North Korean Economy Watch

Daily NK
Han Young Jin
7/2/2007

(visit the Daily NK to see pictures)

On the banks opposite the Chongryukwan (a restaurant) in Pyongyang, a newly leisure centre “Sol Pong Centre” was opened on June 19th.

A Chinese webpage to motivate North Korea-China trade advertizes Sol Pong Centre as, “The latest modernized restaurants, leisure and recreational centre has opened in Pyongyang.”

According to the webpage, Sol Pong Centre offers a variety of services including restaurants, recreational activities, shopping, lounge area, communal bathing, swimming, gym, barber and hairdressers.

Even the entrance to the 5 storey building including a basement, is a revolving door, a rarity in North Korea. There is a Korean barbeque restaurant and shops on the 1st floor, and other modern services on the 2nd floor including a barber, massage therapist, wedding hall and piano concert hall.

This is the first time since the 80’s where a major service centre has opened in North Korea, The last centre “Changkwangwon” facilitated shops, restaurants and a wedding hall.

The webpage features, “This centre was designed to match modern lifestyle and western fashion, and will completely satisfy your recreational lifestyle. It will provide you will a space to enjoy Pyongyang’s modernized foods and leisure.”

North Korea media has not officially advertised the centre as yet. It is being introduced on Chinese investment websites and many speculate that this centre will be more for foreigners and Pyongyang’s top elite class.

CNN (Hat tip to D”S”B)
Adam Levine
5/22/2007

Hiking on North Korea’s Mount Kumgang gives you the uneasy feeling that despite the majesty of the natural scenery, even nature cannot escape politics in one of the most closed-off countries in the world.

The four-hour walk to Kuryong Falls is the centerpiece of the Mount Kumgang resort in southeastern North Korea. The trail winds along a river with glistening pools of water and picturesque scenery all around.

But you never escape the country’s dictatorship — there is the propaganda carved into the mountainside and rocks by the North Koreans, and the Chinese before them. There are also the North Korean employees working as vendors and rescue workers on the trail. They are always in pairs, and always seem to be watching you.

Kumgang is a popular tourist destination for South Koreans, for whom the mountain holds spiritual allure, and it is one of the few places in North Korea that Americans can travel relatively easily.

Hyundai Asan, an offshoot of the Korean car company, built the resort. It paid the North Korean government US$1 billion for 50 years of exclusive rights to the region and other business interests in North Korea. It spent an additional US$400 million to build the five-hotel resort, which opened in 1998.

More than 1.5 million visitors have made the trip to Kumgang. Most visitors are South Koreans; less than 8,000 visitors are from 48 other countries. Hyundai Asan spokesman Dan Byun says a majority of the 8,000 are South Korean ex-patriots.

Despite the western style hotel accommodations, American money changing hands and duty free shop selling Johnny Walker and Marlboro cigarettes, you don’t forget that you are in North Korea.

Just getting there involves busing through the demilitarized zone, where we are constantly told “no pictures, no pictures” by our guide and informed that aside from the road we are on, the entire area is filled with land mines.

After going through North Korean immigration we are herded back on a bus and reminded again that we cannot take pictures until we get inside the resort.

The 4.5-mile trip moves through southern North Korea, which the guide says is all a military base. Soldiers appear ominously standing at attention along the road. Each carries a red flag, which, we are told, will be raised if any soldier sees one of us taking a picture. Tanks and what appear to be anti-aircraft weapons are hidden in bunkers in the hills overlooking the roads.

The actual resort area looks no different than any typical tourist destination with a welcome center, hotels, bus parking and retail stores. North Korean folk songs blare from overhead speakers in the parking lot. But surrounding it all is a fence to separate tourists from the North Korean village of On Jung Li.

A two-night, three-day tour can cost as much as US$490. There are five hotels to choose from including a beach-side hotel and floating hotel and one that used to be the vacation home of Kim Il Sung’s wife.

There are 11 restaurants, including a branch of a North Korean noodle restaurant that is an exact replica of its counterpart in Pyongyang. An 18-hole golf course is opening in the fall and there is a Korean acrobatics show that performs each night at the theater.

