Outfits a little easier, a little quicker. About 500 North Korean runners and 50 from nearly two dozen other countries including the United States raced along the wide boulevards of the capital, Pyongyang, in a marathon that was coordinated by ISL, a Swiss-based sports marketing firm. Some wore corporate logos. Kim Jong Il, who took power after his father, Kim Il Sung, died in 1994 at age 82, appeared enthusiastic about China's economic reform model during a trip there in January. But there is little evidence that he has taken steps to fundamentally reform his devastated economy, a policy that could threaten his totalitarian control over North Korea's 22 million people.
Some foreign companies do business in North Korea, but the rewards are slim.
Poor infrastructure, the lack of legal safeguards and the uncertain political situation on the Korean peninsula make it a risky prospect. The inter-Korean reconciliation process has come to a virtual standstill, apparently because North Korea is furious over President Bush's tough talk on the communist country. Even so, the companies hope to establish a foothold that could eventually benefit them should the market open. We're not in the politics game, we're in the business game. There's a potential there.