North Korean Economy Watch

UPDATE 9 (11/5/2010): The Joong-Ang Ilbo posts images of the gift bags given by North Koreans to their Southern relatives.

UPDATE 8 (11/1/2010): The reunion has ended.  According to Yonhap:

After being reunited in North Korea for three days, 97 families separated by the Korean War bid one another farewell again on Monday, weeping over a reality forced upon them by six decades of conflict between their countries.

Touching the palms of their wrinkled hands to family members’ on the other side of closed bus windows, the South and North Koreans said their last words of blessing to each other on the final day of their reunions at this mountain resort in the communist state.

“I love you. I love you,” one South Korean woman shouted to her North Korean family member aboard a bus as it prepared to depart from the reunion center.

Many North Koreans stood up inside the bus for a better view of their South Korean family members waving at them. One of the three buses carrying North Koreans had its windows completely closed, muffling the words of its sobbing passengers.

As the white buses started to leave the center, the cries grew louder among the hundreds of South Korean family members sending them off. Many watched helplessly, long after the buses had disappeared. Some sat on the ground and broke down in yet more tears. One family member swore at the utter sadness of the scene, deploring the fact that none of the Koreans here could guarantee another meeting even though they lived only several hours’ drive from each other.

Millions of Koreans were separated during the 1950-53 Korean War that ended in a truce. Many of them have died over the years, and there are now 80,000 South Koreans on an official waiting list for reunions. The figure does not take into account the more than 40,000 applicants who have died or given up on the search.

Since 2000, when the Koreas held their first summit, they have briefly reunited over 17,000 people face-to-face and an estimated 3,700 via video. The latest reunions came as tension remained at the highest point in years after the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. The South blames the North, but Pyongyang denies any involvement.

The reunions, organized through the Red Cross channel, also came as the North tied additional future meetings to massive “humanitarian” assistance. In their Red Cross talks last week, the North demanded 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer from the South.

Yoo Chong-ha, the head of Seoul’s Red Cross, said he proposed holding the next round of reunions in March and to use the time until then to verify the whereabouts of family members being sought by the other side.

During their “farewell session” on Monday morning, the families sang traditional folk songs like “Arirang” together and made sure that their children could recognize each other through photos if and when the Koreas reunify.

Unable to stand up after a deep bow to his father, 62-year-old Ko Pae-il sobbed with his head down, grabbing the hands of the man from whom he was separated at the age of three.

Ko, who lives in Alabama in the United States, told his father that he was “sorry for not being able to be a good son.” His father, 81, who looked for him first, said, “It’s OK. It’s OK.”

Wearing a coat given to him by his family members from the South, Park Byong-jin, a 80-year-old North Korean, embraced his South Korean relatives in tears, promising to meet them again.

The governments of the two Koreas prohibit civilian contact without prior authorization. Promises of reunions rarely materialize, swayed heavily by the state of cross-border relations.

The North Koreans were generally restrained in their expressions and action, some freezing in front of journalists and cameras.

“Give me something I can remember you by,” Kim Kyeong-oh, a South Korean, said as he pleaded with his older brother, who was wearing a coat Kim had brought for him.

Many family members embraced, cheek to cheek. One South Korean woman moaned, muffling herself with a scarf, saying, “I won’t cry. So you shouldn’t cry, either, sister.” Another family toasted with soda as they wished for another chance to be reunited.

Parent-child reunions were rare in this week’s event, underscoring the growing number of people who die while waiting for their chance to reunite.

On Wednesday, another reunion event will take place at Mount Kumgang, bringing about 100 other South Koreans here. Those reunions will last until Friday.

UPDATE 7 (10/31/2010): More from Yonhap:

Swallowing the sorrow of having to part again in less than a day, Korean families reunited after 60 years of separation sang together, posed for photos and eventually broke down in tears on Sunday as they promised to meet again.

Exchanging the addresses of their homes on either side of the heavily armed border, some families prayed for a chance to be reunited again while others plunged into doldrums over fears that the two Koreas may never be one again.

“Their stress will peak tomorrow when they have to say goodbye to each other,” said Lee Jae-pil, a medical doctor assigned to the reunions of 100 families from both Koreas from Saturday to Monday.

The reunions brought about 430 South Koreans and 110 North Koreans together at this famed mountain resort in North Korea where the bright colors of autumn leaves matched the excitement of families meeting again for the first time since the Korean War.

The 1950-53 war ended in a truce rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two Koreas technically in a state of conflict to this day. No means of civilian contact is available between them, and over 80,000 South Koreans are on a waiting list for reunions with their loved ones in the North.

The figure does not take into account the South Korean applicants who have died while waiting, numbering more than 40,000.

South Korean Shim Boon-rye, 80, smiled as she sang a folk song about longing for loved ones, but burst into tears as soon as she finished. She then embraced her 77-year-old brother of North Korean citizenship who sang along with her, “How could I forget you? How could I forget you?”

Shim was one of many who sang — not out of pleasure but out of sorrow — here at this banquet hall, packed with people photographing each other for one last time and sharing snacks prepared by North Korean organizers.

The conviviality during a luncheon earlier in the day had mostly faded as the families began to face the reality that they would part on the third day of reunions.

“Ask your father everything you have ever wanted to know now, or you may regret it,” one family member told Ko Pae-il, a 62-year-old who was reunited with his 81-year-old father. Ko, a Korean-American from Alabama, had said earlier it was too “cruel” that he had to say goodbye to his father, from whom he was separated at the age of 3.

