UPDATE 1 (2014-6-12): Witness to Transformation has an update here.
ORIGINAL POST (2014-6-4): Nicholas Eberstadt has written an interesting article on trends in the DPRK’s trade patterns from 2002-2013.
Here is just one graph:
Dr. Eberstadt draws some counter-intuitive conclusions that cannot be observed directly from the published data. You can read all about the published data on the DPRK’s 2013 trade statistics here.
Pictured above (Google Earth): Mt. Paektu and the locations of tourist infrastructure on the Chinese and Korean side of the border.
According to Yonhap:
North Korea is set to open its portion of the Korean Peninsula’s highest mountain to Chinese tourists this month, a travel agency official said Wednesday, resuming the tour route that has been suspended since the North conducted its third nuclear test.
If realized, it would represent another bid by North Korea to increase tourism income by approving more tour routes that start in Chinese cities.
The peninsula’s highest peak, Mt. Baekdu, sits on the border between North Korea and China. Tourists can visit the Chinese side of the mountain, but the tour route to the North Korean portion has been halted following the North’s nuclear test in February last year.
The two-day or three-day tour to the North Korean side of the 2,749-meter mountain starts from the Chinese border city of Helong in the northeast of China. Helong is part of the Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture in China’s Jilin Province and a popular border town for travel to North Korea.
The official at the travel agency in Helong, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the tour route will be reopened in the middle of this month.
“It is the only route for tourists from China to see the eastern side of Mt. Baekdu,” the official said, adding that the trip will only be available for Chinese tourists.
The two-day trip will cost 1,100 yuan (US$175.8) per person and the three-day trip will cost 1,350 yuan, according to the official.
North Korea is one of the world’s most secretive and isolated nations, but Pyongyang has stepped up efforts to attract foreign tourists, particularly those from China.
Earlier last month, North Korea started its first one-day cycling trip from the Chinese border city of Tumen. The tour is not available for non-Chinese travelers.
Recently the DPRK has also welcomed day tourists to Namyang and Hoeryong.
Previous posts on tourism here.
Read the full story here:
N. Korea, China to resume tours to Korean Peninsula’s highest mountain
Yonhap
2014-6-4
According to Yonhap:
North Korea’s food ration dropped to its lowest level in four months in May, a U.S. radio report said Tuesday, in what could be the latest sign of chronic food shortages.
North Korea doled out 410 grams of food for each person per day in May, compared with 420 grams on average in February, the Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) said, citing the U.N. World Food Programme.
The North’s daily food ration is lower than the WFP’s minimum recommended amount of 600 grams and the North Korean regime’s target amount of 573 grams, the radio said.
North Korea reports information on its food distribution to the United Nations every month to receive international food assistance.
North Korea said it distributed food to 16 million out of 24 million people, though it could not be verified how many North Koreans receive the food ration through the public distribution system, the radio said.
In May, Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the WFP, said her agency’s nutrition program for North Korean children and pregnant women stands at a “very crucial juncture” due to a lack of funding.
She said that the U.N. food agency has received only 20 percent of the funding required to implement the program, which is “critically underfunded.”
The WFP’s humanitarian aid to North Korea reached US$26.56 million last year, compared to $86.94 million in 2012, according to the U.N. food agency.
The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s, when it suffered a widespread famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.
Voice of America also reports on this.
Here are previous posts on the DPRK’s food (2013, 2014) and agriculture situations.
Read the full story here:
N. Korea’s food ration hits lowest level in 4 months
Yonhap
2014-6-3
According to KCNA:
Number of Chinese Tourists Grows in DPRK
Pyongyang, June 2 (KCNA) — The tour by Chinese was conducted in the Rason area of the DPRK from May 31 to June 2, under an agreement made between the DPRK’s Rason International Travel Company and China’s Yanbian Arirang International Travel Agency.
Involving in the tour were more than 40 Chinese, who toured Pipha Islet, the Rason Taehung Trading Company, Rajin Port and other places by private cars.
This was the eighth batch of Chinese this year to visit the DPRK by private cars.
In this regard, an official at the Tourism Bureau of the Rason City People’s Committee, told KCNA:
“The tour by private cars began in June Juche 100 (2011), with due ceremony in the Rason economic and trade zone. Since then, more than 1 300 tourists have made trips to the area by more than 300 private cars in 70-odd batches.
Other forms of tourism are expected to grow in scope.”
