North Korean Economy Watch

Update 2 - 6/9/2008: YouTube video of the game

Both national anthems played

North Korean tem thanks the fans 

Update 1 -  4/3/2008: Interesting coment on DPRK sports social norms below… 

By pure serendipity I happened to be in Shanghai last week when the DPRK and South Korea faced off in their first world cup qualifier.  As readers are aware, this match was supposed to be held in Pyongyang, but after the DPRK refused to raise the South Korean flag (preferring instead a single “unification” flag), FIFA moved the game to Shanghai.

Both flags were raised and national anthems were played–then the players took to the field.  The game was pretty exciting.  Although the final score was 0-0 both teams played like they wanted to win.  The South Koreans were the clear favorites, so it was a surprise when the game ended in a tie.  Fortunately, I could not contact my bookie from China.

Above: the North Korean fans sitting directly below me.

Although it was a “home” game for the North Koreans they were drastically out-numbered by Southerners and contained together in their own section.

Scarves available from Koryo Tours!

The Northerners were quite accessible, however, in the hallways at half-time and after the game. The few I spoke with were language students, business students, engineering students, and businessmen, mostly all from Beijing and Shanghai.  They were organized into groups like Japanese tourists, but it was nice they made the effort bringing out some supporters for the home team. 

Thanks to Simon for the tickets, scarves, and the title.

UPDATE
nkmonitor:
The DPRK fans seem pretty friendly. By the way, where they mostly Chaoxian Zu or actual DPRK citizens? Where they aware of the controversy surrounding the match?

Simon: 
All the ones in white clothes (as seen in the pics taken from above) were full-on DPRK citizens, as mentioned in the piece above they were mostly working in Beijing and Shanghai; there were airline staff, businessmen, students, waitresses, etc all there. The Chinese chaoxian zu seemed to be sitting on the upper stand across the stadium, at least there were a load of people dressed drably, not really making any noise and they had a couple of NK flags out so I assume this was them. The NKs in the lower stand made a bit of noise and had big singalong at the end. When people attend matches in Pyongyang they tend to just sit in silence regardless of how it is going so this did make a refreshing change from that scenario.

Joong Ang Daily
1/18/2008

North Korean athletes will enter the 2008 Beijing Olympics in August with a completely different concept of international sport to the one embraced by former Cold War allies.

Eastern Bloc states used to spend heavily on sports systems that turned out Goliaths, whose wins at the Olympics were used to validate what they argued was a superior political system.

The impoverished North, however, is happier playing the role of David, where its rare wins are attributed to the teachings of pudgy leader Kim Jong-il and its losses are blamed on a playing field made unfair by its foes.

“North Korea’s paranoid nationalism can use defeat just as well as it can use victory,” said Brian Myers, an associate professor at Dongseo University in Seoul, South Korea. He specializes in analyzing the North’s ideology. The reclusive North spends its limited resources to inspire its masses and not to impress the outside world on the playing field.

“North Korean nationalism does not boast that North Koreans are physically superior to other races,” Myers explained. The North’s propaganda spreads the message of being morally superior.

North Korea is likely to grab a handful of medals in Beijing in sports such as judo, weightlifting or wrestling. It has shunned overtures from the South to compete as a joint team in Beijing, which could bring it greater sports glory, because its neighbor wants to field a squad with the best athletes on the Korean Peninsula. The North wants equal representation. At the 2004 Athens Olympics, South Korea won 30 medals while the North took five. Their combined 35 would have been seventh highest, just below the 37 of their mutual arch-rival Japan.

“North Korea has realized at this stage that no number of victories on the sports stage could change the country’s reputation as an economic basket case,” Myers said.

North Korea’s athletes may be better at providing entertainment for the opening ceremony than at competing. The North’s biggest sports spectacle is its Arirang Mass Games, a circus-like extravaganza that includes legions of teenage girl gymnasts, goose-stepping soldiers flashing taekwondo kicks and a massive flip-card animation section.

The message of the event, in which some 100,000 play a role, is that the group is North Korea’s strength, and the group reveres and protects the leaders of the destitute state.

Sports are often associated with the ruling communist party, featuring competitions with farming collectives, factory workers and soldiers. Its best athletes are celebrated for upholding “the dignity of the nation”.

“Sports constitute a powerful driving force in firmly preparing the entire people for national defense and labor,” its official media said, citing the teachings of state founder Kim Il Sung.

The North relishes the role of underdog. When one of its athletes or teams achieves even moderate success, it makes the most of the victory, proclaiming it a result of the state’s military-first policy and its self-reliance ideal called “juche.” And of course, Dear Leader Kim Jong-il, who is celebrated in state propaganda for penning operas, piloting jet fighters and shooting 11 holes-in-one the first time he played golf, also turns out to be a remarkable motivator for athletes.

