North Korean Economy Watch

According to Yonhap:

A group of North Korean officials, including military officers, were inspecting an inter-Korean factory park in the North this week, a Seoul official said Tuesday, amid concerns Pyongyang may be moving to put the brakes on the long-running symbol of reconciliation.

The inspection, which began Monday with an abrupt notice, was reminiscent of a similar visit in December 2008. Six days later, the communist state temporarily banned South Korean access to it.

Eight North Korean officials, including a senior director of the National Defense Commission (NDC), inspected a South Korean company and some facilities such as a substation and roads in Kaesong on Tuesday, Unification Ministry spokesman Chun Hae-sung said.

The NDC is the highest seat of power in the North, chaired by leader Kim Jong-il. The visitors included uniformed officers who asked both South Koreans and North Koreans at the park rudimentary questions about their operations, Chun said.

“A wide range of questions was asked, such as items produced, the productivity of North Korean workers, the capacity of the sewage, and how certain facilities are maintained,” Chun told reporters.

More than 110 South Korean firms employ some 42,000 North Korean workers at the Kaesong industrial park, born out of the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. The park began operating in 2004.

Pyongyang said on April 8 that it would “entirely reevaluate” the park if relations between the sides do not improve, while ditching Seoul as a partner for joint tours to its eastern mountain resort.

The DRPK recently inspected the Kumgangsan resort before “seizing” several of the facilities.  The Kaesong Zone has been inspected several times before as well.

UPDATE 4: Here is the DPRK Pavilion’s web page (h/t NKNews.org).

UPDATE 3: A video of the DPRK pavilion at the Shanghai expo can be seen here.

UPDATE 2: Voice of America offers a description of the interior of theD PRK’s Pavilion:

Inside, there is a replica of Pyongyang’s Juche Statue, a small waterway that represents the North’s Taedong River, a traditional bridge and large fountain with colored lights.

On top of the fountain, a group of white marble statues of naked boys encircle two others. One boy holds the other up in the air as he lifts a dove into the sky.

In one corner, there is a small cave that contains a reproduction of a mural from the North’s Koguryo Tombs, a World Heritage site.

Along a wall, beneath the phrase “Paradise for the People,” a row of television sets plays videos depicting everyday life in North Korea.

Some of the videos show North Koreans leisurely bowling, playing golf and ice skating. Although some of the footage appears to be recent, other shots seem to be decades old.

Many who visited the pavilion Tuesday say that aside from the fact that there were no lines to get in, they wanted to visit because, as they put it, North Korea is so mysterious.

UPDATE 1:  The Shanghai Expo has posted some information on the DPRK’s Pavilion. Here are some of the details:

Theme: Urban Development of Pyongyang, the Capital of DPR Korea (Prosperous Pyongyang based on the River Taedong Culture)

Pavilion Features: The pavilion perfectly merges national characteristics of DPRK together with its modern beauty. Outer walls are decorated with national flags and a winged steed bronze statue. Main items exhibited in the pavilion include Juche Tower, Taedong River, Korean-style pavilions, rockeries and small stone caves. All of them present a prosperous and modern Pyongyang based on the traditions of DPRK, where education, science, culture and sports have achieved great development during its long history.

Pavilion Highlights
Highlight 1: The Juche Tower Model — 4.5-meter-high model of Juche Tower is exhibited in the pavilion.
Highlight 2: Symbol of Taedong River — winding river flows across the pavilion, reminding people of the stretching Taedong River.
Highlight 3: National Section and Stone Caves — national section and stone caves are exhibited on the right side of the pavilion. Inside the cave the world heritage of tomb murals in Jiangxi County and paintings of DPRK style are displayed.

Here are some photos of the DPRK’s pavilion (h/t Daylife):

And here are some photos from the Shanghai Scrap blog:

ORIGINAL POST: According to the PRC’s People’s Daily:

China welcomes countries including the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) to participate in the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

…

DPRK Chamber of Commerce Vice-Chairman Ri Song Un told Xinhua on March 18 that the country had already finished preparatory work for the 2010 Shanghai World Expo, its first Expo appearance.

