ATLANTA (Reuters) - Coca-Cola
Co. (KO.N) said on Wednesday it had sent a
shipment of soft drinks into
North Korea, becoming one of the first U.S.
companies to crack open the
economically isolated totalitarian state.
A spokesman for Atlanta-based
Coca-Cola, the world's No. 1 soft drinks
company, said the shipment was
believed to have entered North Korea by truck
from the Chinese border town of
Dandong.
``I got a message this morning
confirming that we had actually moved in,'' said
Coca-Cola spokesman Robert
Baskin, who added that the world's leading soft
drink producer intended to build
up its presence in North Korea over time.
Coca-Cola, like all other U.S.
companies, was prevented from doing business in
North Korea for nearly half a
century because of U.S. government sanctions
against the communist-ruled
nation.
Most of those sanctions were
lifted on Monday following a groundbreaking
summit last week between the
North and South Korean leaders. Coca-Cola has
operated in South Korea for
several decades.