After Jong Song-ok won the women’s marathon gold at the 1999 World Athletic Championships in Seville, state media quoted her as saying: “I ran the race picturing the great leader of our people Kim Jong-il. This greatly encouraged me and was the source of my strength.”

Kye Sun-hui, North Korean Olympic gold medalist in women’s judo, said Kim “gave her strength, courage, matchless guts and pluck.”

The most authoritative map of North Korea on Google Earth
North Korea Uncovered v.7
Download it here

This map covers North Korea’s agriculture, aviation, cultural locations, manufacturing facilities, railroad, energy infrastructure, politics, sports venues, military establishments, religious facilities, leisure destinations, and national parks. It is continually expanding and undergoing revisions. This is the sixth version.

Additions to the latest version of “North Korea Uncovered” include: A Korean War folder featuring overlays of US attacks on the Sui Ho Dam, Yalu Bridge, and Nakwon Munitians Plant (before/after), plus other locations such as the Hoeryong Revolutionary Site, Ponghwa Revolutionary Site, Taechon reactor (overlay), Pyongyang Railway Museum, Kwangmyong Salt Works, Woljong Temple, Sansong Revolutionary Site, Jongbansan Fort and park, Jangsan Cape, Yongbyon House of Culture, Chongsokjong, Lake Yonpung, Nortern Limit Line (NLL), Sinuiju Old Fort Walls, Pyongyang open air market, and confirmed Pyongyang Intranet nodes.

Disclaimer: I cannot vouch for the authenticity of many locations since I have not seen or been to them, but great efforts have been made to check for authenticity. These efforts include pouring over books, maps, conducting interviews, and keeping up with other peoples’ discoveries. In many cases, I have posted sources, though not for all. This is a thorough compilation of lots of material, but I will leave it up to the reader to make up their own minds as to what they see. I cannot catch everything and I welcome contributions.

The most authoritative map of North Korea on Google Earth
North Korea Uncovered: Version 6
Download it here

This map covers North Korea’s agriculture, aviation, cultural locations, manufacturing facilities, railroad, energy infrastructure, politics, sports venues, military establishments, religious facilities, leisure destinations, and national parks. It is continually expanding and undergoing revisions. This is the sixth version.

Additions to the newest version of North Korea Uncovered include: Alleged Syrian nuclear site (before and after bombing), Majon beach resort, electricity grid expansion, Runga Island in Pyongyang, Mt. Ryongak, Yongbyon historical fort walls, Suyang Fort walls and waterfall in Haeju, Kaechon-Lake Taesong water project, Paekma-Cholsan waterway, Yachts (3), and Hyesan Youth Copper Mine.

Disclaimer: I cannot vouch for the authenticity of many locations since I have not seen or been to them, but great efforts have been made to check for authenticity. These efforts include pouring over books, maps, conducting interviews, and keeping up with other peoples’ discoveries. In many cases, I have posted sources, though not for all. This is a thorough compilation of lots of material, but I will leave it up to the reader to make up their own minds as to what they see. I cannot catch everything and I welcome contributions.

Joong Ang Daily
Brian Lee
11/1/2007

Newspapers indicate a desire for more outside interactions

North Korea is increasingly sending out signals through its state media indicating a desire to interact more with the outside world.

The North’s communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun said in an editorial earlier this week that it is no longer a time for production and construction to be achieved through the workers’ bare hands alone.

“We are stressing self-sufficiency, but that does not mean we are disregarding international economic relations while striving to build our economy,” the newspaper said. “The republic has always maintained its position that it wants to have good relations, even with capitalist countries.”

The Chosun Sinbo, a pro-Pyongyang newspaper in Japan widely believed to be representing North Korea’s views, also said this week that progress in the six-party talks reflected Pyongyang’s political will to improve ties with neighboring countries.

“The nuclear test was Pyongyang’s tool to change the stalemate with Washington,” said Koh Yoo-hwan, a North Korean specialist at Dongguk University. “It got its attention and now both sides are talking. The diplomatic exchanges with other countries are a sign from the North that it can accept capitalist methods and that it is open to the outside. This is not coming just out of the blue. In the North everything is planned from the top and all these moves are done strategically. They want to connect to the outside.”

Yesterday, North Korea restored diplomatic ties with Burma after 24 years of severed ties over the North’s involvement in a bomb attack on South Korean cabinet members in 1983, The Associated Press reported.