Situated in an area of 5.28 square kilometers at the core the city of Shanghai to exhibitions, events and forums, the six-month expo starting from May 1 will attract about 200 nations and regions and international organizations’ participation, as well as 70 million visitors from home and abroad.

Read the full story here:
China welcomes DPRK in attending Shanghai World Expo: FM spokesman
People’s Daily
3/30/2010

According to the Wilson Center’s North Korea International Documentation Project (NKIDP):

Documents obtained by NKIDP scholar Bernd Schaefer from the archives of East Germany’s state security service, or Stasi, were featured in an article in South Korea’s Dong-a Ilbo. The documents detail procedures for admitting clandestine members of the Korean Workers’ Party from South Korea to East Germany for meetings with North Korean officials. According to the documents, North Korea and East Germany established special procedures for South Korean “comrades” to secretly enter the GDR for meetings with North Korean officials at the DPRK embassy. East Berlin was also used as a stopover for these South Korean “comrades” traveling to Pyongyang for meetings with North Korean officials.

View the article in Korean at the Dong-a Ilbo website.  There were additional articles in Korean (here and here) and one in English here.

According to KCNA:

Report on Implementation of 2009 Budget and 2010 Budget
 
Pyongyang, April 9 (KCNA) — Deputy Pak Su Gil, vice-premier and minister of Finance, delivered a report on the results of the implementation of the DPRK state budget for last year and its state budget for this year at the 2nd Session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly held on Friday.

According to the report, the state budget for last year was successfully implemented and, as a result, the state budgetary revenue was overfulfilled 1.7 per cent, an increase of 7 per cent over the previous year.

Ministries, national institutions, management bureaus and complexes overfulfilled the national plans for budgetary revenue and all provinces, cities and counties across the country also overfulfilled their plans for local budgetary revenue.

Last year’s plan for state budgetary expenditure was carried out at 99.8 per cent.

An investment from the state budget was focused on the development of metal industry while a huge financial allocation was made for the power and coal industries and the railway transport.

8.6 per cent more funds than the previous year were spent for capital construction and expenditure was increased for agriculture and light industry.

A 7.2 per cent greater financial disbursement than the previous year was made for the field of science and technology, surpassing the level of the latest science and technology in domains of space technology, nuclear technology and CNC technology and putting the key industries of the national economy on a high scientific and technological basis.

A large amount of fund went to the field of cultural construction and 15.8 per cent of the total state budgetary expenditure was spent for national defence.

The reporter said that the scale of revenue and expenditure in the state budget for this year has been set on the principle of improving the people’s standard of living to meet the requirements of the policy of the Workers’ Party of Korea on conducting a great offensive to bring about a decisive turn in the above-said work.

This year’s plan for state budgetary revenue is expected to grow 6.3 per cent over last year. The revenue from the profits of state enterprises, the main source of state budgetary revenue, is expected to go up 7.7 per cent over last year, that from the profits of cooperative organizations 4.2 per cent, that from the fixed asset depreciation 2.5 per cent, that from real estate rent 2 per cent and that from social insurance 1.9 per cent.

This year’s plan for state budgetary expenditure is expected to show an 8.3 per cent increase over last year.

The spending for the light industry is expected to go up 10.1 per cent, that for agriculture 9.4 per cent and that for metal, power and coal industries and railway transport 7.3 per cent as compared with last year.

The expenditure for the machine-building industry is expected to go up and an 8.5 per cent bigger financial allocation will be made for scientific researches and the introduction of new technologies.

A 6.2 per cent bigger financial disbursement than last year is expected to be made to more successfully enforce the popular policies, a proof of the advantages of Korean-style socialism centered on the popular masses.

15.8 per cent of the total state budgetary expenditure for this year is expected to be spent for national defence.

It is expected that a large amount of educational aid fund and stipends will be sent for the children of Koreans in Japan this year, too.

In order to successfully implement this year’s state budget, all domains and units of the national economy should work out enterprising and realistic business strategy and management strategy and tenaciously carry them out by relying on a high degree of mental power of the producer masses and thus fulfill the plans for budgetary revenue without fail, stressed the reporter.

And according to the Choson Ilbo:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il can freely dispose of 20 percent of his country’s budget, a former secretary of North Korean Workers’ Party has said that. Hwang Jang-yop told the Asahi Shimbun, “Only 30 percent of the budget is spent on public services, while 50 percent is earmarked for military spending.” Hwang defected to South Korea in 1997.

