Reuters.
"I think it (North Korea) can open up ... There is enough room for everybody."
Trade flows have surged between North Korea and its southern neighbour, rising by 50 percent in the first four months of 2006, due mainly to the growing output of a North Korean industrial park set up by southern firms.
South and North Korea remain technically at war because only a truce was declared at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, but commercial and political ties have warmed since their leaders met in 2000 and pledged reconciliation.
The fund launch, however, comes just five years after US President George W. Bush dubbed North Korea as part of an "axis of evil", along with Iran and Iraq.
McAskill has experience in dealing with North Korea since the late 1970s, such as negotiating on the country's behalf with their foreign bank creditors.
Anglo-Sino is authorised by the Financial Services Authority, according to the regulator's website. The Chosun fund initially will aim to raise $50 million, eventually targeting a total asset size of around $100 million, McAskill said.
"The Fund will offer what is currently the only practical, all-encompassing means for qualified investors to participate in one of the last frontiers of global investing," according to the Chosun Fund website (www.chosunfund.com).
McAskill is a director of Anglo-Sino Capital Partners. Robin Fox, a former vice-chairman of Dresdner Kleinwort Benson, is Anglo-Sino's chairman and Stephen Hill, a fund manager and venture capital professional, is Anglo-Sino's managing director. Peter Chesterfield, a fund manager, is also a director at Anglo-Sino.