Archive for December, 2007

Sending Out Signals to Long-Isolated North Koreans

Sunday, December 30th, 2007

Writing for the Washington Post (December 30, 2007; Page A27), Francine Uenuma covers the DPRK defector-run radio stations in the South which broadcast for audiences in the North.

Who is in this game?
All told, Seoul has three privately run radio stations targeting the North: Open Radio for North Korea, Radio Free Chosun and Kim’s [Free North Korea Radio], the only one run by defectors, who are helped by a committed South Korean staff. Washington-based Radio Free Asia and Voice of America also broadcast to the North.

Tactics:
[FNK’s] broadcasts avoid overtly political messages in favor of cultural subjects. While for some North Koreans “politics is a matter of life and death,” others turn away from it, he noted. “We want to broaden our base as much as possible. For that purpose our radio programs are soft.”

Kim Yun-tae, director of Radio Free Chosun, said his station takes a similar approach. “At first we were doing more propaganda broadcasting, but we changed our minds,” he said. Added Kyounghee An, the station’s international manager, “We don’t think we can cause the collapse of the regime directly. . . . We think after listening, people can compare their real situation to Kim Jong Il’s propaganda and can change their minds, step by step.”

Radio Free Chosun broadcasts North Korean domestic news as well as stories of escapes, revisions to North Korean textbooks and dramas about Kim Jong Il.

The two stations run by South Koreans have defectors on staff who try to make the broadcasts palatable to a North Korean audience, smoothing out political and cultural differences in language, for instance.

Who is listening?
Determining how many people are listening to the stations’ broadcasts is impossible. Though jamming is an impediment, improved signals and electricity shortages that stop the jamming limit North Korea’s ability to block broadcasts completely.

Funding:
The South Korean government, eager to encourage good relations with the communist capital, Pyongyang, discontinued most of the programs its Korean Broadcasting System aimed at the North. But it has taken a hands-off approach to the private stations, broadcasters say, allowing them to operate but offering no financial support. All three services indirectly receive about $200,000 in U.S. government funds annually through the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy.

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Hyundai Asan to Post $10 Mil. in Operating Profit

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Korea Times
Ryu Jin
12/28/3007

Hyundai Asan, the South Korean operator of various cross-border economic projects with North Korea such as Mt. Geumgang tourism program, said Friday that its operating profit this year is estimated to exceed 10 billion won (roughly $10.6 million).

“We saw a great upturn for our profits this year thanks to an increase in the number of tourists to Mt. Geumgang,’’ a ranking company official said. “According to our tentative calculation, the operating profit is expected to surpass 10 billion won.’’

Hyundai Asan, which began another tour program to North Korea’s border city of Gaeseong this year, expects that the company’s annual sales will reach 300 billion won this year, a notable increase from 220 billion won last year.

According to the firm, some 350,000 people crossed the border to the North to visit the mountain resort on the eastern part of the peninsula, up from last year’s 240,000, largely thanks to the launch of a new route up the inner part of the mountain in June.

Company officials anticipate that the tours will further prosper next year, as it plans to start a fresh tour program to Mt. Baekdu on the border between China and North Korea next May.

Founded in February 1992, Hyundai Asan has suffered losses for a long time. But its large-scale investment in the poverty-stricken Stalinist state is paying off at last. In 2005, the company went into the black with 5.7 billion won in operating profit for the first time.

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Kaesong output increases 150 pct: Unification Ministry

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Yonhap
12/28/2007

The total output of a South Korea-built industrial complex in North Korea’s border town of Kaesong totaled over US$180 million this year, shooting up 150 percent from a year ago, Seoul’s Unification Ministry said on Friday.

“The total production by businesses at the Kaesong industrial complex recorded an estimated $185 million this year, up about 150 percent from $74 million last year,” the ministry said in a press release.

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The Dreams of North Korea’s Youth Is to Succeed as Merchants

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Daily NK
Park Hyun Min
12/28/2007

The future dream of North Korea’s teenagers is no longer to become party leaders or soldiers, or even join the Party, but to become “merchants.”

Good Friends,” an aid organization for North Korea, said through “Today’s News on North Korea” No. 104 on the 27th, “Most of the elementary and senior middle school students nowadays, upon being asked what they would like to do post-graduation, say they would like to be merchants.”

The source relayed, “Many of their peers have stopped going to school and have started doing business. It is too burdensome for some students to attend school, so they sell noodles or vegetables by sticking around the jangmadang (markets) and contribute to their families’ livelihoods.”

(more…)

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NK Leader Made More Visits to Sites This Year Than 2006

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Korea Times
Yoon Won-sup
12/27/2007

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il made 86 public appearances this year as of Dec. 27, down from 99 during the same period last year, according to a survey of various North Korean media.

His public appearances have decreased since 2005 when he made 123 appearances.

In the first half of the year, Kim appeared in public 29 times, and later he made 57 appearances, mainly on military bases and business sites.

Out of the 86, 41 were at military bases, followed by 19 at industry or business sites, and 14 at performing centers.

One striking feature is that he reduced his visits to military facilities, which accounted for 60-70 percent of his appearances in the past. Last year, he visited military bases 66 times.

(more…)

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Santa Claus Crossed the Tumen River

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Daily NK
Lee Sung Jin
12/27/2007

DailyNk met a missionary, Jeon Myung Woo, in front of the Sanhe Custom House. He is a Korean-Chinese who visits and brings aid to North Korean orphanages and accommodations for Kotjebi (begging children) every year. He belongs to a church in Yanbian and is in charge of missionary work to the North Korean people.

