Archive for 2010

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DPRK govt monitoring grain prices in markets

Monday, August 9th, 2010

According to the Joong Ang Daily:

North Korea has added corn and rice to the list of items to be monitored for price hikes at markets in Pyongyang, a South Korean official said yesterday, suggesting that food staples are increasingly traded privately in the capital as its rationing system falters.

A Unification Ministry official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the information’s classified nature, said North Korean authorities recently introduced price caps on the two staples at markets in Pyongyang.

“The regime appears to be increasingly allowing markets to take over the role its rationing system once played,” the official said, adding that the two items were not on the monitor list when his ministry obtained a copy of the document in February.

North Korea allows a limited number of markets to operate independently under strict rules. The country apparently cracked down on its growing merchant class when it conducted a sweeping currency reform last year.

…

In a related development, a Unification Ministry report said earlier this week that the price of farm products such as beans, chicken, corn and rice shot up two to three times from February to July.

The report said the increases can also be attributed to the appreciation of the Chinese yuan. Because North Korea imports many of its products from China, the rise of the yuan’s value can also affect the purchasing power of North Korea.

Read the full story here:
North eases trade rules on corn, rice
Joong Ang Daily
8/5/2010

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Posted in Agriculture, Food, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market) | Comments Closed

DPRK trade bank sued for failure to settle debt

Monday, August 9th, 2010

UPDATE 8/9/2010: According to Yonhap:

A state-run North Korean bank has lost a lawsuit for not paying back a loan it borrowed from a Taiwanese bank nine years ago, the New York district court said Friday.

The District Court of New York confirmed it ordered the Foreign Trade Bank of Korea to pay compensations of just under US$6.77 million to the Mega International Commercial Bank (MICB) in a ruling made earlier in the week.

And as Josh notes: “By which they really mean the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.”

Some additional case information may be found here.

As an aside, North Korea also recently lost another court case in the US.  Read more here.

ORIGINAL POST (5/6/2010): According to KBS:

The Taiwanese bank filed its lawsuit to claim some five million dollars in interest and principal on August 25th, 2001.

It is unclear whether the North Korean bank will repay the Taiwanese plaintiff, but North Korea experts say this will at least add to the crunch on North Korean finances.

Some reference information can be found here.

According to the Korea Times:

A state-run North Korean bank is facing trial in the United States for failing to pay a $5 million loan that it borrowed from a Taiwanese bank in 2001, according to sources Wednesday.

The District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered the Foreign Trade Bank (FTB) of North Korea to make a court appearance on May 17 and submit a proposed case management plan and scheduling order.

The FTB reportedly borrowed $5 million from the Mega International Commercial Bank (MICB) in Taiwan on Aug. 25, 2001 on the promise to amortize the principal and interest in three installments by Sept. 15, 2004.

No repayment was made until December 2008, when the FTB paid the MICB $100,000 to cover some of the interest. The North Korean bank has thus far paid off a total of $462,000 to the MICB, still owing $1.78 million in interest and $4.7 million in principal.

“It has been almost unprecedented for North Korea to be sued in a commercial dispute, though there were occasions that the North was asked to stand in U.S. courts for terrorist activities,” an official of the South Korean Consulate General in New York told Yonhap News.

The official said the litigation will hamper Pyongyang’s recent move to aggressively attract foreign investment in an effort to revive its flagging economy, given that obviously doubt will arise over its debt repayment capacity.

Despite a recent currency reform, the North’s economy remains in a parlous state as the U.N. sanctions have cut off virtually all sources of foreign currency.

Seoul has also suspended tours to the North’s popular tourist destination of Mt. Geumgang, following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist in the mountain resort in July 2008. The tours were a cash cow for the North, generating more than $500 million between 1998 and 2008.

On May 1, the FTB’s official exchange rate was 96.9 won per dollar, but it was traded at 180 won in Pyongyang and higher in other areas, demonstrating the instability of the North’s economy, according to the sources.

Since established in 1959, the bank has served as the reclusive regime’s main foreign exchange bank, they said. It has branch offices in France, Australia, Kuwait, Hong Kong and Beijing.

Read the full story here:
NK trade bank sued for failure to settle debt
Korea Times
5/5/2010

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Posted in Banking, Debt, Finance, Fiscal & monetary policy, Foreign Trade Bank, Lawsuits, USA | 1 Comment »

What’s new in Sinuiju?