Hwang was interviewed by the daily during his visit to Japan on April 4-8. “Kim Jong-il’s dictatorship is 10 times worse than his father’s. People have a painful life,” he said.

Asked if the North is likely to abandon its nuclear weapons program, he said, “There is no such possibility. But the North won’t use the weapons. They’re a means to maintain the regime.”

To the question why Kim’s eldest son Jong-nam was passed over for the succession, he said, “At first, Kim Jong-il thought of choosing his eldest son as his successor. But he seems to have changed his mind as he fell in love with Ko Young-hee, the mother of Jong-un, his third son, after Jong-nam’s mother Song Hye-rim died.”

Commenting on the North’s bizarre abductions of Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s, he said, “The North needed native Japanese to train agents who would work in Japan.”

Read the full story here:
Kim Jong-il ‘Gets 20% of N.Korea’s Budget for His Own Use’
Choson Ilbo
4/12/2010

UPDATE: Mike has a lot more.

ORIGINAL POST: According to Kyodo News:

North Korea’s Ministry of People’s Security, the country’s police organization, has slightly changed its name, leading observers to believe that it may now fall under the command of the National Defense Commission instead of the Cabinet as before.

If anyone can find additional information, please let me know.

The full article is here (for a fee):
N. Korea’s police organ changes name, affiliation
Kyodo News
4/15/2010

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 10-04-12-1
4/12/2010

As inflation and food worries continue to grow in North Korea, social unrest is palpable. According to the group ‘Good Friends’, North Korean officials slashed prices on all goods to 1/100th of their going rate in an effort to ease the public. Considering the fact that North Korea revalued its currency by the same ratio on November 30, it appears that Pyongyang is effectively acknowledging the reform’s failure.

The Good Friends newsletter reports that the Korean Workers’ Party cabinet had handed down an order to reduce the price of all goods by a factor of 100:1, while the people of North Korea were told during local meetings that currency was revalued at 100 to 1, but not in order to reduce the sale of goods by 100 to 1, as well.

It also stated that at the first cabinet meeting in March, there was discussion on the fact that it was rumored that prices had climbed several times higher than official prices, and would continue to rise. It was decided that, at first, people thought of the currency reform as a 100-fold increase in prices, and that the same was true of management in state-run organizations. Later, at the second meeting of the cabinet, it was decided that a ‘100 to 1 Price Plan’ would be distributed to each city and town.

Now, People’s Committees and security forces in each city and town are enforcing the ‘100 to 1 Price Plan’ while the central Party’s 100:1 commerce committee has distributed a class syllabus in support of the price modifications, which was lectured on throughout the country from March 16-18. This indicates that the government is again controlling all prices throughout the country.

With no goods or aid flowing in from outside, it is likely that the price and exchange rates will continue to climb. On December 9, rice sold for 23 won, but the value of the new currency falls daily, and starvation is striking people in several areas throughout the country. Anger over government policies and general feelings angst are not hard to find in families and labor groups. The government is trying to control the prices of daily necessities, but if it is unable to do so, this situation cannot avoid becoming explosive. The central government has also sent officials out to different areas of the country to enforce a rice price of 25 won/Kg. This is the highest rice sold for in markets prior to the currency reform. Enforcing the same price throughout the country is an attempt to stabilize markets, and is a temporary measure to try to keep residents’ tempers from flaring.

The November currency reform was the first currency revaluation in 17 years, and was part of a set of strong measures to restrict markets, along with market closures and bans on foreign currency. However, since last February, the inflation sparked by the currency revaluation has grown severe and internal unrest has increased, leading authorities to reopen markets and set price caps. Now, the price of rice in North Korean markets appears to have stabilized at 400 won per kilogram, but due to the unrest over the last 100 days, many middle-class residents have fallen into poverty.

UPDATE 1: Here is what KCNA had to say:

SPA of DPRK Meets

Pyongyang, April 9 (KCNA) — The 2nd Session of the 12th Supreme People’s Assembly of the DPRK was held at the Mansudae Assembly Hall Friday.

It was attended by deputies to the SPA.

