North Korean Economy Watch

As reported last year, the British Council in Beijing is recruiting English teachers to work in Pyongyang.  According to Yonhap, the number of expats living in Pyongyang to teach English was recently increased from 3 to 4. According to the story:

Last September, North Korea moved up the start year of English education to the third grade from the sixth, Seoul officials said.

“The DPRK government continues to support this program, and we take this as evidence that they give importance to raising the standard of English in DPRK schools and universities,” Bilbow said in an email interview with Yonhap. DPRK is the acronym of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

With access to native English speakers scarce in the communist state, North Korea asked Britain for assistance after the two countries established diplomatic relations in 2000. The British Council started the teacher trainer program two years later.

British instructors, recruited among those who have a diploma in Teaching English as a Foreign Language with at least three years of work experience, teach a small group of elite university students and local English teachers who will later be deployed to provincial education universities and schools.

Bilbow said the program is now available at three of the top North Korean universities in Pyongyang — Kim Hyong Jik University, the Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies and Kim Il Sung University. About 150 students and in-service teachers are taking the courses at each university, he said.

The program, the only one offered in the North by native English speakers, has the full support of the Pyongyang government, Bilbow said.

In a show of such support, Choe Thae-bok, chairman of the North’s parliament, Supreme People’s Assembly, told a visiting British parliamentary delegation last week that his granddaughter was learning English from British native speakers and asked the delegation to help enlarge the program, according to Radio Free Asia on Tuesday.

“In DPRK, exposure to the wider English language teaching community has been scarce, though the project has done much to bridge the gap,” Bilbow said.

“In time, it will mean improved English language education which in turn will allow DPRK citizens to access the educational resources and opportunities that are available to competent English users worldwide,” he said.

Cho Jeong-ah, an analyst with the state-run Korea Institute for National Unification in Seoul, said the North Korean government closely monitors global educational trends and adjusts its education system. Pyongyang believes English education will help enhance its relations with other countries and boost its economic drive, Cho said.

“North Korean natural resources are limited, and its relations with the United States, which can draw economic assistance, won’t be resolved overnight. North Korea seems to be trying to reach its goal by developing human resources,” Cho said.

Learn more about the British Council’s English education program here.  PDF here.

Read the full Yonhap story here:
N. Korea welcoming native English teachers with open arms
Yonhap
Kim Hyun
2/13/2009 

According to Yonhap:

A group of South Korean information technology experts and businessmen will visit North Korea next month on a rare trip to the communist country amid frozen cross-border exchanges, organizers said Thursday.

The 80-member group is scheduled to tour North Korea’s major IT centers and hold a joint software exhibition during its Feb. 7-11 visit, said the non-governmental South-North Cooperation for IT Exchange. They also plan to donate 5,000 IT books and journals to the North.

“IT books we have delivered so far were mostly Korean language books, and the North Koreans requested original texts. So we collected some foreign language texts this time,” said Kim Jin-hyung, a member of the team and professor from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST).

Through annual visits since 2006, the IT organization has delivered about 30,000 technical books and latest journals. Yoo Wan-ryung, chief of Seoul-based Unikotech Korea which has promoted investment in North Korea, participates in this visit, organizers said.

Read the full article here:
S. Korean IT experts to visit N. Korea
Yonhap
1/15/2008

The opening of the South Korean-funded Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) has been repeatedly delayed by political concerns.  Project directors are now aiming for an April 2009 launch date. 

According to the AFP (via Singapore’s Straits Times): 

NORTH Korea’s first foreign-funded university is finally expected to open next year after being delayed by international tensions, the foundation behind the landmark project said Tuesday.

The North-east Asia Foundation for Education and Culture (NAFEC) said it has now set April 2009 as the target date after delays caused by disputes over the North’s nuclear programme and by inter-Korean tensions.

The original plan was to open the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) as early as September 2007 but there have been several delays.

‘We’ve reached the conclusion that it is difficult to open it now, in light of the current (political) situation,’ said Mr Choi Chung-Pyung, secretary general of the South Korean-based foundation.