“Father, father, be healthy, OK?” Ko said, racked with sobs.

Such parent-child reunions were rare in this week’s event, underscoring the growing number of people who die while waiting for a chance to meet their loved ones again. Outbursts of tears grow fewer and fewer as the years go by, but the overwhelming sense of sorrow persists, South Korean Red Cross organizers say.

“As we approach the time to say goodbye, things to say and things not to say are all racing out of our hearts,” Kim Gyoo-byeong, a South Korean reunited with his uncle, said.

North Koreans typically refrained from giving truthful accounts of their lives in the impoverished North, instead praising the leadership of their leader Kim Jong-il and touting their socialist system.

Earlier during the luncheon, a North Korean family member stood up and sang a hymn to the “Dear Leader,” freezing the atmosphere momentarily.

Since 2000, when the Koreas held their first summit, they have briefly reunited more than 17,000 people face-to-face and an estimated 3,700 via video. The latest reunions come as tension remains at the highest point in years after the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. The South blames the North, but Pyongyang denies any involvement.

These reunions, organized through the Red Cross channel, also come as the North ties such events in the future to massive “humanitarian” assistance. In their Red Cross talks last week, the North demanded 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer from the South.

UPDATE 6 (10/31/2010): More information from Yonhap:

Cheerfully thrusting rice cakes into each other’s mouths and taking Polaroid pictures together, South and North Koreans separated by the Korean War six decades ago dined together on Saturday, hours after the families were reunited at this eastern mountain resort in the North.

The 97 families, including four parents who met with their children, set their hearts at ease as they shared warm food served at the family reunion center in Mount Kumgang just north of the heavily armed border between the Koreas.

The more than 570 people, about one fifth of them North Koreans, dined on “galbi,” or a Korean beef rib dish, beef soups, the Korean alcoholic beverage soju, smoked salmon, rice cakes and a variety of fruits that included grapes, oranges and bananas.

Many South Koreans improvised family photos by using Polaroid cameras, an invention that came in handy as the families had only three days to spend together.

“When we first met, it felt a bit awkward, because we didn’t really know each other,” Shin Il-woo, 46, said after she was reunited with the brother of her mother-in-law. “But eating together helped lighten things up.”

Kim Yeong-soon, who was reunited with her 77-year-old brother, said after the group dinner that she was already missing him. “I can’t wait until tomorrow when we can spend time by ourselves.”

The first day of reunions took place en masse at a banquet hall. The second day allowed the families to spend time together separate from the group.

“We’re going to dance together when we don’t have to worry about other people’s eyes on us,” said Jang Gyoo-chae, a 51-year-old who met with the brother-in-law of his wife. “We’ll have fun and not worry about ideology.”

South and North Korea, which respectively support capitalism and communism, remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce. The state of war has been the major blockade when families separated by the war sought to be reunited. Many family members have died after decades of longing. About 80,000 South Koreans are on an official waiting list for the reunions.

The event, which runs from Saturday to next Friday, is the first of its kind in a year.

Since 2000, when the Koreas held their first summit, they have briefly reunited over 17,000 people face-to-face and about 3,700 via video. The latest reunions come as tension remains at the highest point in years after the sinking of a South Korean warship in March. The South blames the North, but Pyongyang denies any involvement.

The reunions, organized through the Red Cross channel, also come as the North ties additional ones to massive humanitarian assistance. In their Red Cross talks last week, the North demanded 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer from the South.

“From the viewpoint that we are one nation, we should help each other. If the South opens up to us, we have a lot more to offer,” a North Korean Red Cross official said on the sidelines of the reunions that he was helping to organize.

On Seoul’s policy of linking large-scale aid to progress in Pyongyang’s denuclearization, another official said, “Such U.S.-like attitude must be abandoned. Would we use our nuclear arms to attack these people, the same nation as us?”

UPDATE 5 (10/30/2010): Koreas hold family reunion.  According to Yonhap:

Goh Bae-il, a 62-year-old man from South Korea, could not let go of the withered hands of his 81-year-old father from North Korea when they met for the first time in 60 years on Saturday in Red Cross-arranged reunions.

The two were separated in 1950 when the three-year Korean War broke out. The junior Goh was barely three years old and has since grown up in South Korea and the United States. The senior, a frail man who would not say how he ended up in North Korea, labored to extend his arm to his son as a teardrop rolled into the deep wrinkle under his eye.

The reunion, one of the 97 stories of separation and longing that unfolded at this scenic mountain resort in North Korea, underscored the pain and suffering that the six decades of national division has inflicted on Korean families.

The war technically continues to this day as it ended in a truce, blocking the citizens of the two Koreas from meeting or contacting each other freely.

The Gohs were one of only four cases on Saturday where a parent met his or her child.

“This must be a dream,” Ji Ja-ok, 79, said as she met with her 75-year-old brother, Ji Pal-yong, who was forcefully inducted into in the North Korean army during the war.

“We just assumed you were dead!” she said as she kept feeding her brother cookies and sweets that had been prepared on their table by the organizers of the reunion event.

Since South and North Korea held their first summit in 2000, a total of 18 reunions have been organized for separated family members on both sides. including the one that began Saturday.

Crying with her face buried in the laps of her 75-year-old brother, Kim Ok-ja recalled the years of longing and suffering their parents had to undergo before they passed away.

“They lived in sadness for not being able to see you again, brother,” she said. Kim Hyong-gun, patting his younger sister’s shoulders, tried to console her, saying that at least they were now reunited.

