Has Orascom Made the Connection?

Not all the news from North Korea is bad.  This past weekend Kim Jong-il shared a cordial dinner with Naguib Sawiris, head of Orascom Telecom, the Egyptian firm which in a joint venture with the state-owned Korea Post and Telecommunications Corporation is bringing cellular telephone service to North Korea.  Orascom Telecom claims more than 300,000 subscribers. Orascom is in effect an Egyptian chaebol—founded in the 1950s as a construction firm by patriarch Onsi Sawiris, it has since devolved into three companies, Orascom Telecom, Orascom Construction, and Orascom Development,  run by brothers Naguib, Nassef, and Sameh, respectively.