The government has gone to extremes to accommodate the resort, even tearing down a village and moving it and its inhabitants to make way for the welcome center and shop.

The company defends its $1 billion payment to the North Korean government as economic revitalization. Hyundai Asan built a railway and border station to allow trains to travel from Seoul, South Korea, into North Korea. After refusing to let the trains through for a long time, the North Korean government finally allowed the first train to cross the border last week.

Hyundai is also building a reunification center to allow families from both sides of the border to hold reunions when allowed.

Some North Koreans work at the resort as waiters, vendors, rescue teams and maintenance. Most wear a pin of their president on their lapel.

Most refused to be photographed, cryptically saying “no pictures while I am working.” All but a few will refuse to talk to you. The ones that did talk to us offer some glimpse into their thinking.

One rescue worker told us that the only reason President Bush has not invaded North Korea is because Bush is afraid of Kim Jung Il. A vendor told us that she likes Americans, but hates the American government.

The resort is surrounded by a fence, through which you can see villagers planting in the fields and walking down the roads. They are forbidden to come to the resort or talk to the tourists. Not that they appear to be trying.

Ashley Moore, from Oklahoma, remembers North Koreans ducking behind trees and plants.

“We weren’t allowed to speak to any of them,” Moore said.

Moore, and her boyfriend Zac Gambill took a trip to Mount Kumgang when they lived in South Korea last year.

She and Gambill went from being a bit frightened to be in North Korea to surprise about the unabashed consumerism at the resort.

“Seeing the commercialism at the resort was a real shock,” Moore said. But she never felt totally at ease.

“We got a sense of the North Korean government’s determination to convey a favorable image to the outside world and a small sense of what it feels like to be constantly under surveillance,” Moore observed.

DOWNLOAD IT HERE (to your own Google Earth)

Using numerous maps, articles, and interviews I have mapped out North Korea by “industry” (or topic) on Google Earth.  This is the most authoritative map of North Korea that exists publicly today.

Agriculture, aviation, cultural, manufacturing, railroad, energy, politics, sports, military, religion, leisure, national parks…they are all here, and will captivate anyone interested in North Korea for hours.

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

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

From the Joong Ang Daily:

An abrupt notification by the North that it would not attend caused the postponement of a celebration by the two Koreas of the launch of the Oegeumgang Hotel at Mount Kumgang in North Korea, which had been set to take place yesterday.

The 11-story, 179-room Oegeumgang Hotel still launched operations yesterday, as did Baekseju village, designed to promote rice liquor and a rest stop called Hwajinpo near Mount Kumgang.

The hotel will be open to foreign tourists who come on a Hyundai Asan package deal to visit the mountain.

Hyundai Asan Corp., the arm of Hyundai Group that spearheads inter-Korean business, said yesterday the North told them on Monday afternoon that it would not attend.

North Korea did not say why, but Hyundai said it may have been due to the international tension caused by its missile launches last week.

A Hyundai Asan spokesman said, “the absence is not likely to affect future business with North Korea.”

He added that the opening celebration date will be reset soon after discussions with the North.

Hyundai Asan also plans an event on Mount Kumgang with the North Aug. 4-6 to commemorate the late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung, who was born in North Korea. The North has not said if it will participate.

By Kwon Jeong Hyun, Dandong of China
From the Daily NK:

Hotels:
An anonymous Chinese who resides in Pakchun-gun or North Pyongan province said, “state still maintains the hotel business, but there is an increase private hotels with best facilities. The hotels are mainly for the Chinese customers and the cost is about 5000Won($2.5) a night.”

“The state run hotels does not have good heating systems and lacking management, customers rarely go there. There is also an increase of house lodging business,” he said and further described how those who do private house lodging business come out at night to call customers into their houses. The cost of lodging is 100Won($0.05) a night.

Travel Permits: They used to be free, but limited.  Now for sale.
1.  Pyongyang travel permit seems fixed at 10,000W ($5)
2.  Province to Province travel varies based on destination: Jagang Province 7,000W($3.5), Chongjin 8,000W, and Pyongsung 6,000W
3.  within a province, price is less.