Kim Rye-jeong, 96, the oldest South Korean to travel to North Korea this week, was reunited with her 71-year-old daughter, and told her of the many nights she spent seeing the young image of her in her dreams.

“Now you’re here, now you’re here,” the mother told the daughter as tears welled in their eyes.

More than 80,000 South Koreans are waiting for a chance to be reunited with their family members left in the North. The official figure does not take into account those who may have given up on their search or the 40,000 applicants who have passed away.

Many families here brought presents that included bananas, watches, U.S. dollar bills, medicine, vitamins and clothes that would keep their loved ones warm in the North.

The families will part again on Monday after a series of reunion meetings. There is no hope that they will meet again anytime soon.

The latest reunions came amid a new wave of tensions after border soldiers of the two countries exchanged fire a day earlier. No casualties were reported in the incident. In March, a South Korean warship sank after being attacked by a torpedo blamed on the North.

Analysts say the North proposed the latest reunions in an apparent effort to ease tension and foster an atmosphere favorable for its hereditary power succession plan.

The Korean War broke out when North Korean forces stormed into South Korea in June 1950 and advanced as far as to the perimeter of the southeastern port city of Busan.

Upon intervention by U.S.-led U.N. forces, the North rolled back, forcing many South Koreans to join its retreating army. Hundreds of then-South Korean soldiers are believed to be still living in North Korea.

UPDATE 4 (10/27/2010): Koreas fail to regularize family reunions.  According to Yonhap:

South and North Korea on Wednesday failed to reach an agreement on holding regular reunions of families separated by the 1950-53 Korean War, officials said Wednesday. The two sides are to meet again on Nov. 25 at a yet-to-be-determined venue.

Earlier Wednesday, North Korea demanded 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer in humanitarian aid from South Korea in return for concessions on family reunions.

Red Cross delegates from Seoul told their North Korean counterparts here that their organization had no power to approve such massive aid, a South Korean official involved in the talks told reporters.

UPDATE 3 (10/27/2010): DPRK makes demands for aid in return for family reunions. According to Yonhap:

North Korea demanded 500,000 tons of rice and 300,000 tons of fertilizer in humanitarian aid from South Korea in return for concessions over reunions of families separated by the Korean War, officials said Wednesday.

Red Cross delegates from Seoul told their North Korean counterparts here that their organization had no power to approve such massive aid, one South Korean official involved in the talks told reporters.

The demand was made during the second day of the Koreas’ Red Cross talks. The North had asked on Tuesday that the sides increase “humanitarian cooperation projects” as a way to expand chances for families separated by the 1950-53 war to be reunited.

The talks in the North Korean border town of Kaesong came ahead of the first family reunions in a year at the Mount Kumgang resort in eastern North Korea from Saturday to next Friday, a sign of easing tension on the peninsula.

The official, asking not to be named because the talks were still underway, said his government was reviewing the demand. Another official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said South Korea “does not consider such large-scale aid as humanitarian.”

More than 80,000 South Koreans are waiting for a chance to be reunited with their loved ones left in the North after the 1950-53 war ended in a truce. About 20,800 Koreans have been reunited since 2000, when the countries’ governments held their first summit. Virtually no means of civilian contact are available between the two nations.

South Korea demanded during the two-day talks in Kaesong that the reunions be held at least nine times each year. The South Korean officials said North Korean delegates “tied the reunion issue to rice and fertilizer aid.”

“We may be able to discuss it in our next round of Red Cross talks,” one official said, adding the South proposed holding talks in late November in the South Korean border town of Munsan.

At the start of the meeting Wednesday, Choe Song-ik, head of the North Korean delegation, pressed South Korea on the earlier demand for humanitarian projects.

“There is a saying that one should not miss the right timing. Opportunities do not arise all the time, do they?” Choe said.

Choe also noted that Yoo Chong-ha, head of the South Korean Red Cross, was nearing the end of his tenure and may need showpiece achievements contributing to a thaw in inter-Korean relations.

Kim Yong-hyun, the chief South Korean delegate, responded by saying that his boss was working in his best capacity “regardless of his tenure.”

Kim said his side had “carefully studied” the North’s proposals made a day earlier and called for a more conciliatory stance from his counterpart.

Choe told Kim to “just have faith.”

“Without faith, feelings of insecurity arise,” he said. “All will go well if there is faith as one nation.”

Choe also said, tongue in cheek, “I saw chief delegate Kim carrying a fat briefcase” and that the South Korean “perhaps brought with him many good proposals.”

South Korea stopped sending massive food aid to North Korea after President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 with a pledge to link such assistance to progress in Pyongyang’s denuclearization efforts.

The relations between the divided countries hit the lowest point in years when the South condemned the North in May for the sinking of one of its warships. Forty-six sailors died in the sinking that the North denies any role in.

South Korea shipped 300,000-400,000 tons of rice to North Korea annually before Lee, a conservative, took over. The South this week is sending a shipment of 5,000 tons of rice to the North in flood aid through the Red Cross channel.

The North Korean Red Cross is also demanding that the South resume its cross-border tours to Mount Kumgang, where a South Korean tourist was shot to death in 2008 after apparently wandering into a restricted zone.

The tours immediately ground to a halt. North Korea says it has taken every measure to account for the shooting and guarantee safety, while the South calls for a renewed on-site probe and an array of tangible security measures.

Earlier this year, North Korea froze and seized South Korean facilities at the resort, including a family reunion center, in anger over Seoul’s refusal to resume the tours. The prospect for reopening the Mount Kumgang tours worsened when South Korea condemned the North for the Cheonan sinking.

