In another about-face, Yang cancels visit here

HONG KONG -- Yang Bin, the governor of the new special administrative region of North Korea, said Thursday he was postponing indefinitely his visit to South Korea. He was scheduled to arrive in Seoul on Monday.

Speaking at a news conference in Shenyang, China, the Chinese-Dutch businessman said other business forced the cancellation of his planned travel. He said that fencing off the newly designated special economic zone in Sinuiju, North Korea, from the rest of the country is his first priority. He said he will go to Sinuiju Friday for discussions with North Korean authorities on the project.

In other developments, Hong Kong securities authorities began investigating Mr. Yang's flagship firm, Euro-Asia Agriculture Holdings, for alleged stock price manipulation and insider trading, according to Thursday's South China Morning Post. The Hong Kong newspaper said the stock price of Mr. Yang's company went on a dizzying ride immediately before and after the firm announced its 2002 first-half financial results on Sept. 12.

The authorities, the newspaper said, are looking into allegations that a 22-percent rise in Euro-Asia's stock price before the results were released and a 25-percent drop after the financial announcement may have been the result of leaks of business information and insider trading.

The Hong Kong securities watchdog agency is also looking into whether the financial results posted by the firm were properly stated.

Trading of Euro-Asia Agriculture's shares was suspended last month when the firm failed to disclose the resignation of a senior manager in a timely manner.

by Lee Yang-soo, Jin Se-keun