Berlin, Jan 5 (IANS/RIA Novosti): North Korea is preparing to open up the country's economy to foreign investors and has invited German economic and legal experts for consultations, German media reported Saturday.

"There is a master plan," an economist involved in the plan told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung daily. "They want to open up this year."

The expert said Pyongyang "is rather interested in the Vietnamese model, in which specific companies are chosen as recipients of investments".

In his first New Year TV address, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un called for reconciliation with South Korea and said his country would strive to raise living standards.

Kim also called on North Koreans to "build an economic giant" and said raising living standards would be a priority this year.

Earlier this week, media reports said about a planned trip to North Korea in January by Google chairman Eric Schmidt and former governor of America's New Mexico state Bill Richardson.

The US State Department has, however, advised against the trip: "We don't think the timing of this is particularly helpful."