The tours were long seen as a symbol of inter-Korean reconciliation and won Pyongyang millions of U.S. dollars every year until 2008. On Wednesday, the North renewed its demand that the two governments quickly hold dialogue on ways to revive the cross-border tourism project.

UPDATE 2 (10/6/2010): Two Koreas Exchange Lists of Family Reunions Applicants.  According to the Choson Ilbo:

North and South Korea on Tuesday exchanged lists of people who wish to attend reunions of families separated during the Korean War.

Both countries’ Red Cross organizations shared the lists of 200 applicants for the upcoming family reunions. Seoul and Pyongyang will now search for and match up applicants’ family members and exchange the results on Oct. 18.

The final lists will be announced and exchanged on Oct. 20 with only 100 applicants from each side to be permitted to attend the reunions at the end of the month.

Seoul’s Red Cross narrowed down its list from an initial 500 after assessing factors such as health and willingness to make the trip.

More than 80,000 Koreans in the South are waiting to see their family members in the North, but a Red Cross report shows about 260 of them die every month without being reunited.

After three rounds of talks last month the two sides agreed to hold the reunions at North Korea’s Mt. Kumgang resort from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5.

UPDATE 1 (10/1/2010): The two Koreas have agreed to reunions.  According to the BBC:

One hundred families from each side of the border will be allowed to meet their relatives from 30 October at a mountain resort in the North.

…

Officials from the two sides also agreed to hold another round of talks later in October to discuss how to hold the reunions on a more regular basis, South Korea’s Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-joo said.

The last reunions were held in October 2009.

The agreement comes after military officials from the two sides failed to make any progress in their first meeting in two years.

ORIGINAL POST: According to Evan Ramstad in the Wall Street Journal:

North and South Korea over the weekend took steps to hold another reunion of families separated by the 62-year division of the Korean peninsula, the first since last September and a sign that some relatively normal exchanges continue amid ongoing tensions between the two countries.

As happened last year, North Korea proposed the reunion, issuing a statement Saturday in which it also pressed for more aid to cope with recent flooding. South Korean officials said they’ll announce a package of flood assistance, including rice and other goods, on Monday.

South Korea said Sunday it viewed the reunion proposal positively and, as it did last year, suggested such events be scheduled regularly. North Korea has tended to use the reunions as a public-relations boost in recent years. This year’s reunion could take place as soon as this month, under the North’s proposal.

Since they began in 2000, 17 in-person reunions and seven video-conference events have been held, allowing about 21,000 people from the two Koreas to meet. In South Korea, about 90,000 have applied to meet relatives in North Korea.

No reunion occurred in 2008, when South Korea refused to participate after a South Korean tourist was shot and killed at a North Korean resort by a North Korean soldier.

Read the full story here:
North, South Korea Plan Family Reunion
Wall Street Journal
Evan Ramstad
9/12/2010

According to Yonhap:

The Unification Ministry said Monday it will ask law enforcement authorities to look into allegations that government officials took bribes in exchange for helping local traders bring in agricultural products from North Korea.

Rep. Choi Jae-sung of the main opposition Democratic Party claimed last week that the trading firms used the bribes after the ministry rejected their request to import shiitake mushrooms from North Korea for violating import conditions.

Choi claimed that multiple officials of a government agency, which he did not identify, exercised influence to help the traders win approval for the import, and received money in kickbacks. The lawmaker did not say how much money was given to them.

On Monday, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said that the ministry will refer the case to investigation authorities but denied that the ministry was involved in the alleged bribery.

Read the full story here:
Unification ministry calls for investigation into bribery allegations over inter-Korean trade
Yonhap
10/25/2010

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 10-10-25-1
10/25/2010

There has been a sharp drop in inter-Korean exchanges resulting from the chill in relations on the peninsula. This has led to a mere 3.6 percent of the inter-Korean cooperation fund being tapped as of the end of September. In 2009, 8.6 percent of the allocated funds were spent, but this year, even at the end of the third quarter, not even half that much has been allocated.

The National Assembly’s Unification, Foreign Affairs and Trade Committee found in an audit of the Ministry of Unification’s public documents that almost 1.2 trillion Won had been allocated for inter-Korean cooperative projects, but a mere 41.7 billion Won had been spent. 1.4 billion Won was spent on socio-cultural exchanges, while 13.1 billion Won was spent on humanitarian aid, 10.7 billion Won supported economic cooperative projects, and 16.7 billion Won was advanced in support of those companies and groups planning additional projects. On the other hand, the Ministry of Unification is loaning 60 billion Won from the inter-Korean cooperation fund to South Korean companies invested in economic cooperative projects that are suffering losses due to the May 24 measures, which restrict exchanges due to the sinking of the Cheonan.

In 2008, the first year of Lee Myung-bak’s administration, only 18.1 percent of the inter-Korean cooperation fund was spent, and this percentage has fallen every year since. Now at an all-time low, it appears that the rate of spending will continue to fall in the future. With the May 24 measures, the Kaesong Industrial Complex was exempted from trade restrictions. In addition, other inter-Korean trade worth approximately 80 million USD (90 billion Won) has been permitted. This includes 639 different cases of imported goods manufactured from raw materials or parts sent to the North prior to the May 24 restrictions, amounting to 31.15 million USD, and 269 cases of pre-ordered exports amounting to just over 49 million USD.

On the other hand, losses due to the halt of tourism to Mount Keumgang and Kaesong have amounted to 628.5 billion Won over the last two years. According to a report submitted to the National Assembly by the Korea Tourism Association on the impact of halting these tourism projects, losses of 548.2 billion Won had been incurred by August, and that is expected to grow to 628.5 billion Won by the end of the year.