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Google Earth has added some new GeoEye imagery for Sinuiju, Ryongchon, and Phihyon counties. The imagery dates are Oct 12, 2009 and April 14th, 2009.  So what is new in this area?

Pyongyang–Sinuiju highway under construction
It can be most easily seen between the Sinuiju Train Station and Rakwon-dong.

Villages along the highway are being spruced up in anticipation of car traffic:

The highway construction can be seen as far south as half-way between Ryongchon and Yomju.  I suspect that it is intended to continue south to Anju where it will meet up with the Pyongyang-Hyangsan highway.

Market construction in Sinuiju and Phihyon County
I blogged about the new Sinuiju market here. Below is imagery of the new Phihyon County Market (피현군):

Ponghwa Chemical Factory (Refinery)
It was partially visible before, but now we can see the whole thing. It is one of two refineries in the DPRK.  The other is in Rason (satellite image here).


Reconstructed Ryonchon City (룡천시)
I have previously blogged about this here.

On the left is an image taken after the infamous 2004 Ryongchon explosion.  On the right is the city as it appears reconstructed in 2009.

Ryongchon offers another interesting secret.  In the past, the high street ran through the center of the city (North-South):

Today, however, traffic is routed around the western side of Ryongchon rather than through the center of town.  The road in the center of town has been converted into a public square of sorts (as can be seen in the images above), and the wide avenues that run the North-South distance of the city now come to an awkward end in the fields…

Bottom photos: North and south sides of town and their vanishing high streets

Also, in 2005 the North Korean government was building either a highway or canal on the western side of Ryongchon, but this effort seems completely abandoned today:

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Posted in Automobiles, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Google Earth, Transportation | 3 Comments »

DPRK seizes ROK fishing ship

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

UPDATE 3 (9/6/2010): The DPRK has announced the release of the fishing crew.  According to Reuters:

North Korea said on Monday it was releasing the seven-man crew of a South Korean fishing boat, including three Chinese, after they illegally entered its waters last month.

State news agency KCNA said the crew would be sent back South Korea “taking into consideration the fact that they admitted the seriousness of their act and gave assurances that they would never repeat such an act”.

Tensions have mounted on the peninsula this year after the sinking of a South Korean warship — Seoul says it was sunk by a North Korean torpedo — and a series of recent military drills by the United States and South Korea.

UPDATE 2 (8/18/2010): The DPRK has acknowledged that it has the ship and crew.  According to Bloomberg:

North Korea confirmed it seized a South Korean fishing boat last week off the communist country’s east coast for violation of the maritime border.

North Korea is investigating the four South Korean and three Chinese crew members, who had “confessed that they intruded into the economic waters,” the state-run Korean Central News Agency reported. The North Korean navy captured the boat on Aug. 8 at around 10:15 a.m. local time, the report said.

South Korea has sent a message to North Korea, urging a swift return of the 41-ton Daeseung and its crew. The incident came amid heightened tensions between the two countries after the South accused the North of torpedoing one of its warships in March, killing 46 sailors.

North Korea fired a barrage of artillery shells into the water off its west coast on Aug. 9 after repeated threats of “retaliation” against South Korea’s joint naval drills with the U.S. The U.S. and the South held anti-submarine exercises off the Asian country’s east coast last month and plan to hold more in the coming months.

UPDATE  1  (8/11/2010): According to Yonhap:

South Korea said Wednesday it sent North Korea a message urging the prompt release of the crew of a South Korean fishing boat the communist state seized three days ago amid high military tensions.

North Korea accepted the message delivered through a western military hotline between the two countries at 10 a.m., Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said in a briefing.

The message, addressed to the North’s top Red Cross official, contains a call by his South Korean counterpart to free the seven crew members of the Daeseung “promptly in line with international law and customs and on humanitarian grounds,” Lee said.

South Korea is investigating whether the 41-ton boat, which had left for a joint fishing area off the east coast of the Korean Peninsula on Aug. 1, trespassed into the North’s exclusive economic zone. Pyongyang has yet to offer any word on the state of the crew that included four South Koreans and three Chinese.

“We have also asked the North to explain in detail how the fishing boat was seized,” Lee said, adding the Red Cross channel is often used in inter-Korean issues involving civilian boats.