Here is more commodity price information courtesy of Open Radio for North Korea:

Agricultural and houselhold commodities:
1) Rice
-Shin Eui Joo: The price rose from 850 won/kg (18th) to 900won/kg (31st)/ whole sale price: 620won/kg
-Bak Chun Gun: October: 1000won/kg, November 800won/kg (trading rice was banned in October with resumption of food distribution system, which caused the rising price.)
-Pyeongyang: Honammi 800won/kg Annammi 680won/kg

2) Corn
-Shin Eui Joo: 400won/kg (December)
-Bak Chun Gun: 350won/kg (November)

3) Pork
-Shin Eui Joo: 3,300won/kg (December)
-Bak Chun Gun: 3,500won/kg (November)

4) Beef: 7,000won/kg (Beef is seldom sold at markets, but was temporarily out in the black market for new year’s holiday season.)

5) Cooking Oil
-Shin Eui Joo: 2,300 won/kg (November)/Yellow Oil 
-Bak Chun Gun: 2,500won/kg (November)/Yellow Oil

6) Seasoning
-Same in the region of Shin Eui Joo, Sah Ree Won, Bak Chun Gun: 2000won/bag(200g)

7) Underwear
-Bak Chun Gun: Brassiere: 4,000~6,000won, Children’s underwear: 5,000~6,000won
-Shin Eui Joo : Underclothes: 10,000~15,000won/piece, 20,000~30,000won/set

Socks
-Bak Chun Gun: 500~2,000won/pair (socks for winter)

9) Shoes
- Bak Chun Gun: high quality: 15,000won, poor quality: 3,000~4,000won/ Handmade: 2,500won 

10) T.V
-Shin Eui Joo: the same as November

11) Price of house and rent
-Shin Eui Joo: One storied house (1 Room, 1 Kitchen): $600, Apartment (2 Rooms, 1 Kitchen): $1,500, Well-located apartment (3 Rooms, 1 Kitchen): $10,000~15,000(able to bargain), 100 Sq.m- apartment: $12,500 (90,000~100,000 Chinese Yuan)
-Sa Ree Won: 100 Sq.m apartment $8,750 (70,000 Chinese Yuan)
-Bak Chun Gun: One storied house (2 Rooms, 1 Kitchen): around $100, Three storied apartment: around $150~200

Footnotes:
1.  A middleman receives 10% of the purchase as compensation. If one moves to a purchased house, one needs to receive a certificate which records that you are allowed to live in the house from a police officer in charge of registration in the neighborhood, usually the payment is one mal(10du/15kg) of rice.
2.  Expense for making Kimchi(Bak Chun Gun): Chinese cabbage 200won/head, Red pepper powder 2500won/kg, garlic 3,000won/100heads, ginger 300won/kg, salt 350won/kg, sugar 1,000won/kg, salted anchovies 1,500won/kg, scallion is raised at home.  Approximately 40,000~45,000won is expended for making 150 heads of Kimchi (usually consumed with rice, and is made with pepper, scallion and salted anchovies), for family of four.

Local Fees and Markets:
1) Electricity- Bak Chun Gun: 10won/lightbulb, 70won for black and white TV (per quarter)

2) Water- Bak Chun Gun: flat rate of 200won per house (per quarter)

3) Tax on land – Bak Chun Gun: 200won/2.5 Sq.m (per month)

4) Payment for spot at markets (Bak Chun Gun)

5) Exchange rate for Renminbi and US dollar
Shin Eui Joo: 2,900won/$ (November 1: 2,715)/ Rinminbi 360won/yuan (November 1:320)/ 3600won/Euro

Footnotes:
1.  No payment at markets, but general tax is imposed. 20won/day for agricultural products, and tax for industrial products vary according to the goods.
2.  Spots in Markets are rarely traded. For people starting their business at the market, relationship with the manager is important. When business with the manager was successful, managers make a spot for them by making others’ spots smaller.