Mount Keumgang tours were halted in July 2008, while Kaesong tours were stopped in November of the same year. Since then, the Korea Tourism Association has lost 10.5 billion Won in profits, while private-sector companies including Hyundai-Asan and its partners have lost 465.2 billion Won. In addition, restaurants, rest stops, visitor centers and other businesses in the border town of Koseong, Kangwon Province have lost 72.5 billion won due to the lack of tourists travelling across the border to Mount Keumgang, pushing total losses by the government and private sector to over 500 billion Won.

According to the APF:

North Korea is heading for a “chronic” new food crisis with drought and floods in different parts of the country exacerbated by cuts in international aid, the United Nations said.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern “that the acute humanitarian needs” of at least 3.5 million women and children in North Korea would worsen because of food shortages.

Even though North Korea is considered by many to be the world’s most isolated state, Ban said in a report to be discussed Friday that “the global economic crisis is further increasing the levels of hardship” adding to the “chronic food insecurity”.

South Korea on Friday said it had no immediate plan to resume large-scale food aid to North Korea despite the UN warning on the food crisis.

“The government stance is that in order for the massive government food aid to be resumed, overall inter-Korean relations must be taken into account,” Unification Ministry spokeswoman Lee Jong-Joo told AFP.

She stressed, however, that Seoul allows smaller-scale “humanitarian aid” to the North, including 5,000 tonnes of rice and other aid supplies currently being shipped victims of floods that devastated northwestern North Korea in August.

…

There has been a shortage of rainfall in some parts of the country but in August torrential downpours caused floods in the north, near the Chinese border.

The UN predicted that the cereal yield would be nearly a fifth lower than in 2009.

It said the country needs 3.5 million tons of cereals a year to feed its population and would have to import 1.1 million tons. In addition, UN agencies had raised only 20 percent of the 492 million dollars they estimated in 2009 would be needed for the North.

Ban quoted the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) as saying that each year, some 40,000 children under five become “acutely malnourished” in North Korea, with 25,000 needing hospital treatment.

“The lack of maintenance of water and sanitation systems increases rates of diarrhoea and acute respiratory infections, which are leading causes of child death.

“In addition, one third of women of childbearing age suffer from anaemia, a nutrition deficiency that is also a major cause of maternal mortality.”

The poor diet across the country leads to widespread “infectious diseases, physical and mental development disorders, poor labour productivity and an increased risk of premature death,” said the grim report.

A survey carried out by the government with UN support showed that about one third of the population suffer from stunting — below normal body growth. In some regions the figure was 45 percent.

The report was intended to be on human rights in North Korea and the UN chief said there was an “urgent need” for Kim Jong-Il’s regime to take steps to provide the basic right to food, water, sanitation and health.

The UN reported little change in the “comprehensive restrictions” on freedom of speech, religion and opinion in the tightly policed state. “The government’s control over the flow of information is strict and pervasive.”

Ban highlighted the difficulty in getting reliable information on events in the North.

But he said: “There are a number of reports concerning public executions, the use of torture, forced labour and the ill-treatment of refugees or asylum-seekers repatriated from abroad.”

His report said North Korea’s UN delegation had acknowledged that public executions were carried out for “very brutal violent crimes.”

It added that the UN envoy on rights in North Korea had raised concerns with the North’s mission about conditions in six prisons and detention centers reportedly used for political prisoners.

With the North embroiled in a dispute with South Korea over the sinking of a warship and in a nuclear arms standoff with the international community, Ban said humanitarian aid should not be restricted “on the basis of political and security concerns.”

Though unrelated to the UN findings, South Korea is shipping 5,000 tons of rice to the DPRK today. According to Yonhap:

The Red Cross aid, which is aimed at helping the North cope with the aftermath of floods, marks South Korea’s first government-funded provision of rice to the North since President Lee Myung-bak took office in early 2008 on a pledge to link aid to progress in efforts to end Pyongyang’s nuclear programs.

Seoul also plans to send a shipment of 10,000 tons of cement to the North later this week.

A total of 13.9 billion won (US$12.3 million) came from the government coffers to finance the flood aid.

Also Monday, three Red Cross officials prepared to fly to the Chinese city to receive the rice and instant noodles there and transport the relief supplies by truck to the flood-hit North Korean border city of Sinuiju, according to officials from the Red Cross and the Unification Ministry.

The cargo ships are expected to arrive in Dandong around Wednesday.

Rice will be delivered in five-kilogram packages, and each package is marked with “Donation from the Republic of Korea,” South Korea’s official name.

In August, South Korea first offered to provide relief aid to the North after devastating floods hit the communist nation. North Korea later asked for rice, heavy construction equipment and materials.

Stories about South Korean aid in 2010 can be found here.

China has also pledged food assistance. According to KBS:

A Japanese daily says China pledged 500-thousand tons of rice aid to North Korea during Kim Jong-il’s visit to China in August.

The New York Times raises the concern that food aid may be diverted.  According to the article:

Rice, a staple of the diets in both Koreas, is also a highly symbolic item in terms of food aid throughout Asia. The 5,000 tons of rice in the shipment on Monday can feed about 325,000 people for a month, according to Red Cross estimates.

Some analysts and aid workers expressed concern that the rice would likely be diverted to political elites, loyal party members and the military rather than delivered to the neediest in the North. That has been the pattern, they said, of previous government aid deliveries.

