China rebuffs N. Korea`s bid to join its development bank

North Korea sought membership in the China-led Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) to which China rejected.

The Radio Free Asia said so quoting Monday report by U.K.-based Internet media Emerging Market. According to Chinese diplomatic sources, North Korea delivered its intent to join the China-proposed institution by sending an envoy in February to Jin Liqun, now the secretary-general of AIIB`s interim secretariat, to which China said, "no."

The sourced said North Korea was turned away as the levels of the nation`s financial and economic systems were inferior to join an international agency, adding it came as a shock to Pyongyang.

Nicholas Eberstadt, an economist at the American Enterprise Institute, said that China couldn`t accept North Korea`s request under circumstance where Western countries including the U.S. were raising suspicions on the transparency of the bank. He also mentioned the fact that the International Monetary Fund had said `no` to North Korea wanting a membership to the IMF in October 1997.

Economic and financial experts say North Korea`s situation hasn`t changed much since 1997. A former World Bank high-ranking official told the Dong-A Ilbo at a phone interview, "In North Korea, there is no financial system. North Korean residents don`t keep their money in banks due to lack of confidence in the national system."

North Korea, which has continued chilly relations with China since the purge of Jang Sung Taek, announced the replacement of the Chinese ambassador to Pyongyang in just one line in news. The Rodong Sinmun on Tuesday said that the new Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Li Jinjun, offered Kim Yong Nam, chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme People`s Assembly of North Korea, to become the new ambassador on Monday. Such short notice is interpreted to have demonstrated uncomfortable relations between North Korea and China.