North Korean Economy Watch

According ot the DailyNK:

The North Korean authorities are conducting an extensive investigation into the actions of soldiers attached to border guard units, based on the presumption that such guards are frequently guilty of aiding and abetting defection. Those found to have done so are being arrested and severely punished.

A source from Yangkang Province explained the news yesterday, “For the third time they are conducting an investigation along the border in Kim Jong Eun’s name, but this time it is focused on the soldiers.”

“The decree says to arrest and severely punish soldiers who have aided and abetted in defection, to pull out the roots; so the investigation has been harsh from the very beginning.”

The two previous investigations into defection from the border region, both said to have been launched in the name of the successor, happened in February and April this year, as reported by The Daily NK. However, this is the first time that attention has turned away from defectors themselves and towards those soldiers who help facilitate a lot of the escapes.

“There are two members of an investigation team from Defense Security Command going to every guard post, and they are questioning the soldiers one by one,” the source said.

It is well known both within and without North Korea that border guards are commonly bribed to turn a blind eye to defection. Through very serious questioning and the threat of severe punishment, the authorities are presumably hoping to kill two birds with one stone; both hindering further defections and re-instilling military discipline.

However, the new investigation has already inspired at least two guards from one post to desert instead of face censure, according to the source.

“Two men from a guard post in the Hyesin-dong area of Hyesan took their weapons and deserted, so now they are in the middle of a house-to-house investigation,” the source explained, adding, however, “People are saying, ‘They’ve already fled to China, why the hell would they still be in the country?’”

Although nobody knows why the two men chose to desert, the source said he had heard that they were indeed involved in defections, and feared punishment.

Across the Tumen River in Changbai, China, meanwhile, there is also an unusually intense investigation going on, according to sources there. It is suspected that the two events are related.

A source explained, “Public security officers and soldiers are stopping and investigating cars one by one. I heard that soldiers from North Korea deserted with their guns, so maybe it is because of that.”

Of course, the investigation is hurting small traders, too.

“Big-time smugglers are not having problems,” the Yangkang Province source explained. “But day-to-day small scale smugglers are complaining about the investigation. Border guards are telling them to put up with it just a little more.”

Read the full story here:
Border Investigators Turned on Soldiers
Daily NK
Lee Seok-young
2011-6-3

DPRK Public Trial Video

There is a video on YouTube (via South Korean television) that purportedly shows a public trial that took place last April in Sinuiju (RFA).  While I do believe the footage comes from the DPRK, I do not believe it is from Sinuiju.  I have scoured satellite imagery of all the stadiums and football fields in Sinuiju and surrounding counties and I cannot find a match.  Can someone prove me wrong?

There is an (increasingly hard to find) older video of a public trial in Hamju County (함주군) which clearly matches the satellite imagery. You can see the video here.  The stadium where it was filmed is here.

Kim Jong-il’s Only Televised Speech in the DPRK

In an earlier “Friday Fun” post, I linked to a parody of Kim Jong Il’s only televised speech in the DPRK.  Here is his actual and only speech!

Kimchi Dog

For the dog lovers: I thought this clip of a North Korean dog carrying a kimchi bucket near Kim Il-sung square in Pyongyang was cute.

DPRK No 2 Happiest Country?

A Chinese blog post, picked up by the Shanghaiist, went viral this week.  The story:

China is the happiest place on earth(!!) according to a new global happiness index released by North Korea’s Chosun Central Television. China earned 100 out of 100 points, followed closely by North Korea (98 points), then Cuba, Iran, and Venezuela. Coming in at 203rd place is America (or rather “the American Empire”, 美帝国), with only 3 happiness points. South Korea got a measly 18 points for 152nd place.

Frankly, I don’t think most North Koreans would believe this story if they saw it on television.

I tried to learn more, but the source material is proving difficult to locate. There is no mention of the “study” in KCNA.  I have also gone through my archives of recent North Korean television footage and I am unable to locate the broadcast.  Does anyone know when the original video clip was aired?

For what it is worth, Freedom House just ranked the DPRK as the country with the world’s worst human rights record (again).

Did the DPRK Get a New Yacht?

While scouring new imagery of Wonsan on Google Earth, I noticed that a port, holding what many believe are ships for elite use, seemed to be +1 yacht.  Both are about 48m long.  The two pictures above are dated 2002-11-11(left) and 2009-10-3 (right). It is possible that the second yacht was moved from another location.  In 2009 the sale of two yachts to the DPRK was detected and halted.

New Google Earth Imagery of the Kumgang Resort

We can now see all the properties that the DPRK has “seized” from Hyundai-Asan: Family Reunion Center,  Kumgangsan Hotel, Mokranwon Restaurant, Kumgang Golf Course and more!

Pictured above (Google Earth): April 2010 satellite imagery of the Kumgang tourist resort

The Kumgang resort was receiving 400,000 visitors per year until in July 2008 it became the scene of a terrible tragedy, the shooting of a South Korean tourist. Following the incident, the South Korean government prohibited its citizens from visiting the resort until the DPRK allowed a joint-Korean investigation of the shooting and made a guarantee of future safety.  The DPRK never agreed to these terms so the park fell idle.

The suspension of the project has cost the DPRK government millions of dollars. In response it has moved to pressure the ROK government to change course and allow the tours to resume. Below I have kept a timeline of the course of these events and their outcomes.