“I’m not unhappy about food going up, but I fear that this kind of government-to-government distribution to Pyongyang will be carried out along loyalty lines,” said Tim Peters, founder of the civic group Helping Hands Korea. “Distribution through small NGOs that are more strategically placed and can get the food into the interior and places like remote mining towns, that is the more intelligent strategy.”

Mr. Peters said his group, which primarily assists North Korean refugees, has received numerous reports from defectors from what he called “the Siberia of North Korea” that residents in the hinterlands “never see any of this kind of food aid.”

Five weeks ago, a truck convoy delivered 203 tons of rice to North Korea, the first rice donations of any kind from the South in nearly three years. That nongovernmental assistance, which was donated by charity groups and opposition political parties, came one day after a shipment of 530 tons of flour was sent by a South Korean provincial government and civic groups.

UPDATE: The New York Times also covers the opening.  According to the article:

In spite of all this, classes in technical English started Monday at the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology. A fuller curriculum in information technology, business management and agriculture is supposed to get under way in March.

“It’s amazing, and kind of a miracle,” said Park Chan-mo, one of the founders of the school, which was largely financed by contributions from evangelical Christian groups in the United States and South Korea. “Many people were skeptical, but we’re all Christians. We had faith.”

The driving force behind the school was Kim Chin-kyung, an American born in Seoul who founded a university in China in 1992. He made periodic trips from China into North Korea and in 1998 was arrested at his hotel in the capital and thrown into prison, accused of being an agent for the C.I.A.

The relentless interrogations went on for six weeks and almost broke him. “I was ready to die,” he said in a 2001 interview, even writing out a will and bequeathing his organs for transplants and medical study in Pyongyang.

He was finally released, he said, after convincing the authorities that “I was not the kind of person who would spy on them.”

In November 2000, a man appeared in his university office in China — oddly, the same man who had ordered his arrest for espionage in Pyongyang in 1998. But this time he had a proposal from the North Korean government: could he duplicate his Chinese technical university in Pyongyang?

“Doing business with North Korea is not for the faint of heart,” Mr. Kim said on the school’s Web site, “but the effort is ennobling and necessary.”

The first group of 160 undergraduate and master’s students has been chosen by the North Korean government, selected from its top colleges and from the political and military elite. Their tuition, room, board and books are all free, financed by foreign donors and individual sponsors. The plans call for an eventual student body of 2,600 and a faculty of 250, with classes in public health, architecture, engineering and construction.

Sixteen professors from the United States and Europe arrived in Pyongyang over the weekend. For now, no South Korean professors are allowed because of recent political tensions between the Koreas.

It seems an unlikely marriage — the hard-line Communist state and wealthy Christian capitalists — and it remains to be seen how well the match has been made.

North Korea, while reluctant to expose its citizens to the outside world, has been seeking foreign investment for its decrepit educational system. For their part, the evangelicals, who have antagonized the North by encouraging defections and assisting refugees after they cross over, are seeking a foothold inside the churchless state.

North Korea has made a similar bargain before. The Unification Church of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, not only a Christian but staunchly anti-Communist, operates a car factory in Pyongyang, for instance. But the church is allowed to make only cars, not Christians or capitalist converts.

There is no campus chapel at the new university, Dr. Park said, and there is not one in the plans. But neither, for now, are there any official portraits of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, or his father, the late Kim Il-sung, which hang in every school and public building in the North.

The $35 million, 240-acre campus includes a faculty guesthouse and world-class dormitories and classrooms, all of which are said to have running water, power and heat. The school has its own backup generators, but with so little diesel and gasoline available in the North, fuel has to be trucked in from neighboring China.

Classes will be taught in English, and Internet access has been promised to all students. The campus has sirens that go off before rolling electrical blackouts, so work on computers can be saved.

“The Internet will be censored, and we can’t imagine that it won’t be,” said Dr. Park, who has been involved in educational exchanges with the North since 2000. “Even in South Korea things are blocked. I’m sure North Korea has been looking at my e-mails. I keep them businesslike.”

Dr. Park, the former president of the prestigious Pohang University of Science and Technology in South Korea, said the university project could not have been completed without the approval of the United States government. Officials at the school, eager not to run afoul of international sanctions in place against the North, have even sent its curriculum to the State Department for vetting.

One request from Washington was that the name of the biotechnology course be changed for fear that it might be seen as useful in developing biological weapons, Dr. Park said. So the course title was changed to “Agriculture and Life Sciences.”

The United States government also was also “very sensitive,” Dr. Park said, about young North Korean scientists learning skills that could be used by the military or in developing nuclear weapons. “We can’t be fooled into teaching them those kinds of things.”

Several conservative lawmakers from South Korea called for Seoul, which gave $1 million to the school in 2006, to cut off all support. One legislator, Yoon Sang-hyun, was angered that the North insisted that future economics classes include lessons about juche, or Kim Il-sung’s founding philosophy of self-reliance.

Some critics also have suggested that there must have been heavy payoffs made to the North Korean government to move the project along, but Mr. Kim insisted that no deals had been made.

“Every brick we used, every bit of steel, every bit of equipment, we brought in from China,” Mr. Kim, who was in Pyongyang for the opening, said in an interview in Fortune last year. “I have never brought any cash into North Korea.”

“I have unlimited credit at the Bank of Heaven,” he added.

ORIGINAL POST: According to Yonhap:

The first university founded jointly by South and North Korea is scheduled to open next week in Pyongyang, a school official said Friday.