The seizure came amid high tensions between the two Koreas in the wake of the deadly March sinking of a South Korean warship near their western sea border. On Monday, North Korea fired more than 100 rounds of artillery along the Yellow Sea border near the area where South Korea had just ended five-day-long naval drills.

A government source said South Korea and China have been discussing the issue.

“An official at the South Korean embassy in China met with a Chinese government official a few times recently” to discuss the seizure and share information, the source said on condition of anonymity. “The seized crew include Chinese … If negotiations for their release begin in the future, we plan to cooperate with China where necessary.”

In July of last year, a South Korean fishing boat, the Yeonan, accidentally crossed into North Korea’s waters and was towed to a nearby port. The boat was released about a month later.

And according to Reuters:

Chinese diplomats in North Korea were trying to check the reports, said China’s official Xinhua news agency.

“If the report is confirmed, the DPRK should treat the Chinese crew members well with humanitarianism, guarantee their rights and interests, and inform the Chinese side of their conditions, the (Chinese) officials said,” according to Xinhua.

ORIGINAL POST: Surprisingly not anywhere near the NLL…

According to the New York Times:

North Korea  seized a South Korean fishing boat in waters near their eastern sea border, the South Korean Coast Guard said Sunday, straining already high tensions between the two Koreas.

The 41-ton squidding boat was believed to have been detained after entering the North’s exclusive economic zone, where foreign fishing boats are banned, the coast guard said in a statement.

Four South Koreans and three Chinese crew members were on board. South Korea’s national news agency, Yonhap, quoting an unnamed coast guard official, said that the ship was being towed to Songjin, a port on the eastern coast of North Korea, for interrogation of the crew.

“Our government hopes for the safe return of our ship and crew according to international laws,” the coast guard’s statement said.

…

The South Korean squid ship left Pohang, a port on the east coast of South Korea, on Aug. 1 and was scheduled to return to port on Sept. 10. It made its last daily radio report to the South Korean Coast Guard on Saturday evening.

UPDATE via the Washington Post:

According to one report in the South Korean media, the boat was operating in a maritime area shared by North Korea and Russia, about 160 miles off the North Korean coast.

Additional thoughts
1. Well it is probably a good thing there was a Chinese crew aboard the ship as this will make it difficult for the DPRK to claim the fishing vessel was attempting  espionage.  If Chinese fishermen can protect South Korean ships from DPRK espionage accusations we might be able to predict that an escalation in tensions between North and South Korea will result in increased employment of Chinese fishermen in the ROK….Chinese fishermen index?

2. Songjin is known in North Korea as Kimchaek.  See a satellite image of it here.

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Posted in Agriculture, Sea shipping, South Korea, Transportation | 1 Comment »

Koryo Tours August 2010 Newsletter

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Learn more about Koryo Tours at their web page.

New Trips departing from Pyongayng
Be one fo the firts visitors to the DPRK’s second city – newly opened to Koryo Tours’ tourists- Hamhung, the second largest city in North Korea and a major industrial hub on the East Coast of the Korean peninsula, Previously the only foreigners who had been to this remote and very different part of the country were East Germans who participated in the post-war reconstruction of the area’s industry, NGO staff working on projects in the city, and the occasional diplomat or sailor. In May, however, Koryo Tours’ Simon Cockerell became the first tourist ever to go there since Liberation from Japan in 1945. Koryo Tours is pleased to be able to offer this destination to group and independent tourists staying in the city centre or at the nearby Majon beach. Among the places to visit are the giant Hamhung Grand Theatre (the city’s largest building that dominates the skyline), the Hungnam fertiliser factory (where Kim Il Sung made the remark “fertiliser is rice, and rice is communism”), the home of Ri Song Gye (a notable king of ancient Korea), and much more besides. Find more about our independent tours here

Pyongyang to Hamhung is a few hours by road via the port city of Wonsan, so this is not a daytrip destination; but, for pervious visitors or people staying for more than a few days in the DPRK, this is a very good place to head to – amazing views of the countryside all the way there and back contribute to a feeling that you have visited somewhere very special. An unforgettable addition to any tour.