Health Care and clothing:
1) Medicine for cold and antibiotics (Bak Chun Gun)
-Medicine for cold: Chung Yeong Poong 10won/pill (Adults consume 2 pills)/ Antibiotics: Penicillin 100won per ampoule/ Distilled water: 30won
-Antibiotics: when one receives an injection of 1 ampoule of Penicillin mixed with distilled water, the doctor is paid 100won aside from the price of medicine.

2) Bribe paid for medical examination and basic treatment (Bak Chun Gun)
-5000won for releasing a medical certificate, 350won for 1 injection (ex, glucose 500g), 100won for Penicillin

3) Stationaries (Bak Chun Gun)
-Won Joo Pil( Ball Pen): 250won, Notebook (paper made of straw): 5won/20pieces, Hand-made bag in North Korea, 2,000~3,000won, Uniforms used to be purchased at a flat rate set by the government with a coupon, but uniform is seldom sold at a shop these days. People usually purchase fabrics of appropriate color and size, and hand made the uniforms. (official state rate for elementary school uniform used to be 1,500won)

Monthly tuition and expense (Bak Chun Gun) :
-No monthly tuition is officially required, but some parents give some money to the teachers privately and school requires the students to prepare various materials.
- Club activity: the students need to pay 5,000won every month. (If one participates in cell activity, he/she is exempted from external labor or social labor ).
- Monthly payment is 10 bundles of firewood/Iron 3kg/Vinyl 1kg/Rubber 1kg
- -Students who fail to bring the materials are returned home without being allowed into the class.

Electricity:
-Shin Eui Joo: same as November
-Bak Chun Gun: Electricity was provided throughtout all day despite frequent blackouts occurred in the summer. / Since the beginning of the winter, electricity was provided only between 10:30pm~ 4am due to poor supply. (Mostly, candles are used at night. Candles are 40won each).
-  Pyeongyang: electricity is provided for 24 hours, but blackouts occur often. Sometimes, 3~4 hours of blackout occur. 

Water Supply:
-In case of Bak Chun Gun downtown, water pipes freeze in the winter. People dig wells for water.
-In case of Pyongyang, peripheral area is provided with water only once or twice a week. (The time when water is supplied is not announced beforehand. People have to watch the faucet on all the time).

Railway system and transportation fee:
-The fare for train from Bak Chun~ Won San with a transfer at Gaema Highland (Where Pyong Buk Sun and Gang Won Sun meets) is 35won, but most of the officials at the station hide the tickets and sell them for 1,000won.
-In order to buy train tickets, one needs to make a reservation a day ahead and stand in line to buy the ticket on the day. However, honored soldiers, soldiers on service and school teachers have priority, and it is hard for common people to buy tickets.
-What is interesting is that a lot of people take the train without paying the fare when moving from Bak Chun Gun to Ahn Joo Gun by Shin Eui Joo-Gae Sung train. It is because no body checks the tickets in this block.

Cars, buses and car fare between major cities:
-Pyongyang: same fare of 5won for subway, train without track
-Bus between Bak Chun ~ Shin Eui Joo runs once a day, and the fare is 2,500~2,800won. Additional 1,000won needs to be paid for one luggage.
-Shin Eui Joo~Nampo/ Roundtrip, once a day, 10,000won
-Shin Eui Joo~Won San/ Roundtrip, once a day/ 12,000won (10,000won possible after bargaining)
-Shin Eui Joo~Sa Ree Won/ Roundtrip, once a day/ 12,000won (10,000won possible after bargaining)
Footnote: No departure time is designated. The train leaves when the train is full.

Lodging:
-Shin Eui Joo: Same as before. Some of the private inns are as well organized as hotel. Chinese Koreans usually use them, and it costs 5,000won per night.
-Bak Chun Gun: State owned inns lacked heating system and was filled with lice, which is why they rarely exist now. Individuals run lodging facilities now (similar to lodging at a private residence)/ they come out to the station in order to invite guests, and it costs 100won per night.