The project to build Pyongyang University of Science and Technology was launched in 2001 after the two countries’ governments approved a South Korean nonprofit organization to participate in it. The university’s stated aim is to promote reconciliation and prosperity among the Korean people, separated since the 1950-53 Korean war, and “help North Korea develop the necessary economic and intellectual infrastructure to function as a member of the international community,” according to its Web site.

“All the facilities and staff are ready, and we will officially open (next Monday),” said James Chin-kyung Kim, the school’s founding president and co-chairman. Kim, a U.S. citizen, also founded the Yanbian University of Science and Technology in the Chinese city of Yanji, a major Korean-Chinese population center.

“In time for the opening, 17 foreign professors will fly to Pyongyang from Shenyang (on Saturday). These professors come from the U.S. and Europe,” he said.

South Korean staff will also be able to teach, starting next semester, according to the school.

Instruction will be in English, and 160 students have been selected for the school’s undergraduate and master’s degree courses in agriculture, information and communication technology, and industry and management. Forty doctorate-level students began studying with four foreign academics in the summer.

The university plans to increase the number of students to 500 and open more departments to teach architecture, engineering, construction and public health care.

Here are previous posts about PUST including satellite imagery of the facility’s construction.

Read the full story here:
First university founded by two Koreas to open in Pyongyang next week
Yonhap
10/22/2010

According to Yonhap:

Prosecutors said Friday they have arrested three people suspected of trying to defect to North Korea, allegedly disgruntled with South Korean society.

A medical doctor, identified only by his surname Shin, and two others are charged with attempting entry into the communist state via China last February, prosecutors said.

Seoul judges issued arrest warrants, citing that the suspects are feared to try to flee and destroy evidence.

The three returned to South Korea after failing to cross into the North, despite receiving help from an acquaintance in Sweden.

They met through an online pro-North Korea community and were quoted as having attempted defection because they were “sick of (South) Korean society,” prosecutors said.

Prosecutors have not found evidence of other parties’ involvement in the defection attempt, but are probing indications that the three had contact with the North during their stay in China.

Read the full story here:
Three suspected of attempting defection to N. Korea
Yonhap
10/22/2010

According to Voice of America:

North Korean propaganda has emerged on popular Internet social media sites. It is not for domestic consumption as virtually no North Korean has Internet access. Rather it is targeted at other countries, especially South Korea. But in the democratic South, considered the world’s most connected country, the government blocks such content.

South Korea’s Internet censors are working harder these days to keep up with an expanding number of Web sites showing material from or sympathetic to North Korea.

South Korea blocks such sites under laws forbidding dissemination of false information or activities against the state.

Bloggers such as Kim Sang-bum, of the on-line community Bloter, which focuses on digital technology, calls the censorship an over-reaction.

“I don’t think it is necessary for our government to regulate citizens too tightly. South Koreans have become too sophisticated to fall for North Korean propaganda,” he said. “We consider that kind of propaganda as rather silly.”

South Korea’s Communications Standards Commission and the National Police Agency declined requests for interviews.

Jeon Kyoung-woong is the former director of the Korea Internet Media Association, and an on-line journalist. Jeon says pro-Pyongyang material needs to be restricted because it is not as innocuous.

“There are actually forces inside South Korea supporting the North Korean regime,” he said. “Some of them are in touch with North Korean spy groups. Thus the South Korean government sets restrictions on such on-line content.”

South Korean Internet users must register with their real names. On the most popular web sites, anyone posting comments must register with their national identity number.

“The adoption of real-name system shows that the current government is excessively sensitive about political opinion on the Internet. I think the situation has become worse since the current government came into power.”

Jeon, however, is less bothered.

“South Korean cyber police has been active for more than a decade,” said Jeon. “Recently it feels like the cyber police are becoming increasingly active but that is only because it’s being publicized by those subject to such restrictions. Political restrictions were actually tighter under the previous two governments.”

While South Koreans can freely argue about to what degree on-line content here should be regulated, that is not an option in North Korea. Only a few people there are allowed Internet access. And the country only recently established its first full connection to the Internet.

Here are previous posts about the North Kroeans moving into popular social media sites: Twitter, YouTube.

Read the full story here:
N. Korean Propaganda Appears on Popular Internet Social Media sites
Voice of America
10/19/2010

According to Yonhap:

In a move likely to draw a harsh response from North Korea, South Korea will push to come up with a plan by mid-2011 to handle the costs of unifying itself with the impoverished communist neighbor, a senior official said Tuesday.

In an August address, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak proposed a “unification tax” and suggested that his country begin discussions on dealing with what may be astronomical costs of merging with North Korea, an elusive decades-old national goal.

Unification Minister Hyun In-taek said Tuesday in a meeting with civilian advisors on relations with North Korea that his government will work with a group of researchers starting next month to create a blueprint for financing the costs of reunification.

“Based on the research to be completed in February next year, opinions from within the government will be collected by April, and a report will be presented to parliament by June,” he said.

Experts say the costs of merging the divided states will amount to trillions of U.S. dollars in the worst scenario possible.

The state-run Korea Development Institute said in August that the South will need US$2.14 trillion over three decades in the event of a regime collapse in Pyongyang, which could spark political and social chaos in the communist country.

Read the full story here:
S. Korea to draw up plan for financing reunification with N. Korea: official
Yonhap
10/19/2010

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 10-10-18-1
10/18/2010

The majority of joint ventures investing in North Korea have suffered significant losses since the South Korean government began to enforce sanctions as a result of the sinking of the ROKS Cheonan. On average, companies have incurred losses of almost one billion won, and most companies are no longer interested in investing in the North.