VISIT OUTER MOUNT KUMGANG – In addition to our opening of Hamhung as a destination for tourists, there are more places on DPRK’s East Coast that are now possible to visit; including – for the first time from North Korea – the Hyundai-run resort of Outer Kumgang. This has been closed to tourists who previously went there in their thousands from the South since an incident in 2008, where a tourist was shot by a soldier in mysterious circumstances. Since then the agreement between the government of North Korea and Hyundai – who had leased the area for tourists – has collapsed and it isnow possible to visit (although not stay overnight) from the North. Some stunning hiking trails, within what is justly considered Korea’s most beautiful mountain range, can be embarked upon. Also a visit to the serene and peaceful Samil Lagoon is a must. A visit here takes the best part of a day for any tour already at the East Coast and is a must for anyone interested in seeing some of the most remarkable natural landscapes in East Asia. Good for getting a bit of exercise after the long drive to the East Coast as well!

New Trips to the DPRK’s North East
RASON INDEPENDENT TOURS AVAILABLE – On the subject of the Rason area of North Korea, we are now offering independent tours to this area and have a new page of our website dedicated to this  soon. Koryo Tours is the only western travel company ever to have been to Rason, so do feel free to ask us any questions at all; very few people have even heard of this place, let alone thought about going so if you want reliable advice and information, you know who to call! Full details and information about all the options we offer are available at the above link. Please have a look and let us know if you fancy it. The tour is unforgettable and very unlike the usual areas of the DPRK that we visit. Also it’s an amazing boast to have been there if you’re looking for a great travel story; the least visited part of the least visited country in the world! [email protected] for more info!

DPRK’s North East and Russia
THE TUMAN TRIANGLE- CHINA/DPRK/RUSSIA – In July we embarked on a brand new tour available exclusively through Koryo Tours. We call it the Tuman Triangle tour as it includes visits to three different countries in the region of the Tuman River (Tumen in China for all the pedants!). The route that our pioneering group of 18 took was a flight to Yanji in NE China’s Jilin province, then to the North Korean free trade zone of Rason (previously known as Rajin-Sonbong, a place where western tourists are almost unheard of but which Koryo tours have been visiting since 1996). We spent 4 days in the area doing a diverse range of activities such as seeing ports and seafood factories, playing beach football against Russian railway engineers, shopping in a public market – the only place this can be done in North Korea – going to the obligatory revolutionary sites, visiting the doctors (!) and local kindergartens, going to a deserted casino, doing a boat trip around the nearby islands, and more!

From DPRK we became the first tourists ever to cross into Russia by train to the town of Khasan and then spent a couple of days in the Russian countryside relaxing and taking a boat trip to a fascinating island in a nature reserve where abandoned WWII bases now provide nesting places for seagulls, before heading to Vladivostok by ferry and touring that previously-closed city and having free time to experience the delights and sights of the Russian Far East. We even made it to a Russian second division football match (Luch Energiya beat Belograd Salut 2-0 in case you’re interested!) before flying back to Beijing to complete this brand new and utterly unique itinerary.

The tour was a great success and we will be offering this again a couple of times next year. Dates and details will go online in a few weeks but do drop us a line on if you’d like to register an early interest; we aim to expand this tour even more for 2011.

A WILD AND MAGNIFICENT TRIP IN 2011 We will have an optional extension that will go to the remote Russian city of Magadan (infamous for Stalin’s gulags) – from Chollima to Kolyma! – as well as to the volcanic peninsula of Kamchatka. If you like the sound of this, then get in touch now! This tour, exclusively available from Koryo Tours will just get better and better. Join us if you want a completely different kind of holiday, and this sounds like your kind of thing!

4. Last chance to see Turkmenistan before the changes
TURKMENISTAN TOUR NOVEMBER 2010 – With the recent news that the Arch of Neutrality in Central Ashgabat is being torn down and replaced with something yet to be confirmed, the plan to relocate Central Asia’s largest market (the anarchic Tolkuchka Bazaar) to a sterile new location, and President Berdymuhammedov’s statement that he wants the amazing Darvaza gas crater to be extinguished and filled-in, it definitely seems like this is the time to visit, and see Turkmenistan at its weirdest and most unique. It will probably take at least a few months for the gas crater to be removed, (it’s the single most remarkable thing you will ever see; look for videos on YouTube for proof and bear in mind, they do not do it justice!) so  and camp next to the strangest accidentally-formed attraction in the world! Full tour details for this trip can be found at http://www.koryogroup.com/turkmenistan/tours.html and the tour can be started from a variety of destinations.

