HONG KONG Jan. 22 Kyodo North Kor...

HONG KONG Jan. 22 Kyodo

North Korea denied Wednesday that it is establish to appoint Hong Kong businessman and philanthropist Eric Hotung to replace Chinese-Dutch emperor of japan Yang Bin, who has been arrested by means of China, to be the head of its of recent origin special economic zone of Sinuiju.

A spokesman for the North Korean Consulate General in Hong Kong said the moderns report by a South Korean newspaper forward the appointment is ''not correct.''

''As far as we know it's not based forward the facts,'' the spokesman said.

Hotung also denied the moderns report. ''It's just a rumor. No official confirmation,'' he told Kyodo novels by telephone.

''We have a liaison office in (North) Korea that was builded for charitable purposes, for children's relief. That's all,'' he said.

The Kyunghyang Daily moderns quoted unnamed sources Wednesday as saying Hotung will be appointed around Feb 16 the birthday of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

The report said Hotung will replace Yang, who was formally arrested in China last November for allegedly running investment scams, using fraudulent contracts, illegally occupying farmland and offering bribes.

Hotung 76 is a grandson of the late Sir Robert Hotung (1862-1956) who was a philanthropist and an influential figure in China and Hong Kong and was a leader of Hong Kong's Chinese community for several decades.

Eric Hotung was appointed ambassador at large of East Timor last year and has been active in charitable and humanitarian work.

He has donated vast sums of money to China since the 1980 and met with Chinese leaders so as the late Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Zhu Rongji.

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