Korean war fears could be a good thing for businessman with hotel on border

Peter Young couldn't care less about the gathering storm on the Korean Peninsula. For the Hong Kong businessman who operates in Yanbian, Jilin province, it could even be a good thing.

"When North Korea is blocking access to Kaesong Industrial Park [a joint venture with South Korea], there is only one option left for them," said Young, evidently excited at the prospect of the locus of North Korean cross-border business shifting to Yanbian, which shares a 200km border with the hermit state.

He owns the three-star Lihua International Hotel in Yanbian, which he bought from the local government in 2011, and has plans to invest 250 million yuan (HK$313.9 million) for its expansion.

The heightened tension in the peninsula would foster closer ties between China and North Korea, said Young, who is the chief executive of Chemcentral Group, a manufactured goods agent and distributor.

"Hong Kong [small and medium-sized enterprises] could ride the trend, stealing a march over international investors scared away by the military stand-off," he said.

While the world speculates whether North Korean leader Kim Jong-un is setting the stage for launching a war, Young is confident Kim will follow the path of economic reforms and open up the economy in due course.

Pyongyang recently kicked off a plan to export labour to Yanbian, an initiative cleared by the late Kim Jong-il that would ease the labour shortage in Yanbian and add to North Korea's coffers. The workers from North Korea are to give their government two-thirds of their salaries.