North Korean Economy Watch

Wall Street Journal
Marcus Noland
4/12/2010

North Korea likes to project an image of strength to the world. But back home, there is a serious economic crisis playing out that could have long-term repercussions. Historians may look back and see this as a tipping point.

The crisis originated in November, when the government sprang upon the public a confiscatory currency reform that wiped out household saving and the working capital of traders and entrepreneurs. The value of the North Korean won predictably plunged as people abandoned it for foreign currencies and even physical goods—anything that could preserve value. The second shoe dropped a month later when the state extended its war on privately held capital, banning the use of foreign currencies.

The government’s intent was to reconstitute orthodox communism. Earlier in August, North Korean leader Kim Jong-il’s sister, Kim Kyong Hui, telegraphed the move in an essay extolling the superiority of central planning over the decentralized market—even trashing the notion of giving enterprise managers greater autonomy in the context of a socialist economy. The regime’s basic motive—to crush the market and strengthen direct state control—was confirmed by central bank statements immediately after the reform.

But the policy, which was supposed to constitute the political coming out of expected heir Kim Jong-un, Kim Jong-il’s third and youngest son, unleashed extraordinary, though sporadic, protests. The government backtracked, allowed markets to reopen and in February issued an unprecedented apology. Park Nam-ki, a 77-year-old technocrat who upon becoming the Party’s economics chief allegedly vowed to end the “capitalist fantasy,” was scapegoated and reportedly executed.

Once broken, the economy may prove difficult to repair. Prices for goods such as rice, corn, and the dollar rose 6,000 percent or more after the reform. And while prices have come down from their peak as the government has relaxed some of its strictures, they are currently still 600 percent or more above their prereform levels—in spite of the money-supply contraction.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the country is more than one million metric tons short of grain. This estimate is likely exaggerated due to faulty methodology, but anecdotal reports of hunger are emerging from returning visitors and refugee networks. It appears the government persuaded farmers in cooperatives to accept cash in lieu of half of their annual in-kind grain allotment—then rendered the bonus worthless via the currency reform. Farmers are now hoarding grain however they can: The United Nations Development Program reports that post-harvest losses amount to 30 percent. The farm economy has been severely disrupted. But unlike the 1990s famine, which was largely an urban phenomenon and killed perhaps a million people, hunger is now reported in the countryside.

The state’s response to these developments has not been reassuring. After Mr. Park was executed, he was replaced by an octogenarian, Yun Gi Jeong, known primarily as a confidante of North Korea’s founder, Kim Il-sung. The political police have been bureaucratically elevated and placed directly under the National Defense Commission, from where Kim Jong-il runs the state. This is not the behavior of a confident or competent government.

The recent missteps are particularly damaging because they are so obviously self-inflicted and nakedly incompatible with the regime’s narrative that ascribes all the nation’s challenges to hostile foreign forces. A survey of 300 North Korean refugees conducted in November 2008 by Stephan Haggard of the University of California San Diego found that respondents were increasingly accessing foreign sources of news and disinclined to accept the government’s explanations, instead holding it responsible for their plight. The currency fiasco will accelerate these trends.

Widespread disillusion, even dissent, does not guarantee mobilization, however. The same survey found that the population remains atomized and mostly fearful of communicating these views, even to friends and family. But the state can justify its hatred of the market in one respect: People participating in market activities are significantly more likely to communicate their dissent to their peers.

There is no reason to expect that this attempt to revive orthodox communism will succeed. But an influx of aid, which would allow the state to keep goods on the shelves and satisfy key constituencies, would make it easier. It is rumored that Kim Jong-il will visit China later this month and that the Chinese will extract a commitment by the North Koreans to rejoin the stalled Six Party Talks over its nuclear program.

If North Korea does agree, economic distress and the opportunity to wheedle more aid out of China and the United States may explain this change of heart. China has effectively taken up the mantle of the previous South Korean government’s “sunshine policy,” and within the US government there are already discussions of another “food for talks” swap to bring the North Koreans back to the table.

North Korea’s retrograde moves are wrecking its economy and propagating discontent among the masses. But the country is bereft of civil society institutions capable of channeling that discontent into constructive political action. Aid and repression may permit the regime to pursue anachronistic communism for some time, but the next leader will inherit an ultimately untenable situation.

