WASHINGTON – North Korea has accelerated the use of its abundant coal reserves to produce synthetic gas as part of efforts to reduce its dependence on foreign oil and withstand international sanctions, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday. China has provided technology and expertise for the coal-conversion efforts, the paper said in a dispatch from Beijing. Pyongyang has stepped up its use of the technology, installing it in some of its biggest fertilizer, steel and cement plants that had previously relied on imported oil for power, it said, quoting foreign officials and experts.
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