‘We’re prepared to open it but the North has hinted that it is not the right time to engage in such a festive event,’ he told AFP. ‘The South, while admitting to the advantages of this project, also says the timing is not so favourable.’

The United States, whose support is essential for the university to be equipped with lab facilities and faculty members, is also hesitating to cooperate – citing the unsettled nuclear issue, Mr Choi added.

PUST would be the first institution of higher education operated and funded by associations and peoples outside the communist state, he said.

Mr Choi said the North’s science and technology education focuses on basics and fails to produce engineers with practical knowledge needed to produce export goods.

‘The North keenly feels the need for changes for economic resuscitation but it dares not, for fear of undermining its (communist) system,’ Mr Choi said.

Read the full article here:
NKorea’s 1st foreign uni delayed
AFP via Straits Times
12/30/2008

From the Joong Ang Daily:

Seoul and Pyongyang have held annual symposiums on agricultural science since 2000, through which South Korean scientists and officials provide agricultural technology and expertise, with a focus on potato farming, they said.

“If North Korea is able to produce and distribute seed potatoes and learn to effectively control harmful insects, it should be able to produce between 3.3 million and 4.25 million tons of potatoes annually,” Lee added.

A North Korean official attending the inter-Korean symposium said his country’s potato harvest was expected to increase from 2 million tons last year to 3 million tons in 2009.

These efforts are well-intentioned and might help in the short run, but North Korea’s climate and geography are not conducive to agricultural abundance.  The DPRK would be better off in the long run producing the goods and services in which it is competitive and trading them internationally for food. 

Read the ful article here:
North Korea is expecting 3-ton potato harvest
Joong Ang Daily
12/22/2008

On my second visit to North Korea in 2005, I purchased a copy of Let’s Learn Korean (Chosonmal Baeunun Chaek, 1989) by the Pyongyang Foreign Languages Books Publishing House. 

In its pages you will find many phrases which will facilitate your visit to the DPRK:

“This camera is for my personal use” 

“Please get me a porter”

“Give me a first-class, one-way ticket to Pyongyang”

” I want to see the Tower of the Juche Idea”

“Let us drive the US imperialists out of south Korea”

“Abolish nuclear weapons”

“The new era of socialism and communism”

“The children are the reliable successors of our revolution who will brighten the future of our fatherland”

“Man must become a revolutionary before becoming a doctor”

and..

“In a nutshell, the idea of Juche means that the masters of the revolution and construction are the masses of the people and that they are also the motive force of the revolution and construction”

I have divided the book into four parts to make it easier to download (although each part is rather large):

Download: Part 1
Download: Part 2
Download: Part 3
Download: Part 4

The Pyongyang University of Science and Technology  (PUST) has launched a new web site (click here) featuring pictures of the campus nearing completion in Southern Pyongyang.  The university’s opening, however, is behind schedule—now planned for spring of 2009. 

According to an email from Norma H. Nichols, Director, International Academic Affairs Office, Yanbian University of Science & Technology, sent to the CanKor list:

I have been rather deeply involved in preparing for the new university [PUST] since its beginning stages. We did not open in May and we still cannot announce an opening this fall. We really do think it will happen, although we still do not have the desperately needed EAR from the US Commerce Dept. that would allow us to take in the equipment we think we need. –CanKor report #312

Click here to see the PUST campus (under construction) in Google Maps. 

An interesting quote from the Daily NK:

Until the late 1960s Das Capital, the selected works of Engels and books and publications related to the dialectical materialism and metaphysics were set on my father’s bookshelf.

However, in 1968 or 1969 the authorities took away every book claiming, “Let’s establish Juche.” Since 1970, there was no house where books related to Marx and Engels remained. The only books with regard to an ideology were the analects and selected writings of Kim Il Sung.

The generations that learned Marxism are those who took lectures in universities from 1950 to early 1960s. Since 1967, there have been no lectures on Marxism and no professors who used the publications of Marx.

Since 1970, theories of philosophy or even dialectical materialism have been fabricated as Kim Il Sung’s analects, and theses of Marx and Engels have been revealed as Kim Il Sung’s ones, placing at the forefront the words, “According to the Supreme Leader, Kim Il Sung.”