Officials of Party, armed forces and power organs, public organizations, ministries and national institutions and those in the fields of science, education, culture and arts, public health and media attended it as observers.

The session discussed the following agenda items: “1. On the work of the DPRK Cabinet in Juche 98 (2009) and its tasks for Juche 99 (2010)”, “2. On the results of the implementation of the DPRK state budget for Juche 98 (2009) and its state budget for Juche 99 (2010)”, “3. On the adoption of the ordinance of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly ‘On revising some provisions of the DPRK Socialist Constitution'” and “4. Organizational matter”.

Deputy Kim Yong Il, premier of the Cabinet, in a report on the first agenda item said that last year the indomitable mental power of all the people of the country and production potential were fully displayed and, as a result, the gross industrial output value markedly grew as compared with that in 2008. This year the Cabinet will boost the production of consumer goods and grain by leaps and bounds by putting spurs to the development of light industry and agriculture once again and reenergize the overall production by giving definite priority to the production of electricity, coal, iron and steel and railway transport and, at the same time, energetically organize and conduct the campaign for a great surge with main emphasis on stepping up the technological upgrading and modernization of the national economy, he added.

Deputy Pak Su Gil, vice-premier of the Cabinet and minister of Finance, in a report on the second agenda item said that last year’s state budget revenue was overfulfilled 1.7 percent and the state budgetary expenditure was implemented at 99.8 percent.

He noted that the plan for state budgetary revenue for this year is expected to increase 6.3 percent over last year while the plan for state budgetary expenditure is expected to grow 8.3 percent.

Speakers at the session pointed out that the Cabinet’s work last year and the implementation of its state budget were properly reviewed and summed up, this year’s tasks were clearly laid down and its state budget was correctly shaped. They expressed full support and approval of them.

They manifested their resolution to successfully put into practice the Party’s intention and idea of augmenting the country’s political and military potentials in every way and bringing about a dramatic turn in improving the people’s standard of living in this significant year marking the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Worker’s Party of Korea.

The session adopted the decision of the SPA of the DPRK “On approving the report on the work of the DPRK Cabinet and the results of the implementation of the DPRK state budget for Juche 98 (2009)” and the ordinance of the SPA of the DPRK “On the DPRK state budget for Juche 99 (2010).”

Also adopted there was the ordinance of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly “On revising some provisions of the DPRK Socialist Constitution”.

Deputy Pyon Yong Rip was elected secretary general of the Presidium of the SPA to fill vacancy and Deputy Jang Pyong Gyu was appointed as director of the Supreme Public Prosecutors Office at the session.

ORIGINAL POST: We still don’t know exactly what happened, but  below is some information from the meeting.

According to the New York Times:

North Korea’s rubber-stamp legislature convened Friday in the capital, Pyongyang, offering few hints of a major policy shift despite a growing desperation for economic recovery.

The country’s ailing leader, Kim Jong-il, did not show up at the Supreme People’s Assembly, igniting speculation about his health and whereabouts. His absence from the assembly, although not unusual, followed some unconfirmed news reports in South Korea in the past week that he might already have embarked on a clandestine trip to China to win needed aid. South Korean officials questioned those reports, though they had earlier predicted that he might soon visit China, the North’s last remaining major ally.

Outside analysts have been closely monitoring Mr. Kim’s absences or appearances in major state affairs since his 2008 stroke fueled speculation on how long he could stay in power. Mr. Kim, 68, is now struggling with North Korea’s deepening economic woes while preparing to hand over power to a son.

On Friday, the legislative session adopted a second constitutional revision in a year, the country’s state-run news agency, KCNA, reported without providing details. The South Korean news agency Yonhap speculated that the amendment might be intended to help the transfer of power from Mr. Kim to his third son, Kim Jong-un, 27.

Others doubted it.

“I think it may have more to do with the economy or a minor readjustment of the Constitution,” said Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea expert at Dongguk University in Seoul.

The gatherings of legislators in the North provide outside officials and analysts with a rare opportunity to seek clues to North Korean policies and any changes in its leadership hierarchy.

Kim Jong-il, who is also a legislator, has often skipped the sessions. But he used the meeting last year to demonstrate that he was still in charge despite having suffered a stroke in 2008. After months of being out of sight, he entered the parliamentary hall to the thunderous applause of loyal members, though he looked gaunt and limped slightly.