We have a lot more plans for additions to this November tour so if you’ve been thinking about going to Central Asia’s most enigmatic country, then now may be the time. Drop us a line for more information and we hope you can be there to see it with your own eyes!

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Posted in Koryo Tours, Tourism | 1 Comment »

July 2010 DPRK Business Monthly

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

Long-time DPRK watcher Paul White has published his most recent collection of DPRK business sotries from July 2010.

You can download the PDF here.

Topics discussed include:

Trade with China Growing
“DPRK Leasing Squid Fishing Rights to PRC”
PRC Steel Firms Eye More NK Ore
Russian Diplomats Tour NK Cooperatives
NK to Boost Cooperation with UNPF
US Neurosurgeon Devotes Skills to North Korea
ROK Strengthens Port Barriers Against NK Goods
Credit Dries Up for Hyundai
DPRK Completes Biggest Tideland Reclamation
Details of GPI Consultancy Trade Mission to DPRK
“Kaesong Production Dropping”

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Posted in Korea Business Consultants | Comments Closed

DPRK hosts insurance seminar

Sunday, August 8th, 2010

According to Naenara:

The Pyongyang International Insurance Seminar on “Marine Insurance & Reinsurance: the Challenges of the Time” ran between June 7 and 8, 2010.

Present at the seminar were Yang Hyong Sop, vice-president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly, Pak Su Gil, vice-premier and minister of Finance, So Tong Myong, president of the Korea National Insurance Corporation (KNIC) and chairman of the organizing committee of the seminar, officials from the KNIC, insurance workers from the provinces and officials concerned.

Among those present were Ezzat Abdel-Bary, secretary general of the Federation of Afro-Asian Insurers and Reinsurers, and his party, Roberto Quinto Martinez, permanent secretariat of the Association of Insurance and Reinsurance in Developing Countries, delegates from companies of China, Morocco, Sudan, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, Britain, India and Egypt, officials of foreign embassies and missions of international organizations in the DPRK.

A delegation from the Kumgang Insurance Company of the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan was also present at the seminar.

The seminar heard papers on marine cargo insurance, marine cargo claims and adjustment—an overview, the art of adjusting catastrophe claims, new trend in the reinsurance market and other papers. Then speeches were made.

The seminar provided the participants with an opportunity to find a way out of instability in the field of insurance affected by the global financial crisis and let each country make an effective use of its own financial resources in the field of insurance and strengthen the international cooperation and exchange.

Unfortunately, when I hear the words “DPRK” and “insurance,” I think of this.

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Posted in Finance, Fiscal & monetary policy, Insurance, Korea National Insurance Corporation, Sea shipping, Supreme Peoples Assembly, Transportation | Comments Closed

DPRK reopens “seized” RoK assets in Kumgang

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

According to Yonhap:

North Korea has reopened a South Korean-built hotel and restaurant in Mount Kumgang on its eastern coast and has started to receive visitors, a pro-Pyongyang daily published in Japan said Saturday.

The Choson Sinbo said Hotel Kumgangsan and the Mokrangwan restaurant opened for business July 20 and will offer services to both foreign and local guests.

However, the Choson Sinbo reported that none of the visitors has spent the night at the 215-room hotel.

“All the tourists so far have stayed overnight at Wonsan and only visited the mountains during the day,” it said. Wonson is located further north in South Hamgyong Province.

The hotel was built and operated by South Korea’s Hyundai Asan Corporation and had been used by tourists from the South until 2008, when a North Korean guard shot and killed a female tourist at a nearby beach.

Since the fatal shooting, Seoul has banned tourists from the mountain report, with Pyongyang taking steps in early October to freeze all Hyundai assets and start its own independent operations. Hyundai employees at the site were also expelled from the resort.

The tours to Mount Kumgang — hailed as a symbol of reconciliation between the countries — began in late 1998, and nearly 2 million South Koreans visited the zone before they were suspended.

South Korean’s Unification Ministry said local companies invested an estimated 420 billion won (US$374 million) to develop the border resort that includes a golf course, several restaurants and a 157-room floating hotel called the Haekumgang.

A group of Chinese diplomats recently visited Kumgang.