Finally, later Kim Jong Il even got rid of such things. He made people study only the Juche Ideology as he took away the dialectic. Even the issue on productive forces and their relation to the means of production in the Marxist theory were dealt with in the Juche Ideology. They didn’t teach cadres the dialectical materialism in the Communist College.

The Party omitted the line, “the Chosun Workers’ Party struggles to practice Marxism-Leninism,” replacing it with “the Kim Il Sung Ideology,” at the 6th Party Convention in October, 1980.

Read the full article here:
North Korean Intellectuals Oppressed and Watched
Daily NK
Kim Seo Yeol
10/22/2008

The North Korean children’s cartoon “Yon-pil-po-lan” (link here and below) is a great example of the role that sate-controlled media plays in the socialist system: regime enhancement.  In this cartoon, a young pioneer dreams of using his school supplies to fight off the “Mi-jae (Miguk jugukjui)”—or “American imperialist”. 

The cartoon itself made me laugh because I have a feeling that the actual state of the DPRK’s military technology is probably not far off from that shown in this cartoon!

North Korea Uncovered: Version 12
Download it here

About this Project: This map covers North Korea’s agriculture, aviation, cultural locations, markets, manufacturing facilities, energy infrastructure, political facilities, sports venues, military establishments, religious facilities, leisure destinations, national parks, shipping, mining, and railway infrastructure. It is continually expanding and undergoing revisions. This is the 12th version.

Additions include: Tongch’ang-dong launch facility overlay (thanks to Mr. Bermudez), Yongbyon overlay with destroyed cooling tower (thanks to Jung Min Noh), “The Barn” (where the Pueblo crew were kept), Kim Chaek Taehung Fishing Enterprise, Hamhung University of education, Haeju Zoo, Pyongyang: Kim il Sung Institute of Politics, Polish Embassy, Munsu Diplomatic Store, Munsu Gas Station, Munsu Friendship Restaurant, Mongolian Embassy, Nigerian Embassy, UN World Food Program Building, CONCERN House, Czech Republic Embassy, Rungnang Cinema, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Pyongyang Number 3 Hospital, Electric Machines Facotry, Bonghuajinlyoso, Second National Academy of Sciences, Central Committee Building, Party Administration Building, Central Statistics Bureau, Willow Capital Food House, Thongounjong Pleasure Ground, Onpho spa, Phipa Resort Hotel, Sunoni Chemical Complex (east coast refinery), Ponghwa Chemical complex (west coast refinery), Songbon Port Revolutionary Monument, Hoeryong People’s Library, Pyongyang Monument to the anti Japanese martyrs, tideland reclamation project on Taegye Island. Additionally the electricity grid was expanded and the thermal power plants have been better organized. Additional thanks to Ryan for his pointers.

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

Version 12 available: Download it here

The most authoritative map of North Korea on Google Earth
Download it here

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

Additions include: Mt. Paegun’s Ryonghung Temple and resort homes, Pyongyang’s Chongryu Restaurant, Swiss Development Agency (former UNDP office), Iranian Embassy, White Tiger Art Studio, KITC Store, Kumgangsan Store, Pyongyang Fried Chicken Restaurant, Kilju’s Pulp Factory (Paper), Kim Chaek Steel Mill, Chongjin Munitions Factory, Poogin Coal Mine, Ryongwun-ri cooperative farm, Thonggun Pavilion (Uiju), Chinju Temple (Yongbyon), Kim il Sung Revolutionary Museum (Pyongsong), Hamhung Zoo, Rajin electrified perimeter fence, Pyongsong market (North Korea’s largest), Sakju Recreation Center, Hoeryong Maternity Hospital, Sariwon Suwon reservoir (alleged site of US massacre), Sinpyong Resting Place, 700 Ridges Pavilion, Academy of Science, Hamhung Museum of the Revolutionary Activities of Comrade Kim Il Sung, South Hamgyong House of Culture, Hamhung Royal Villa, Pork Chop Hill, and Pyongyang’s Olympic torch route. Additional thanks go to Martyn Williams for expanding the electricity grid, particularly in Samjiyon, and various others who have contributed time improving this project since its launch.

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