At the time, the assembly approved the first constitutional revision in 11 years to make one of Mr. Kim’s several official titles — chairman of the National Defense Commission — the supreme ruling post in North Korea. The move reconfirmed his already absolute grip on power.

Analysts had said that the session this year was most likely to focus on reviving North Korea’s moribund economy, a goal the nation had set at the start of the year.

On Friday, KCNA reported that the session passed a budget for the year that promised a 10.1 percent increase in spending for consumer goods industries and a 9.4 percent increase for agriculture.

North Korean reports on Friday’s session made no reference to the country’s tricky relations with South Korea and the United States. But the country’s Foreign Ministry reiterated that the North would continue to build and modernize nuclear weapons.

An unidentified spokesman of the ministry told KCNA that North Korea was willing to “denuclearize the Korean Peninsula” — but only if the United States abandoned its “hostile policy” toward the North.

According to AFP (via Asia One):

North Korea’s rubber-stamp parliament at its annual meeting Friday will focus on ways to improve living standards after a bungled currency change sparked widespread public anger, analysts said.

Members of the Supreme People’s Assembly (SPA) are effectively chosen by the ruling communist party, and they endorse the bills it puts forward without serious debate.

But the day-long session indicates the secretive regime’s priorities and any changes to the line-up among the ruling elite.

Yang Moo-Jin of Seoul’s University of North Korean Studies said legislators would approve institutional and personnel changes to bolster leader Kim Jong-Il’s power and prepare for the eventual succession of his third son Jong-Un.

The North is apparently moving to put the national police agency under the direct control of the National Defence Commission headed by Kim, he said.

It was unclear whether the leader would attend the meeting, as he did last year – looking frail and gaunt after a reported stroke.

Since then the regime has been grappling with serious food shortages and tougher UN sanctions imposed to curb its missile and nuclear ambitions.

The currency revaluation last November 30 wa

Daily NK
Yoo Gwan Hee
4/5/2010

In North Korea, April 1st is commemorated as “Tax Abolition Day.” Ever since the law, “On Completely Abolishing Taxes,” was ratified through the Supreme People’s Assembly on March 21, 1974, North Korea has claimed both within and without to be the only country in the world that does not collect taxes. However, their claim is only for propaganda purposes, for North Koreans labor under a list of state-imposed taxes and duties which grows longer day by day.

Take the example of electricity. Power distribution center members in every city and town visit households in their region alongside the chairperson of the local People’s Unit, whereupon they collect electricity payments according to the number of electric bulbs and electronic equipment therein. This process is done quarterly. In the late 1990s, the quarterly electricity bill per household in Pyongyang was about 20 won. To reduce costs, of course there were people who removed electric bulbs and hid electronic equipment such as irons whenever the power distribution center had workers in their neighborhood.

Since the 2002 economic management reforms were announced on July 1, however, electricity bills have increased greatly. For families living in luxurious apartments in the Jung-district of Pyongyang with televisions, refrigerators and electric fans, households pay as much as 800 or 900 won per quarter.

After the so-called July 1 Reform Measure, troubles between the power distribution center and the people increased. The North Korean people were understandably displeased with the power distribution center, for it was trying to collect money for a utility whose availability was and remains far from regular.

Next, let’s look at reserve food and organizational expenses. North Korea has nine levels of food distribution. From 100g to 900g is supposed to be distributed per day depending on the level, but for the purpose of stocking up reserves, up to 100g is collected from the people instead. Additionally, people are forced to submit approximately two percent of their salary for organizational expenses.

Next, to support for the construction of historical sites. North Korea emphasizes the “voluntary participation” of the North Korean people under the Party apparatus and workers’ organizations. Construction of historical sites for the idolization of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il is frequently organized. Also, officials often collect money from people in order to support those construction projects of which the cabinet is in charge.

Then there is free education. It is officially called “free education,” but school administration expenses are all covered by students and parents. Students have to collect waste paper, waste iron and waste rubber, or raise rabbits and submit the pelts to school. After 2000, there have even been students engaging in business around markets in order to provide supplies for submission to the school.