– Please briefly describe your aid activities for North Korea.

We share food, dry milk, medicine and clothes gathered by members of the church with which I am affiliated with North Korean children and the elderly when we visit North Korea. Once we enter the North, we bring around 1-5 tons of aid materials.

(more…)

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Hoiryeong Gives Special Holiday Provisions in Commemoration of Kim Jung Sook’s Birthday

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Daily NK
Lee Sung Jin, Yang Jung A
12/27/2007

In contrast to the news that Kim Kyung Hee (Kim Jong Il’s blood sister) will visit Hoiryeong in commemoration of the 90th birthday of Kim Jong Suk, it was confirmed that only upper-level Party officers participated in the celebrations.

Rumors started circulating early this year that Kim Jong Il would visit Hoiryeong, North Hamkyung, which is the birthplace of Kim Jong Il’s mother Kim Jong Suk. However, with the commemorative event approaching, Kim Kyung Hee, instead of Kim Jong Il, was supposed to visit Hoiryeong.

A source in Hoiryeong said in a phone conversation with a reporter on the 23rd, “An event commemorating the 90th birthday of Kim Jong Suk was held in Hoiryeong from the 18th to the 20th of this month and after the 20th, celebrations were held in Pyongyang. Kim Kyung Hee, who was supposed to come, did not show up.”

He added, “Provisions resumed on the 21st in time for the holiday (Kim Jong Suk’s birthday). Items that were given out were rice, corn, noodles, and oil. Holiday provisions such as liquor, gum, juice, socks, hot pepper paste, snacks, and soap were disbursed starting on the 23rd.“

The footsteps of Pyongyang’s upper-level leaders have not ceased coming into Hoiryeong. Chairwoman Park Soon Hee of Union of Democratic Women, Im Kyung Sook of the Ministry of Commerce and other representatives females in North Korea visited Hoiryeong and participated in the 90th anniversary commemorations.

The news of Kim Jong Suk’s 90th birthday anniversary commemorations has been relayed through North Korea’s media.

The Chosun Central Television, with Kim Jong Suk’s birthday coming up, reported on the 21st that oath ceremonies at the party, army, and office levels took place in Hoiryeong on the 20th.

At the ceremony site, the broadcast relayed that large-sized banners were set up praising Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il and the propagandistic signs stating, “Our greatest tribute to Mother Kim Jong Suk, the anti-Japanese heroine. May the revolutionary life and the results of the struggles of the great brethren Kim Jong Suk be immortal!”

The participants in the commemoration were Kim Il Cheol (Minister of the People’s Armed Forces), Kim Jung Gak (First Vice Director of KPA General Political Department), Choi Tae Bok and Kim Ki Nam (the secretaries of the Central Committee of the Party), Yang Hyung Sup (the Vice-Chairperson of the Supreme People’s Committee), Jeon Seung Hoon (the Vice-Minister of the Cabinet), and others high level officials.

In Hoiryeong, a joint performance by the People’s Army’s orchestra opened the day with a concerto “May the loyalty go on forever.” On the 19th, the “Nationwide Youth Students’ Poetry and Singing” took place among 3,000 participants, which consisted of youth and related persons of the Youth League Central Committee in each region.

Even prior to this, the nationwide landscape and crafts exhibitions commemorating Kim Jong Suk 90th birthday anniversary were held on the 12th at the Pyongyang International Cultural Exhibition Hall and on the 18th, a variety of events such as the opening of the Central Arts Show at the Korean Fine Arts Museum was held.

One researcher at a national policy research institute said regarding Kim Kyung Hee’s absence, “It is known that she has been suffering from an alcohol addiction for a long time, so does not make frequent public appearances.”

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S. Korea to develop two resource rich areas in N. Korea

Thursday, December 27th, 2007

Yonhap
12/27/2007

South Korea plans to develop two resource rich regions in North Korea that can benefit both countries and fuel cross-border economic cooperation, the government said Thursday.

The blueprint calls for more funds to be funneled into North Korea so prospective developers can conduct geological surveys and compile detailed data for future reference, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy said.

Resource-poor South Korea imports most raw materials to operate its heavy industry-centered economy. Lack of social infrastructure and mining knowhow have prevented North Korea from fully developing resources.

(more…)

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Even the National Security Agency Participates in the Control of the Jangmadang

Wednesday, December 26th, 2007

Daily NK
Han Young Jin
12/26/2007

As North Korean authorities, including the People’s Safety Agency and the National Security Agency (NSC), move to control the jangmadang (markets), the atmosphere in these markets has become intimidating and the traders are becoming nervous.

A source in Sinuiju said on the 25th, “The authorities intended to destroy the jangmadang. The NSC allocated special agents who are each responsible for a particular market and they are working to ferret out traders who deal in forbidden items.”

The National Security Agency is a national-level organization in charge of intelligence services, including monitoring people and seeking out anti-party, anti-state, and anti-socialist activities. This move by the National Security Agency is unprecedented because it is the first time that NSC agents have engaged in activities that would reveal their identities to the citizens first hand.

(more…)

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Koreas Begin Talks on Shipbuilding Project

Tuesday, December 25th, 2007

Korea Times
Yoon Won-sup
12/25/2007

The two Koreas began four-day talks in the southern port city of Busan Tuesday to discuss ways of establishing shipbuilding areas in North Korea, according to the Unification Ministry.

A sub-committee for shipbuilding and marine cooperation, part of an agreement reached at the inter-Korean prime ministers’ meeting last month, convened for the first time to map out the details of the shipbuilding project.

(more…)

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