According to GPI:

In the current financial and economic situation, companies face many challenges. They must cut costs, develop new products and find new markets. In these fields, North-Korea might be an interesting option. Since a few years, it is opening its doors to foreign enterprises. The labor costs are the lowest of Asia, and its skilled labor is of a high quality. It established free trade zones to attract foreign investors and there are several sectors, including textile industry, agro business, shipbuilding, logistics, mining and Information Technology that can be considered for trade and investment.
  
European Business Mission to Pyongyang: May 2010
In order to explore these business opportunities, we will organize again a business mission to North-Korea (15-22 May). We will also visit the annual Pyongyang Spring International Trade Fair (see photo). This fair can be used by European companies to come in contact with potential buyers and suppliers in North-Korea. Information abouth both events has been attached. In case this date is not convenient for you, individual business trips are possible as well. Later this year, another trade mission will visit Pyongyang from 11-18 September. 
       
With best regards, Paul Tjia (director)  
GPI Consultancy, P.O. Box 26151, 3002 ED Rotterdam, The Netherlands
E-mail: paul@gpic.nl
Tel: +31-10-4254172 
Fax: +31-10-4254317
Website: www.gpic.nl

Here is the program flyer (PDF) 

According to Yonhap:

North Korea’s market prices and currency exchange rate appear to be stabilizing after severe fluctuations from an abrupt government-led currency reform last year, the Seoul government said Tuesday.

North Korea carried out a currency revaluation last November, a measure it said was to curb inflation. Analysts here linked it to a power transition from North Korean leader Kim Jong-il to his third and youngest son, Jong-un. The currency redenomination is said to have fueled inflation and severe food shortages, causing social unrest in the tightly controlled nation.

In its latest North Korea report submitted to parliament’s foreign affairs committee, the Unification Ministry said that market prices in the country were on a “downward path” following recent measures by the North Korean authorities.

A kilogram of rice, which cost around 20 North Korean won immediately after the revaluation, soared to 1,000 won in mid-March but dropped to the 500-600 won range in early April, the ministry said.

The value of the North Korean won against the U.S. dollar, which nosedived to the 2,000-won range in mid-March from the 30-won range, also rose to the 600-700 won level in early April, according the ministry.

On Kim Jong-il, the ministry said the reclusive leader has made 43 public appearances this year as of Monday, about the same as last year during the same period, and added he is “actively continuing public outings.” Kim is believed to have suffered a stroke in 2008, which spawned speculation of an imminent power transfer.

Read the full sotry here:
N. Korea’s inflation, exchange rate stabilizing after currency reform shock: Seoul
Yonhap
Tony Chang
4/13/2010

According to Yonhap:

Chinese travel agencies are selling tour programs to North Korea’s Mount Kumgang amid Pyongyang’s announcement that it will find a new partner in retaliation for Seoul’s reluctance to resume cross-border tours, tourism sources said Sunday.

Two Chinese agencies in the city of Tongcheng and the southern province of Guangdong are taking reservations for tour programs that include the scenic mountain and other sights, including Pyongyang, the ancient city of Kaesong and the border with South Korea.

However, it was unclear if the programs are related to the North Korea’s decision last week to dump South Korea’s Hyundai Asan for an unidentified new partner for the mountain tours. Sources in Beijing said that the link appears to be weak, as the Chinese programs had been under preparation before Pyongyang’s announcement last week.

North Korea is angry over South Korea’s reluctance to resume tours to the mountain, which had been a key source of foreign currency for the impoverished nation since 1998. They were suspended in 2008 following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist near the resort.

South Korea demands the North agree to a joint on-site investigation into the death and safety measures for tourists.

Some South Korean media reported last week that the North formed a partnership with a Chinese tour organizer to run tours to the mountain, but Seoul’s Unification Ministry said the reported partnership has not been confirmed.

North Korea’s already serious economic troubles have deepened in the wake of U.N. sanctions for its nuclear test last year, while the regime’s failed currency reform has fueled inflation, food shortages and even rare social unrest.

Meanwhile, about 400 Chinese people are scheduled to embark on a tour of key sights in North Korea. In February, Beijing formally granted permission to its citizens to go deep into the communist neighbor, lifting its previous policy of limiting tourism to the border area.