Onwards, then, to market stands rental fees. After the July 1 Reform Measure, the amount of tax collected at markets suddenly increased. Market stand rental fees already existed before the July 1 Reform Measure but, after 2002, market management centers started collecting market management tax as well, basing it on each product sold. Noodle sellers paid ten won per day, while soybean curd sellers paid three won.

Market stand rental fees became more systematic as well after general markets opened in late 2003. According to the product being sold and daily sales figures, market management centers charged rental fees. In present-day Nammun Market, Hoiryeong, the stand rental fee is said to have been fixed at 100 won per month.

Separate from the stand rental fee, monthly tax is charged on products for sale in the markets. For example, Nammun merchants pay additional taxes of 300 won for industrial goods, 180 won for pork, 150 for cigarettes, alcoholic drinks and fish, 120 won for food and 100 won for general merchandise.

So, while the North Korean media deliver their diet of propaganda promoting North Korea as the world’s only taxless country, be wise to the reality of the North Korean people suffering under an increasing tax burden.

According to the Economic Times of India:

Pramod Mittal, the younger sibling of steel tycoon LN Mittal and head of Global Steel Holdings, is negotiating with the North Korean government for a stake in the country’s Musan Iron Ore mines, estimated to hold reserves of more than seven billion tonnes. The move by Global Steel is aimed more at accessing the mineral resource, as the ore is in sharp demand with steelmakers expanding capacity and iron ore miners moving to a quarterly price regime to meet growing markets in Asia and Africa.

Mr Mittal, who is chairman of Global Steel, a closely-held company of the Mohan Lal Mittal family, had visited Pyongyang last week to talk to senior government officials to work out the modalities of a share of Musan’s reserves. The ML Mittal family consists of elder son LN Mittal, Pramod Mittal and younger brother Vinod Mittal, who looks after the Mumbai-based Ispat Industries. When contacted, Pramod Mittal declined to comment. “Our visit to North Korea is to further business interests. We are not looking for any stake in Musan,” he told ET .

According to people familiar with the development, Global Steel could likely be negotiating with Pyongyang for development rights to Musan for a fixed peiod, where Global Steel would do the mining and get to buy an agreed portion of the reserves. Typically, in the mining industry, such development rights are for a long term period of 20 to 50 years.

Global Steel, which is registered in the tax haven Isle of Man, has steelmaking operations in Bulgaria and Nigeria and a 20-year management contract to operate Zimbabwe Iron & Steel. Although Global Steel has a small steelmaking capacity of just more than 2 million tonnes, iron ore from Musan would not be used for Global Steel’s operations. Global Steel also owns two coal blocks in Mozambique where ArcelorMittal, controlled by elder brother LN Mittal, also has coal mines. While the Mittal family has maintained that Global Steel has no link to ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel company has been reportedly keen on Global Steel’s assets.

Two years ago, North Korea had granted development rights on Musan to China’s Tonghua Iron & Steel Group for a period of 50 years. However, Pyongyang recently terminated that agreement without offering any reason. People connected with the issue said Global Steel is negotiating with Musan on the amount of investment needed for developing the mines and also on building infrastructure, which is integral to any mining activity.

While the talks with Pyongyang is at an initial stage, under the previous agreement with Tonghua, the Chinese company had reportedly agreed to put in about 7 billion yuan, and had also planned to produce 10 million tonnes of iron ore each year. Of the total investment, about $240 million was for building roads and railways from Musan to Tonghua in China. The Musan iron ore mines are close to the Chinese border. The secretive North Korean government has recently been sending out feelers to global mining companies for developing its vast mineral deposits, said to contain one of the world’s largest reserves, closely rivalling Brazil.

The Musan Mine is the DPRK’s largest and satellite imagery of it can be seen here.

Here is a story about Tonghua’s Musan deal. 

Read the full story here:
Pramod Mittal eyes stake in North Korea’s Musan mines
The Economic Times
MV Ramsurya
4/5/2010

Click image for larger version

UPDATE 6:  According to KCNA:

Kim Yong Nam Attends Unveiling Ceremony

Pyongyang, April 4 (KCNA) — Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly on an official goodwill visit to Senegal, participated in the ceremony for unveiling the “Monument to Revival of Africa” on Saturday.