Read the full story here:
N. Korea reopens hotel, restaurant on scenic Mount Kumgang: newspaper
Yonhap
8/7/2010

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Posted in Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013), Tourism | Comments Closed

“Wealthier” North Koreans defecting

Saturday, August 7th, 2010

According to the Choson Ilbo:

There appears to have been a shift in the profile of defectors fleeing North Korea since a botched currency reform late last year. Before the reform, most of the defectors were so poor that they did not care whether they would be killed if they were caught fleeing the North.

But since the currency reform, more middle-class North Koreans have been fleeing the North, a South Korean security official speculated.

A North Korean source on Tuesday said the currency reform alienated many people from the regime, and the spread of South Korean pop culture through videos and CDs clandestinely circulated in the North has also encouraged some middle and higher-class North Koreans to flee. In recent days, many people who lost their savings due to the currency reform have reportedly decided to flee.

A South Korean government official said, “Due to tight surveillance, those who want to flee must bribe brokers or North Korean border guards with a lot of money. The fact that these people have enough money to flee means that they are of the middle or higher class or have relatives in South Korea.”

Reports say the number of upper-class North Korean defectors, like children of senior officials, has risen. Their arrival in South Korea has not been publicized here, and no statistics are available because they do not need to attend classes at Hanawon, a center for helping defectors adapt to a new life in the South, as ordinary defectors do.

Since early this year, the North has been bent on rounding up defectors, because it is apparently worried about the middle-class exodus. The North’s two public security agencies, the Ministry of Public Security and the State Security Department, issued their first-ever joint statement in February calling the defectors “scumbags.”

Read the full story here:
More Middle-Class N.Koreans Defect
Choson Ilbo
8/7/2010

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Posted in Emigration, Fiscal & monetary policy | Comments Closed

Regular food rations not provided as Prices Soar and food shortages grow in DPRK

Friday, August 6th, 2010

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 10-08-06-1
8/6/2010

Over the last five months, regular food rations have not been provided even to those in the capital city of Pyongyang, indicating the severity of food shortages in North Korea. According to the ROK Ministry of Unification, rice and corn were added to the list of goods with controlled prices in at least one market in Pyongyang. A list of controlled goods with state-set upper price limits has been distributed to each market throughout North Korea since 2003. While prices may vary slightly, comparing them with earlier price caps gives a good indication of the availability of goods.

The July appearance of rice and corn on the list of restricted goods, neither of which has been on the list even as far back as February, when strict market controls were enacted in the aftermath of failed currency reform measures, indicates that the ration system is not operating normally, even in Pyongyang. It also means that not only are officials not receiving normal rations, but that average residents are relying more on markets for their food. One Unification Ministry official stated, “Rice was on the list of controlled goods in markets outside of Pyongyang in February, but couldn’t be found in markets in the capital city…in July, rice and corn emerged [as items with price caps] in Pyongyang markets.” The official also explained that as the food ration system collapsed even in Pyongyang, the issuance of price caps on rice and corn was an indication that more people were turning to the markets to buy these staples.

Looking at other goods on the list, it appears that agricultural goods cost 3~7 times more in July than in February, and manufactured goods were as much as 7 times more expensive. Necessary goods, both agricultural and manufactured, have grown considerably more expensive in North Korea over just five months. More specifically, beans were up 3.6-fold; chicken, 3.3-fold; lettuce, 3-fold; apples, 6.3-fold; rice and corn, 2-fold. Ball-point pens and other daily-use items were up 5~6-fold. In July, rice sold for 550 won per kilogram, while corn was priced at 280 won per kilo.

The price caps are upper limits set by North Korean authorities, but the reality is that goods are often sold at higher prices. The shortage of agricultural goods, and the fact that the Chinese Yuan has appreciated 3-fold since February, has led to these record price-hikes. On May 26, Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) authorities issued a decree, “Regarding Korea’s Current Food Situation,” calling for residents to fend for themselves. As prices skyrocketed on agricultural goods, one measure adopted by North Korean authorities has been to more than double exports of iron ore from Musan, North Hamgyong Province to China, while drastically increasing the import of corn. This increased import of corn has brought down the price of rice from 1,200 to 900 won per kilogram in Musan, while corn itself has fallen from 600 to 500 won. On the other hand, the drop in the foreign currency exchange rate in mid-July caused a shortage of dollars, driving the price of rice up to as high as 1,200 won per kilogram in some regions.

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Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture statistics, Food, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Price liberalization, Public Distribiution System (PDS), RoK Ministry of Unification | Comments Closed

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