Read the full story here:
Chinese agencies sell tour programs to N. Korea’s Mount Kumgang
Yonhap
4/11/2010

According to the Wall Street Journal:

As severe hunger looms, the question for donors is whether to resume food aid to North Korea and, if so, how to ensure the assistance reaches the people most in need and is not diverted to the military. Proper monitoring is essential. Some critics think it would be impossible to monitor food deliveries, as the North Korean government would simply reject such a condition, fearing foreigners would learn too much about the world’s most secretive state.

But there is some precedent for meaningful, if not optimal, monitoring of food aid. For instance, the United Nations’ World Food Program conducted an average of 388 monitoring visits a month in 2005, and 440 a month in 2004. For much of these two years, U.N. employees had access to 160 of the country’s 203 counties and districts. More than half of the World Food Program’s international staff, numbering 32 at the end of 2005, were directly engaged in food aid monitoring during the year, and some of them spoke Korean. Such monitoring meant at least some of the young children, the elderly, the disabled, and pregnant and nursing women received food aid.

The North Korean government can hardly afford another period of severe nation-wide hunger. The country’s leaders know that at some point a social explosion is possible as people become desperate. During the years of the famine in the 1990s, North Koreans were still so brainwashed by government propaganda that they died in massive numbers at home, waiting for rations that never came, not letting go of their faith in Pyongyang to save them. North Koreans are now better informed about the outside world, and know whom to blame for their hunger. The survivors have learned that it is foolish, even dangerous, to blindly depend on the government to deliver food.

This means renewed massive hunger could pose a risk to the continuity of the North Korean government. As the Dear Leader, Kim Jong Il, works to ensure another leadership succession to his youngest son, Kim Jong Un, he should consider that North Koreans may not endure another epoch of massive hunger as quietly as they did the last one.

That political imperative may force Pyongyang to act sooner, rather than later. Given that, the foreign-aid community can—and should—insist that aid workers be allowed to properly monitor aid distribution according to standard international protocols for transparency and accountability. The North Korean government must also pledge to end discrimination in government distribution of food in favor of ruling party officials, the military, the intelligence services and the police—and against the “hostile” classes deemed politically disloyal to the government. Otherwise, most donors will remain reluctant to give food aid to North Korea. And that would be a tragedy, on a truly massive scale.

The DPRK  has yet to ask for assistance. 

Read the full story here:
Handling the Next North Korean Famine
Wall Street Journal
Kay Seok
4/13/2010

According to the Associated Press via the  Straits Times:

A South Korean man has been arrested for allegedly spying for Pyongyang and working with its military to kidnap activists who helped North Koreans defect, officials said on Monday.

The 55-year-old man, who was arrested last week and who denies the charges, is accused of taking up the spy job after meeting a female North Korean agent in 1999 in China’s eastern Shandong province, where he was believed to be engaged in drug trafficking, the official said on condition of anonymity because an investigation was ongoing.

The man, surnamed Kim, allegedly traveled to Pyongyang in 2000 for 15 days of spy training and received US$10,000 (S$13,904) and 2 kilograms of narcotics from the North, the official said.

The suspect was sent back to China and started abducting South Korean activists who were helping North Koreans defect from their impoverished, authoritarian homeland. The kidnapped Koreans were sent to the North in cooperation with the female agent, the official said.

The man also kidnapped North Korean defectors hiding in China and forced them back to the North. He also tried to gather information on South Korean intelligence officers operating in Chinese towns near North Korea, the official said.

Prosecution spokesman Oh Se-in confirmed the man’s arrest, saying he allegedly violated the National Security Law, which carries the death penalty as a maximum sentence. The suspect denied the charges, Mr Oh said.

Read the full story here:
S Korean held for spying
Straits Times (AP)
4/12/2010

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 10-04-12-1
4/12/2010

As inflation and food worries continue to grow in North Korea, social unrest is palpable. According to the group ‘Good Friends’, North Korean officials slashed prices on all goods to 1/100th of their going rate in an effort to ease the public. Considering the fact that North Korea revalued its currency by the same ratio on November 30, it appears that Pyongyang is effectively acknowledging the reform’s failure.

The Good Friends newsletter reports that the Korean Workers’ Party cabinet had handed down an order to reduce the price of all goods by a factor of 100:1, while the people of North Korea were told during local meetings that currency was revalued at 100 to 1, but not in order to reduce the sale of goods by 100 to 1, as well.