The monument represents in a formative artistic way the strong stamina and will of the African people to bring about their bright future by their own efforts while aspiring after independence and building of a new society. It has been successfully built in a short span of time with help of Korean technicians.

Present at the ceremony were Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and heads of state and government from at least 20 African countries, representatives of different international and regional organizations, diplomatic envoys of different countries in Dakar and thousands of its citizens.

Incumbent and former presidents of African countries and representatives of international and regional organizations said at the ceremony that this wonderfully-built monument is pride of not only Senegal but also Africa.

They expressed belief that the African people would make greater progress with the conviction of the future.

UPDATE 5: Senegal unveils £17m African Renaissance statue built by North Korea’s Mansudae Overseas Investment Group.  According to the Gaurdian:

Senegal’s vast African Renaissance monument was unveiled yesterday amid criticism that the 49-metre bronze statue is a presidential vanity project and waste of money.

The representation of a man, woman and child emerging from a volcano was inaugurated at a ceremony featuring hundreds of drummers and dancers.

The statue, which cost £17m and is taller than the Statue of Liberty, stands on a hill overlooking the capital, Dakar. It marks Senegal’s 50 years of independence, and the president, Abdoulaye Wade has said he hopes it will become a tourist attraction.

Wade, 83, who is expected to seek another term in office at elections in 2012, said the monument commemorated the entire continent. “It brings to life our common destiny,” Reuters reported him saying at the launch ceremony. “Africa has arrived in the 21st century standing tall and more ready than ever to take its destiny into its hands.”

Wade has faced criticism for spending so much money on the structure when Dakar residents living in its shadow endure regular power blackouts and flooding. He has angered both Senegal’s Christian minority and some within the Muslim majority population.

Wade apologised to the former group after likening the monument to Christ, while some imams have condemned the Soviet realist-style statue as idolatrous. Other have expressed concern at the thigh-length hemline skirt worn by the female figure.

UPDATE 4: According to Access Asia’s Weekly Website Update – 1st April 2010:

Senegal may not have much to attract tourists, but it does now have something most other potential holiday destinations don’t – a 50 metre high bronze monument crafted by North Koreans. It’s a quick bit of profit for Pyongyang. Hopelessly corrupt and slightly potty Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade wanted a tall bronze statue – and what he wants, he gets. Actually it’s taller than the Statue of Liberty in the very-difficult-to-get-a-visa-in-these-days United States of America. Called “African Renaissance” it stands on a hill near Dakar International Airport and represents a heroic couple apparently about to launch their child into the sky, for some reason unspecified.

President Wade couldn’t afford the statue so he called in Pyongyang as specialists in providing oversized tat. They did, in return for a prime chunk of real estate in exchange. Pyongyang has since sold the land on, making a tasty profit. Senegal, still mired in poverty, now has Africa’s daftest statue and some dodgy property developers in charge of a chunk of their land – fair swap?

UPDATE 3: Great photos here (h/t Marmot)

UPDATE 2: The Wall Street Journal fills in some more details on the Monument:

This month, workers from Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, a North Korean design firm, were putting the finishing touches on a giant copper sculpture of a family. Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade will inaugurate the African Renaissance Monument in April to mark the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence from France, a ceremony he expects the president of North Korea’s Parliament to attend.

“Only the North Koreans could build my statue,” says Mr. Wade, sitting in a red velvet chair in his palace. Moreover, they offer monuments at a good rate, he says: “I had no money.”

North Korea is mainly known for a totalitarian regime overseeing economic failure. But it has also produced a successful export business—building monuments to freedom and independence. The statues’ selling point: They are big, simple and cheap.

Over the past decade, Mansudae has built dozens of statues and monuments for cash-strapped African countries. Botswana cut the ribbon on a memorial to three tribal chiefs in 2005. Neighboring Namibia boasts a bronze of its founding president wielding an AK-47.

The African Renaissance is Mansudae’s biggest work yet, measuring 164 feet high and crowning two barren hills in Dakar called “Les Mamelles” at the westernmost point of Africa. That makes it taller than either the Statue of Liberty (151 feet) or Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer (100 feet). The statue depicts a father holding a baby in his left arm. The man’s right arm is around the waist of the baby’s mother. The three are reaching out to the sky and out to the ocean.