North Korean Premier Kim Yong-il has also embarked on a rare sweep of the Asian region, visiting Vietnam last week with Malaysia, Cambodia and Laos also on his itinerary.

Washington has tried in its own way to lure the isolated North more into the open.

A visit by the New York Philharmonic to the North is being pondered while the JoongAng Sunday reported that the North’s women’s soccer team may visit the United States.

In a related development, Christopher Hill, Washington’s chief representative to the six-party talks, met with his North Korean counterpart Kim Gye-gwan in Beijing yesterday to discuss progress in the nuclear negotiations.

Hill is scheduled to arrive in Seoul today to brief officials here on the meeting, a government official said yesterday on condition of anonymity.

Foreign Minister Song Min-soon told reporters a U.S. team of nuclear experts is scheduled to enter the North today to take actual steps to disable the North’s key nuclear facilities. Pyongyang said earlier this week that such measures would start within this week.

Version 5: Download it here (on Google Earth) 

This map covers North Korea’s agriculture, aviation, cultural locations, manufacturing facilities, railroad, energy infrastructure, politics, sports venues, military establishments, religious facilities, leisure destinations, and national parks. It is continually expanding and undergoing revisions. This is the fifth version.

Additions to the latest version of “North Korea Uncovered” include updates to new Google Earth overlays of Sinchon, UNESCO sites, Railroads, canals, and the DMZ, in addition to Kim Jong Suk college of eduation (Hyesan), a huge expansion of the electricity grid (with a little help from Martyn Williams) plus a few more parks, antiaircraft sites, dams, mines, canals, etc.

Disclaimer: I cannot vouch for the authenticity of many locations since I have not seen or been to them, but great efforts have been made to check for authenticity. These efforts include pouring over books, maps, conducting interviews, and keeping up with other peoples’ discoveries. In many cases, I have posted sources, though not for all. This is a thorough compilation of lots of material, but I will leave it up to the reader to make up their own minds as to what they see. I cannot catch everything and I welcome contributions.

I hope this map will increase interest in North Korea. There is still plenty more to learn, and I look forward to receiving your additions to this project.

Washington Post
Steven Goff
9/11/2007

CHENGDU, China, Sept. 11 — North Korea wrested a tie from the heavily favored United States women’s soccer team in the opening round of the World Cup Tuesday night, scoring two goals within four minutes after an injury to a star U.S. forward left the Americans with just 10 players on the field.

U.S. Coach Greg Ryan elected to play shorthanded in anticipation of star striker Abby Wambach returning later in the game. Wambach did return, but only after the Americans lost their one-goal lead and fell behind, 2-1.

In the 69th minute, Heather O’Reilly ripped a perfectly placed shot to the upper corner to salvage a 2-2 tie before 35,100 spectators on a rainy night at Chengdu Sports Center Stadium.

The U.S. team — which has never finished worse than third in four previous World Cups — will face 2003 runner-up Sweden here Friday and play African champion Nigeria next Tuesday in its Group B finale. The top two finishers in that group will advance to the quarterfinals.

Despite their status as the tournament favorite, the Americans learned very quickly that Tuesday’s match was not going to be easy.

Ryan offered a mild surprise in his starting lineup, moving left back Stephanie Lopez — at age 21,the team’s youngest player — into the midfield and playing with only three defenders. There had been speculation that he might also use two forwards instead of the usual three to offset North Korea’s midfield strengths, but on this night, Ryan stuck with his dangerous trio of Wambach, O’Reilly and Kristine Lilly.

The North Koreans adapted better than the Americans to the wet conditions, using their technical skill to take the early initiative and mount a steady attack. An early shot on goal skipped wide in the opening minute, and a long ball out of the back forced U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo to come off her line and smother the ball before a Korean forward could make contact.

The Americans then began to find their footing and put pressure on North Korea’s keeper. Lori Chalupny poked an eight-yard attempt wide, O’Reilly created space on the left side of the penalty area and Cat Whitehill pounded three free kicks from distance into the box.

In the 26th minute, Korean midfielder Ri Un Suk nearly broke the scoreless deadlock with a 25-yard shot that streaked fractionally wide of the left post. Thirteen minutes later, Kim Yong Ae, who had replaced the injured Ho Sun Hui midway through the half, sent a glancing header just beyond the left corner.

The best threat, however, belonged to the Americans as Wambach headed Lopez’s corner kick off the crossbar and Lilly’s rebound bid was deflected wide.

Intermission arrived without a goal. But in the second half, the match opened up.

The Americans went ahead in the 50th minute when Lilly supplied a superb pass to Wambach clear on the right side of the box. Wambach’s 14-yard attempt had just enough pace and direction to skip off goalkeeper Jon Myong Hui’s hands and fall into the far corner of the net. It was her 78th goal in 97 international appearances.