It also stated that at the first cabinet meeting in March, there was discussion on the fact that it was rumored that prices had climbed several times higher than official prices, and would continue to rise. It was decided that, at first, people thought of the currency reform as a 100-fold increase in prices, and that the same was true of management in state-run organizations. Later, at the second meeting of the cabinet, it was decided that a ‘100 to 1 Price Plan’ would be distributed to each city and town.

Now, People’s Committees and security forces in each city and town are enforcing the ‘100 to 1 Price Plan’ while the central Party’s 100:1 commerce committee has distributed a class syllabus in support of the price modifications, which was lectured on throughout the country from March 16-18. This indicates that the government is again controlling all prices throughout the country.

With no goods or aid flowing in from outside, it is likely that the price and exchange rates will continue to climb. On December 9, rice sold for 23 won, but the value of the new currency falls daily, and starvation is striking people in several areas throughout the country. Anger over government policies and general feelings angst are not hard to find in families and labor groups. The government is trying to control the prices of daily necessities, but if it is unable to do so, this situation cannot avoid becoming explosive. The central government has also sent officials out to different areas of the country to enforce a rice price of 25 won/Kg. This is the highest rice sold for in markets prior to the currency reform. Enforcing the same price throughout the country is an attempt to stabilize markets, and is a temporary measure to try to keep residents’ tempers from flaring.

The November currency reform was the first currency revaluation in 17 years, and was part of a set of strong measures to restrict markets, along with market closures and bans on foreign currency. However, since last February, the inflation sparked by the currency revaluation has grown severe and internal unrest has increased, leading authorities to reopen markets and set price caps. Now, the price of rice in North Korean markets appears to have stabilized at 400 won per kilogram, but due to the unrest over the last 100 days, many middle-class residents have fallen into poverty.

By Michael Rank

Chinese tourism to North Korea seems set to boom, with groups from several provinces about to set off and Pyongyang clearly eager to earn much needed extra revenue.

Tourists are warned that they can’t bring in mobile phones and must “respect Korean customs” by avoiding getting into arguments and “not saying or doing anything which is not good for Chinese-Korean friendship”. They are also told not to aim their cameras at “things which may be seen as the dark side of life”, such as litter or people who are not properly dressed.

But demand is strong despite these restrictions, says a report from the booming, export-oriented province of Zhejiang.

The tourists are mainly middle-aged or elderly and include a large proportion of Korean war veterans, says the report, which notes how Pyongyang was devastated in the war and was the victim of 1,400 American bombing raids.

North Korea agreed to welcome Chinese tourists under an agreement signed in September 2008, but implementation was held up by bureaucracy and problems over high costs, and the doors are only opening this month, according to a report from the southern province of Guangdong. It says people are not put off by the fact that tours are quite expensive at about 5,000 yuan ($730) for five days or 6,000 yuan ($880) for six days, and applicants have to fill in plenty of forms and show their work ID and other documents.

The itinerary is much the same as for Western visitors – Pyongyang, the Myohyang mountains and Panmunjom – although in the North Korean capital the Chinese-Korean Friendship Tower is a must-see, featuring a memorial to the “martyrs” of the Chinese People’s Volunteer Army who fell in the Korean war, including Mao Zedong’s son Mao Anqing.

A total of 800 tourists from Wenzhou in Zhejiang are due to leave on April 20, as well as another group from the provincial capital Hangzhou. There are no direct flights at present, so they have to fly via Beijing, while tourists from Guangdong fly to Dalian or Shenyang and then take the train to Pyongyang via Dandong.

One Zhejiang travel agent goes so far as to say there is so much interest in North Korea that “It will become a tourism destination second only to Taiwan.”

Further tours are planned from Nanjing, Fuzhou, Jiangxi, Shandong and other cities and provinces, and border tourism is also booming, as noted in several reports on NKEW recently. According to the latest report, a tourism agreement has just been signed between the border town of Ji’an in Jilin province and Manpo, just across the Yalu river.

UPDATE 1: Here is what KCNA had to say:

SPA of DPRK Meets

Pyongyang, April 9 (KCNA) — The 2nd Session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK was held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall Friday.

It was attended by deputies to the SPA.

Officials of Party, armed forces and power organs, public organizations, ministries and national institutions and those in the fields of science, education, culture and arts, public health and media attended it as observers.