Expense for obtaining travel document:
-Travel document: it costs 10,000won to travel from Bak Chun to Pyeongyang (ten box of cigarettes branded “Cat”)/ if using other ways, 6,000won~8,000won (Jagangdo 7,000won/Chungjin 8,000won/Pyeongsung 6,000won)/ 500won from Bakchun to Shin Eui Joo (Within a province)
-Travel document is not supposed to cost any money, but Municipal adminisrative committee, county administrative committee and officials in charge of the process publicly asks for money/ Only expense for travel documents to Pyongyang is flat rate of 10,000won, and expense for other provinces differ by person.
-Travel document to cross the river: Valid for one month, and cannot be extended/ costs around $100~200, which is not much more than passport or visa. (more money paid, the document is more quickly issued)/ Fee for travel document to cross the river is set for 20,000won by the government.
-When Chinese citizen visited North Korea with the document, extension is only available with a cost of $100 a day. (When one has good relationship with people of National Security Agency or any other relevant organizations, he/she can pay $50 a day) Because of the fee, they rarely extend the document.
-Passport and visa: DPRK passport is valid for 2 months and Chinese visa is valid for 90 days (In North Korea, expiration date on DPRK passport is more important than that on Chinese visa)/ Extension can be made twice, but extension is rarely requested by anyone (Specific reason for extension needs to be provided, which is a lot of work)/ Also, certificate of health is only valid for 4 months, which means that the passport cannot be extended twice/ fee for issuance of passport is set by the government for 40,000won (Some people say 150,000won). But actual expense is $100~500, and the expense varies depending on the region, person (interpersonal skills, ability, relationship with others) and the waiting time to get the passport (1 month~1year)/ Passport is issued in 1~2 months with a payment of $500 for Pyongyang, and 2~3months with a payment of $300 for other regions. / DPRK passport is valid for 2 months, but it is actually issued 1 month after the issue date.
-When visiting China to visit relatives, applicants for passport and travel document to cross the river are classified separately. In case of crossing Yalu River, if the applicant intends to stay in Dandong Province (Dandong, Bongsung, Donggang, Gwanjun) they need to apply for travel document, and if they intends to go farther than Dandong Province and for example, visit relatives in Shenyang and Fushun, they need to apply for passport.
-A case of procedure to obtain travel documents to cross the river and visa (with purpose of visiting the relatives)
-Application and procedure -> Mid March, Fill out the application (Hand $200 to officials at the office of foreign works: Confirmation of the relatives at the office of foreign works, military security office, and military police office, confirmation by a chair of women’s committee, Approval from Provincial Police Office and National Security Agency) -> Issuance of travel documents to cross the river in the beginning of November -> Two-day education in the beginning of November (First day: Exhibition on battle against espionage/ Second day: special education by the deputy of military security offic / Lastly, write out the oath) -> entered China on 23 November

Price of a business spot at the market (Bak Chun Gun)
-In case of the market at Bak Chung Eup, they don’t have the price of business spots.

Food Distribution System
-Bak Chun Gun: Distribution was carried out twice in the beginning and the end of October/ Distribution was halted in November/ The amount distributed was 15kg and did not meet the assigned amount of 57kg/ Official amount: 700g for workers, 300g for housewives, 500g for 15 year old child, 400g for 13 year old child/ rice/other crops ratio is 3:7
-Pyongyang: Food distribution was not halted except for the three months period of April~June 2005./ The amount distributed is 485g(official: 700g) for workers, 300g for housewives, 200g for students (official amount 300~500g)/ ratio of rice and other crops was 5:5. The ratio was sometimes 7:3 when things are better than the usual/ The price was 36won for Annammi, 54won for Honam rice (received from South Korea)/ Price at Yangjungso(Place where rice is gathered) was 20won less than market price/ Everyone is supposed to purchase rice from Yangjungso, but because of poor quality of rice, some well-off people buy rice at market.
-Shin Eui Joo and Sa Ree Won is similar to Bak Chun Gun.