___________

2010-3-10: DPRK threatens to revoke contracts with South Korean partner, Hyundai-Asan

2010-3-18: Hyundai-Asan’s chief offers to resign

2010-3-18: DPRK threatens to seize Kumgang Resort

2010-3-24: Investors worried about losing out

2010-4-11:The DPRK “seizes” the Hyundai properties in the Kumgang resort

2010-4-11: Employees told to leave/sealed up

2010-4-11: Chinese tourists began arriving at the resort (here and here).

2010-4-23: Seoul denounces the seizure

2010-4-25: The National Defense Commission takes over the properties and puts the Korea Taepung International Investment Group in charge of attracting investors and tourists to the resort.

2010-5-3: Most South Korean and Chinese employees leave

2010-5-16: Taephung shows Chinese investors Kumgang

2010-8-7: DPRK using Kumgagn assets to serve tourists in the North

2010-10-31: Family reuniuons were held there in October/November

2010-11-15: Kumgang re-fozen

2011-4-1: DPRK rescinds Hyundai’s Kumgang contract rights

2011/4/29: SPA designates Kumgang special zone

2011-6-2: ”DPRK Law on Special Zone for International Tour of Mt. Kumgang” released. PDF of the statute here

2011-8-6: Steve Parks claims he has signed an MOU with the DPRK government

2011-8-19: Hyundai officials visit Kumgang amid dispute over fate of company assets

2011-8-22: DPRK orders expulsion of remaining South Korean staff, auctioning of assets

2011-8-23: South Korean workers leave Kumgang

2011-8-24: Kumgang opened to DPRK and Chinese toursits

2011-8-28: Taephung Investment Group outlines new Kumgang business plan

2011-8-30: South Korea calls for international boycott of Kumgangsan resort

2011-8-31: Chinese tourists arrive in Kumgang on Mangyongbong.

2011-9-6: Park Chol-su, head of Daepung International Investment Group, said he wants to discuss with South Korea’s Hyundai Asan how to handle its assets at the North’s Mount Kumgang.

2011-9-6: South Korea asks foreigners not to invest in Kumgang saying such investments would violate existing property rights.

Pictured above (Google Maps): No. 91 Office

According to the Daily NK:

No. 91 Office, as it is known, is allegedly run under the auspices of the General Bureau of Reconnaissance.

A defector with substantial experience of conditions there offered information on the situation as far back as 2006 at the NKnet-organized “2011 North Korean Cyber Terror Seminar.”

The defector was unable to attend the seminar in person due to fears for his safety, but via pre-produced materials he explained how No. 91 Office is located in a set of two two-storey buildings in the Dangsang-dong of Mankyungdae-district, and how he entered the buildings on a number of occasions thanks to his relations with traders and cadres affiliated to it.

Additionally, satellite images were used to show the location of the office, just 300m from Ansan Bridge across the Botong River.

The defector also detailed the staff of No. 91 Office; the head, in 2006 a PhD-holding colonel in his 40s, a Party secretary ranked lieutenant-colonel, a similarly-ranked National Security Agency agent and around 80 staff, all in their 20s and 30s.

The 80 staff, all excellent minds selected from Kim Il Sung University, Chosun Computer University, Kim Chaek University of Technology and other elite schools, often spoke of ‘business trips’ to Shenyang and Dandong in China, the source explained.

The No. 91 Office-affiliated trade arm had five workers at the time, and is known as the ‘May 18th Trading Company, he added. Through it, the No. 91 Office allegedly obtains the equipment to do its work and provides hackers and other staff with daily necessities.

The unit has a 35-seater bus and two cars with number plates starting with ‘33’ or ‘34’, officially denoting vehicles belonging to the Mining Industry Department of the Cabinet.

Here and here are previous post on the Reconnaissance Bureau.

Here is a post on similar cyber warfare units in the DPRK: Mirim College and Moranbong University

Read the full story here:
No. 91 ‘Hackers HQ’ Revealed
Daily NK
Kim So Yeol
2011-6-1

Below are links to some recent publications on particular aspects of the DPRK:

Engaging North Korea: The Role of Economic Statecraft
East-West Center
Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland
Policy Studies, No. 59

KPA Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4 – April 2011
Joseph Bermudez
Topics: MiG-29 in KPAF Service, Organizaiton changes following SPA (Madden), Addendums

Exodus to North Korea Revisited: Japan, North Korea, and the ICRC in the “Repatriation” of Ethnic Koreans from Japan
Japan Focus
Tessa Morris-Suzuki

The Pyongyang Times reports that Oxfam Hong Kong is providing farming assistance to the DPRK:

Oxfam Hong Kong is increasing aid to the DPRK’s agricultural sector.

The Hong Kong charity founded in 1976 is dedicated to helping victims of famine and natural disasters and is engaged in rendering humanitarian aid and education.

It has been giving aid to the DPRK since 1997.

In recent years it has supplied farming materials and food on several occasions via the Korean Committee for Promotion of International Trade to the Ryonghyon Cooperative Farm in Suan County, North Hwanghae Province and other farms.

The farms and the KCPIT are very grateful to the Hong Kong charity for their kind-hearted aid and hope for a wider range of relief activities.

The Oxfam Hong Kong webpage is here. I cannot find any information on their projects in the DPRK.