After Lilly sent a 20-yard free kick just wide of the left post, the match took a wild and unexpected turn.

Wambach bumped heads with a Korean player and suffered a cut in the back of her head. Wambach had to leave the game with blood pouring from her head. She headed toward the locker room for repairs, and had just passed behind the U.S. bench when the Koreans struck for the 58th-minute equalizer.

Solo was in proper position to handle Kil Son Hui’s rising 22-yard shot, but let the ball slide between her wet gloves and drop into the net.

Things continued to unravel for the Americans when, in the 62nd minute, Kim Yong Ae took advantage of a wayward U.S. clearance and slid a 12-yard shot into the far corner, putting the Koreans ahead and sparking a wild celebration on the field and in the stands.

Wambach returned two minutes later, bringing the U.S. team back to full strength. In the 69th minute, Lilly’s cross was deflected twice to O’Reilly, who stung a 10-yarder into the top far corner.

Solo made amends for her earlier gaffe with a spectacular diving save on a laser shot by Ri Un Gyong. In a pregame news conference, FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter expressed concern about the lopsided result of Monday’s tournament opener — an 11-0 victory by Germany over Argentina — and the ramifications it might have on the organizing body’s decision on whether to expand the field to 24 teams from 16 in 2011.

“Definitely, I did not like this result,” he said. “This is not good when we look forward to the future to perhaps have 24 teams.”

However, in response to a follow-up question, Blatter added: “It’s only the first match. For us, it will be good if we can open this competition because in 1995 I said the future of football is feminine and it is still feminine.”

FIFA (the International Federation of Association Football) will decide this fall whether to expand the field and also determine the host country for the 2011 tournament. Canada, Germany, Australia and Peru are the top candidates, Blatter said.

Joong Ang Daily
8/8/2007

North Korean youth soccer players arrive yesterday at Incheon International Airport. The North Korean team will participate in the U-17 World Cup organized by FIFA in South Korea from Aug. 18 through Sept. 9.

Now available on Google Earth! 
(click above to download to your own Google Earth)

North Korea Uncovered v.3

Google Earth added a high-resolution overlay of the area between Pyongyang and Nampo.  In it, most of the Koguryo tombs listed with UNESCO are now distinguishable.  In addition, viewers can see the latest Kim Jong Il palace (including a yacht), the DPRK’s premier golf course, and the Chinese-built Taean Glass factory.  I have also made some progress in mapping out the DPRK electricity grid.

This is the most authoritative map of North Korea that exists publicly today.  Agriculture, aviation, cultural institutions, manufacturing, railroad, energy, politics, sports, military, religion, leisure, national parks…they are all here, and will captivate anyone interested in North Korea for hours.

Naturally, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of many locations since I have not seen or been to them, but great efforts have been made to check for authenticity. In many cases, I have posted sources, though not for all. This is a thorough compilation of lots of material, but I will leave it up to the reader to make up their own minds on the more “controversial” locations. In time, I hope to expand this further by adding canal and road networks.

I hope this post will launch a new interest in North Korea. There is still plenty more to learn, and I look forward to hearing about improvements that can be made.

Since China’s star Olympic athletes have signed endorsement contracts with western sports apparel firms, their Chinese competitors have looked to the “Land of the Morning Calm” to help them cash in on the ‘08 Olympics (and beyond)…

Press release here (PDF): News_Release_Sponsorship_17Jan07.pdf

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Female Weightlifters, Spanish Basketball Stars, and Kim Jong-il
Slate
Jacob Leibenluft
7/25/2007

Chinese companies can’t compete with the world powers when it comes to locking up megastars. Olympic gold-medalist hurdler Liu Xiang, who will likely emerge as the biggest Chinese star of the Beijing games, has a deal with Nike. One of China’s leading sports-marketing consultants told me that every starter on the national basketball team has a deal with a foreign brand. Yi Jianlian, whom the Milwaukee Bucks selected with the sixth pick of the NBA draft, had a Nike contract by the time he was 16.

…

At the same time, Chinese shoe companies’ Billy Beane-like quest for hidden value has led to a few questionable decisions. Most sneaker companies would shy away from sponsoring the North Korean Olympic team. At the 2004 Summer Games in Athens, the DPRK won a grand total of five medals, none of them gold. Besides, the Hermit Kingdom doesn’t exactly conjure up the kind of brand associations most shoe companies are looking for. But Erke’s sponsorship of North Korea has a simple explanation. North Korea’s strongest sports include gymnastics, table tennis, and diving, all of which draw huge support and TV audiences in China.