“Its message is about Africa emerging from the darkness, from five centuries of slavery and two centuries of colonialism,” says Mr. Wade.

Africa’s rash of nationalistic monuments, statues and shrines has made Mansudae’s signature aesthetic of socialist realism fashionable. In Benin, for example, a statue of a 19th-century king holds his hand up, symbolically forbidding the French to enter.

Socialist realism is popular “because people can access it easily,” says Mary Jo Arnoldi, curator for African Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution. It is easy to understand for illiterate populations, she says. “But aesthetically, it’s not going to win any prizes.”

In Senegal, however, the statue has been a beacon of discontent, sparking angry newspaper editorials and protests from religious leaders. The statue’s sultry mother figure, dressed in a wisp of fabric that reveals part of a breast and a bare leg, has offended imams in this majority-Muslim country.

Financing details for the project have been murky, and some taxpayers are outraged by the very idea of it when power outages occur daily and university students strike over rising fees. Mr. Wade had no budget for the African Renaissance, so instead offered a prime chunk of state-owned land in exchange, which North Korea has since resold at a large profit, he says.

However, a panel near the base of the monument lists the official budget as $25 million, though foreign government officials estimate its cost at around $70 million. Mr. Wade says he plans to keep 34% of the profit from entrance fees and merchandise for a personal foundation.

The North Korean role is of less concern, though labor unions do lament that Mansudae got the job when an estimated 49% of the population is unemployed: 150 North Koreans are building the statue, helped by just 50 Senegalese. Mamadou Diouf, the head of the Confederation of Autonomous Unions of Senegal, says the project doesn’t look African.

“If [building the statue] was a priority for our country, it could have been done by Senegalese workers in a manner much more in line with our values,” he says.

A short video related to this story can be seen here.

The monument’s location is here.

UPDATE 1: The Guradian brings us up to date with the monument’s construction:

According to the Guardian:

The statue shows a muscular man in a heroic posture, outstretched arms wrapped around his wife and child. Nearly 50 North Korean workers were brought in to build it, because of their expertise with bronze art, and some Senegalese have complained of its communist-era design. It has also drawn criticism from Muslims, who make up 94% of Senegal’s population, because of Islamic prohibitions on representations of the human form.

Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal’s octogenarian president, has compared the work to some of the west’s best-known landmarks, and some Senegalese do regard it as a symbol of pride that has economic spin-offs.

Alassane Cisse, a Senegalese delegate at the world summit on arts and culture in Johannesburg, South Africa, said: “All cities need signatures, but in Dakar we have had only monuments which existed during colonisation. Africa needs its own great monuments like the Eiffel tower and the Statue of Liberty. This symbol of African renaissance will motivate people to rehabilitate and work with Africa.”

He added that the site has exhibition, multimedia and conference rooms, as well as a top-floor viewing platform giving a bird’s eye view of Dakar. “It will be a cultural place. Around the monument there will be a theatre and shops. Many tourists will visit there, so the economic effects will benefit the population.”

But the president has sparked anger by maintaining that he is entitled to 35% of any tourist revenues it generates, because he owns the “intellectual rights”.

Critics say the £17m could have been used for more pressing concerns. Djiby Diakhate, a sociologist at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop university, told the Associated Press: “Senegal is going through a profound crisis. Our economy is dying. People are struggling to eat. We should be spending money helping people survive.”

ORIGINAL POST: As some readers may be aware, I have been tracking down monuments and buildings constructed by North Korea’s Mansude Overseas Project Group.  To date, I have tracked down quite a few (see North Korea Uncovered for the full list).

One such find is the “Monument to the African Renaissance” in Dakar, Senegal.  See this Voice of America story for background.  Well, a friend of mine recently visited Dakar and snapped this photo of the monument’s construction:

Click on image for larger version

I believe we can see a leg on the lower left.  The majority of the construction so far seems to be support.

Note to readers: if you are aware of any other North Korean-built (or operated) buildings/monuments/businesses/restaurants in your country, please let me know. I do not believe a comprehensive list of these projects exists, so getting this information together now will certainly be valuable to future historians. How is that for motivation?