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| Business Words in the News
Friday 04 October 2002
Vocabulary from the business news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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North Korea's problems with capitalism
Summary: A Chinese born business man chosen by North Korea to run a new capitalist style economic zone along the Chinese border is reported to have been detained by Chinese police. This report from Rupert Wingfield-Hayes:
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| | The News | |
| | | North Korea's plans to set up a capitalist enclave on the Chinese border appear to be unravelling even before they've begun. According to the New China News Agency, Yang Bin, the Chinese tycoon chosen by North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, to run the new zone, is now in Chinese police custody. Yang's assistant has also confirmed the police arrived at his business headquarters in the north eastern Chinese city of Shenyang at five a.m. on Friday morning and took his boss away for questioning.
Yang Bin, a Chinese born Dutch citizen controls a sprawling business empire and is reputed to be the second richest man in China, but his appointment two weeks ago to head the new North Korean economic zone came as a complete surprise. Yang has no previous government experience and several of his companies are reported to be under investigation for tax evasion and illegal property development.
On Monday, the Hong Kong stock exchange suspended trading in shares of his Euro Asia group for a second time. A day later tax authorities in the city of Shenyang issued an order for Yang Bin to pay back taxes thought to total more than a million US dollars. On Thursday Yang held a press conference to say he had reached agreement with the government to pay all back taxes by October twelfth. What triggered his detention is unclear but some reports say he was preparing to leave China today to head across the border into North Korea.
Rupert Wingfield-Hayes, BBC News, Beijing
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| | The Words
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| | | a capitalist enclave
a special area where business can operate under capitalist principals
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| | | unravelling
coming undone, not remaining secure
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| | | tycoon
successful and powerful business person
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| | | a sprawling business empire
a large number of businesses spread over many countries
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| | | reputed to be
believed to be
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| | | tax evasion
illegally not paying taxes that are due
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| | | suspended trading
stopped the buying and selling of shares
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| | | back taxes
taxes that haven’t been paid from previous years
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| | | triggered
caused to happen
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