The session discussed the following agenda items: “1. On the work of the DPRK Cabinet in Juche 98 (2009) and its tasks for Juche 99 (2010)”, “2. On the results of the implementation of the DPRK state budget for Juche 98 (2009) and its state budget for Juche 99 (2010)”, “3. On the adoption of the ordinance of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly ‘On revising some provisions of the DPRK Socialist Constitution’” and “4. Organizational matter”.

Deputy Kim Yong Il, premier of the Cabinet, in a report on the first agenda item said that last year the indomitable mental power of all the people of the country and production potential were fully displayed and, as a result, the gross industrial output value markedly grew as compared with that in 2008. This year the Cabinet will boost the production of consumer goods and grain by leaps and bounds by putting spurs to the development of light industry and agriculture once again and reenergize the overall production by giving definite priority to the production of electricity, coal, iron and steel and railway transport and, at the same time, energetically organize and conduct the campaign for a great surge with main emphasis on stepping up the technological upgrading and modernization of the national economy, he added.

Deputy Pak Su Gil, vice-premier of the Cabinet and minister of Finance, in a report on the second agenda item said that last year’s state budget revenue was overfulfilled 1.7 percent and the state budgetary expenditure was implemented at 99.8 percent.

He noted that the plan for state budgetary revenue for this year is expected to increase 6.3 percent over last year while the plan for state budgetary expenditure is expected to grow 8.3 percent.

Speakers at the session pointed out that the Cabinet’s work last year and the implementation of its state budget were properly reviewed and summed up, this year’s tasks were clearly laid down and its state budget was correctly shaped. They expressed full support and approval of them.

They manifested their resolution to successfully put into practice the Party’s intention and idea of augmenting the country’s political and military potentials in every way and bringing about a dramatic turn in improving the people’s standard of living in this significant year marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Worker’s Party of Korea.

The session adopted the decision of the SPA of the DPRK “On approving the report on the work of the DPRK Cabinet and the results of the implementation of the DPRK state budget for Juche 98 (2009)” and the ordinance of the SPA of the DPRK “On the DPRK state budget for Juche 99 (2010).”

Also adopted there was the ordinance of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly “On revising some provisions of the DPRK Socialist Constitution”.

Deputy Pyon Yong Rip was elected secretary general of the Presidium of the SPA to fill vacancy and Deputy Jang Pyong Gyu was appointed as director of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office at the session.

ORIGINAL POST: We still don’t know exactly what happened, but  below is some information from the meeting.

According to the New York Times:

North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature convened Friday in the capital, Pyongyang, offering few hints of a major policy shift despite a growing desperation for economic recovery.

The country’s ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, did not show up at the Supreme People’s Assembly, igniting speculation about his health and whereabouts. His absence from the assembly, although not unusual, followed some unconfirmed news reports in South Korea in the past week that he might already have embarked on a clandestine trip to China to win needed aid. South Korean officials questioned those reports, though they had earlier predicted that he might soon visit China, the North’s last remaining major ally.

Outside analysts have been closely monitoring Mr. Kim’s absences or appearances in major state affairs since his 2008 stroke fueled speculation on how long he could stay in power. Mr. Kim, 68, is now struggling with North Korea’s deepening economic woes while preparing to hand over power to a son.

On Friday, the legislative session adopted a second constitutional revision in a year, the country’s state-run news agency, KCNA, reported without providing details. The South Korean news agency Yonhap speculated that the amendment might be intended to help the transfer of power from Mr. Kim to his third son, Kim Jong-un, 27.

Others doubted it.

“I think it may have more to do with the economy or a minor readjustment of the Constitution,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul.

The gatherings of legislators in the North provide outside officials and analysts with a rare opportunity to seek clues to North Korean policies and any changes in its leadership hierarchy.

Kim Jong-il, who is also a legislator, has often skipped the sessions. But he used the meeting last year to demonstrate that he was still in charge despite having suffered a stroke in 2008. After months of being out of sight, he entered the parliamentary hall to the thunderous applause of loyal members, though he looked gaunt and limped slightly.

At the time, the assembly approved the first constitutional revision in 11 years to make one of Mr. Kim’s several official titles — chairman of the National Defense Commission — the supreme ruling post in North Korea. The move reconfirmed his already absolute grip on power.

Analysts had said that the session this year was most likely to focus on reviving North Korea’s moribund economy, a goal the nation had set at the start of the year.