According to the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a survey of 500 companies (200 inter-Korean economic cooperative schemes and 300 other companies involved in business with the North) showed that 93.9 percent of respondents said they had suffered losses due to trade restrictions put in place due to the Cheonan incident, while 66.5 percent responded that they faced “financial difficulty” due to the sanctions. The companies have suffered an average of 974 million won in losses.

Investment and operational losses due to the ‘all stop’ order from the government amounted to 51.9 percent of losses reported, while 26 percent of respondents pointed to a reduction in orders and 22.1 percent blamed an increase in transportation and other associated costs. One company importing anthracite from the North turned to China, Vietnam, Russia, and other vendors after inter-Korean trade was restricted, but due to each country’s efforts to secure its own natural resources, this year’s sales are expected to be more than 10 billion won less than that seen last year.

Another company, investing in textiles, was strategically producing hand-made works in a North Korean factory, but now production has come to a halt and it may not be able to deliver goods it has produced. A source from the factory stated, “Personnel and raw material expenses in China, Vietnam, and other countries mean that profit margins will be minimal, and there is no alternative.” The same source also stated, “Special funds were distributed from the government, but [companies] are concerned about how long they can hold out.”

As companies invested in North Korea suffer losses in the wake of the Cheonan incident, interest in North Korea investment opportunities is also waning. 82.7 percent of responding companies believe that “even if economic cooperation was normalized, there would be no new investments or continuation of existing projects,” and 76.9 percent of respondents believed that “because of the uncertainty of the North Korean system” non-economic issues would dampen investment enthusiasm. 13.7 percent stated that difficulties with transportation and other infrastructure issues would discourage investment, and 9.4 percent of respondents answered, “North Korean authorities’…interference and restrictions” would turn away foreign investors.

Among those businesses not involved in cooperative economic ventures, 41.5 percent pointed to “North Korea’s overall reform and opening,” while 22.2 percent chose “guaranteeing the security of investments and expanding domestic SOC” as being necessary to propel investment in North Korea. Another 19.7 percent answered, “security issues like North Korean denuclearization” were necessary for improvement in the investment environment.

Many also voiced concerns over the ongoing ban on inter-Korean exchanges. When asked about the impact on business if sanctions against the North were to continue, 5.18 percent of respondents stated, “opportunities for foreign investors will suffer,” while 25.6 percent responded that the North’s economic reliance on China would grow, and 22.6 percent feared that the national image would suffer due to an increase in the security risk.

63.6 percent of respondents call for strengthened protection for investors, including protection against losses as well as guarantees on operational freedoms. 20.1 percent called for easing restrictions on businesses in the Kaesong Industrial Complex, and 16.3 percent pointed to the need for more monetary support.

Even after the government’s announcement halting inter-Korean exchanges on May 24, , inter-Korean trade worth approximately 80 million USD (90 billion won) was recorded due to a number of goods with special exceptions. 639 different cases of imported goods manufactured from raw materials or parts sent to the North prior to the May 24 restrictions amounted to 31.15 million USD, while 269 cases of pre-ordered exports amounted to just over 49 million USD.

This survey was conducted from August 12 to September 1, calling or faxing 200 companies invested in inter-Korean cooperative schemes and 300 of the 1000 companies involved in sales.

According to the New York Times:

North and South Korea reopened one of the three severed hot lines between them on Monday in response to a request from the North, its first apparent outreach since the youngest son of the leader, Kim Jong-il, was unveiled as his successor.

The reopened hot line connects the principal international airports — Pyongyang in the North and Incheon in the South — and a test call was conducted late Monday morning, the Unification Ministry said through a spokesman in Seoul.

Another government official here said Monday that North Korea had approached the South about reopening the hot line, which was severed in May following the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, in March.

Relations between the Koreas have been badly strained since the Cheonan sinking, which killed 46 sailors. The South has blamed the incident on a North Korean torpedo attack; the North has denied any involvement.

It was not immediately clear whether the renewal of the airspace hot line was an authentic diplomatic entreaty from the North or merely a matter of practicalities. Analysts continue to look for signs of a possibly new foreign policy approach from the North now that Kim Jong-un, Mr. Kim’s Western-educated son, has been given powerful posts in the military and the Workers’ Party.

Commercial aircraft using South Korean airports were still avoiding North Korean airspace, said Lee Jong-joo, an official with the Unification Ministry, adding that the South Korean government was still considering whether to remove that ban.

In May, the nuclear-armed North severed all three hot lines that connect the countries, which remain in a technical state of war because the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, and a formal peace treaty remains elusive.

The principal hot line is located at Panmunjom, the so-called truce village on the highly militarized border. A South Korean government official on Monday described that link as “kind of the official one, used for all official messages.” The official said the North had “unilaterally shut down” that line in May and has not indicated if or when it might reopen.

The North also closed down a naval hot line intended to prevent clashes near its disputed sea border with the South. That link, which remains closed, was established in 2004 after deadly naval skirmishes in 1999 and 2002.

With the hot lines closed, communications between the two governments have been basically conducted through their jointly operated industrial park in Kaesong, located inside North Korea. The South Korean government does not have an official office at Kaesong, but diplomatic messages are routinely passed there.

This story does not explain what two naval centers are connected by the inter-Korean naval hotline. If a reader is aware what organizations are connected, I would appreciate knowing so I can map the hotline on Google Earth.

Read the full story here:
North and South Korea Restore Aviation Hotline
New York Times
Mark McDonald
10/17/2010