On Friday, KCNA reported that the session passed a budget for the year that promised a 10.1 percent increase in spending for consumer goods industries and a 9.4 percent increase for agriculture.

North Korean reports on Friday’s session made no reference to the country’s tricky relations with South Korea and the United States. But the country’s Foreign Ministry reiterated that the North would continue to build and modernize nuclear weapons.

An unidentified spokesman of the ministry told KCNA that North Korea was willing to “denuclearize the Korean Peninsula” — but only if the United States abandoned its “hostile policy” toward the North.

According to AFP (via Asia One):

North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament at its annual meeting Friday will focus on ways to improve living standards after a bungled currency change sparked widespread public anger, analysts said.

Members of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) are effectively chosen by the ruling communist party, and they endorse the bills it puts forward without serious debate.

But the day-long session indicates the secretive regime’s priorities and any changes to the line-up among the ruling elite.

Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies said legislators would approve institutional and personnel changes to bolster leader Kim Jong-Il’s power and prepare for the eventual succession of his third son Jong-Un.

The North is apparently moving to put the national police agency under the direct control of the National Defence Commission headed by Kim, he said.

It was unclear whether the leader would attend the meeting, as he did last year – looking frail and gaunt after a reported stroke.

Since then the regime has been grappling with serious food shortages and tougher UN sanctions imposed to curb its missile and nuclear ambitions.

The currency revaluation last November 30 wa

(h/t Werner) According to a reader the MAK Museum Vienna (Museum of Applied Arts, Museum of Contemporary Arts) will hold from May 9-September 5, 2010 a special exhibition of North Korean paintings, posters, and architecture in collaboration with the National Gallery in Pyongyang (located here-satellite image).

According to the MAK Museum:

FLOWERS FOR KIM IL SUNG
Art and architecture from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
19.05.2010 – 05.09.2010

Through large format paintings and contemporary positions in the areas of film, poster art, and architecture, the exhibition offers insight into the art production of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In collaboration with the National Gallery in Pyongyang, MAK has put together a comprehensive show offering the first presentation of the gallery’s original works in a foreign museum.

For several months, visitors to MAK will have the opportunity to gain, in a world premiere, an impression of the culture of the Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea (DPRK). which has been isolated since its founding in 1948. Already in the past, MAK has offered insight into worlds beyond Western art and architecture movements with exhibitions, such as “Art and Revolution. Russian and Soviet Art 1919–1932” (1988), “The Tyranny of the Beautiful: Architecture in the Time of Stalin” (1994), “Architecture Again. The Havana Project” (1997), and “Cine Art. Indian Poster Painters at the MAK” (1999). After years of intense effort, it has been possible to arrange a collaboration with the National Gallery in Pyongyang that aims to present the officially recognized art of the Democratic People’s Republic, in context, and make transparent the development of art within the nation’s political framework. The paintings from the National Gallery, many of which present idealized everyday scenes, are able to offer revealing insight into this country’s largely unknown culture.

A majority of the work is comparable with Soviet Realism. Formally, the artists fall back on stylistic means from Realism and Romanticism: motifs from the working world and the revolutionary struggle are depicted in an academic painterly style, mediating a picture of the ideal world and showing new hero figures: workers, airplane crews and pilots are commonly the protagonists doing the “glorious and good.”

The exhibition will also document with photos, original designs, and models, the special architectural development of Pyongyang, which was entirely destroyed during the Korean War (1950–1953). The model of the Juche Tower, landmark of the city, is hereby attributed special significance. In the Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea, the fine arts developed in a special way under the rule of State founder President Kim Il Sung and his son and successor President Kim Jong Il.

Taking recourse to historical role models, President Kim developed the “Juche” ideology, which postulates the concept of independence as the ideal view of the world. In art, promoted along with portraits and scenes showing heads of state, are primarily motifs displaying the country and life in the Democratic People‘s Republic of Korea in their most positive forms.

Curator Christiane Bauermeister
Consultant curator
Christiane Bauermeister
Project coordination
Dunja Gottweis

A catalogue will be published in conjunction with the exhibition.

Guided tours
Sat, Sun 4.00 p.m.
Continuous information service and short tours: Sat 2.00-4.00 p.m.

Special guided tours by advance booking: Gabriele Fabiankowitsch, phone (+43-1) 711 36-298, e-mail: education@MAK.at