Events, accidents, things to pay attention to

1) Penalty for listening to foreign broadcasting or watching illegal recordings
Case1> There was a public trial and punishment in July~August 2004 for 5 people for watching illegal recordings at a conference room of Gun Management Committee of Bak Chun Gun, located in downtown. / The penalty was expulsion of the family of the involved party to the mountains.
Case 2> A person who sold and showed VCD in Pyongyang in November 2005 was arrested. During investigation, the person committed suicide using a string on his bag while the investigator was absent. Reason for the suicide was not to harm the rest of his/her family/In Pyongyang as well, when one gets caught while watching illegal recordings, the penalty is usually an expulsion.

2) Wire telephone and charge for phone calls
- Installation of wire telephone: $200 at Sa Ree Won and Bak Chun Eup, $300 at Shin Eui Joo for obtaining a phone number as well/ customer needs to purchase the wire separately
-User of private wire telephone: There are relatively a lot of users of private wire telephone at Bak Chun Eup because there are a lot of Returnees from Japan and traders. Among 120 households, there are 11 households with telephone./ When somebody want to use wire telephone in a neighborhood, around 500won is paid.
-Common people use telegram for communication. 10won is charged for one page, and .5won is charged for each additional word.

3) Others
-Bak Chun Gun: There was a rumor that private cultivation would be allowed starting from this year, but instead of private cultivation, a group farming was adopted. Each group pay the assigned amount to the government, and the rest was left for the individuals to take care of. However, the groups needed to take care of fertilizer and pesticides which caused decline of the yield/ Phrase including “Communism” is gradually decreasing (example, “Communist Ethics” was replaced with “Socialist Ethics” in textbooks for elementary, middle and high school. “Rice is Communism” was replaced with “Rice is Socialism” as well/General atmosphere is that people do not believe what government and the party says.

-Pyongyang: Broadcasting criticized the resolution on situation of human rights in DPRK at the UN, but it is heard that the criticism has caused side effects/ Many of the people think that the resolution must have been adopted because there is a problem of human rights in DPRK/People in Pyongyang are known to be unhappy with Kim’s regime but have no way to change it. So they try to be patient and endure.

Daily NK
Kim Young Jin
11/14/2005

Employees from the Emperor Hotel in the city of Rajin in North Korea are said to make their livings by doing business in market places. The hotel is well known for its casino.

On the 13th day of this month I had an interview with a manager of the hotel, who I will call Kim Myung Chul (alias, 42 years of age) for the sake of his safety. “The hotel has had much difficulty paying wages to its employees since it closed its casino in February,” he said. “It laid off about half of its 300 employees, and even some of the remaining half had to open restaurants near the hotel or start business in market places for their livings.”

The Emperor Hotel is a five star hotel founded by the Emperor Group in Hong Kong that invested about 24 million dollars in it. It is well known for the finest casino in North Korea.

For the last two years, two high raking Chinese officials have lost a large sum of government money to the casino and the Chinese government complained to the North pressing it to close it. Thus, it was closed in February, and the hotel lost many Chinese tourists. The number of Chinese tourists had been almost 20 thousands a year before. Virtually the hotel is out of business now.

Chae Moon Ho, a former head of Traffic and Transportation Office of Yanbian Autonomous Prefecture in Jilin, China squandered 3,510,000 yuan (more than 434,000 dollars) of government money in the casino and was sentenced to 8 year imprisonment at the first trial. Mr. Wang, a former superintendent of highway construction, wasted 870,000 yuan (about 107,000 dollars) of government money in the casino and was taken into custody.

After these incidents, the Chinese government had prevented travel agencies around Yanbian area from holding North Korean tourism in March this year. It lifted the ban last September.

The following is some excerpts from the interview.

- When did you start to work for the Emperor Hotel?

I have been working in the hotel since 2000. People in Rajin call it Bipa Hotel or the Five Star Hotel. When the hotel was first opened, it was run in a capitalistic way. Even hostesses from Russia and China were recruited. But they have all returned now because they could no longer get paid. It took 3 years to complete its construction. I heard that it had been intended to be a 30 story building, but it is 7 stories high because the Emperor Group cut spending. Visitors were usually foreign gamblers and those Chinese who enjoyed fish and other seafoods.

- How is business now?

Business situation became very tough after the Chinese stopped coming. Usually thousands of Chinese people visited for the summer, and Russian and Chinese gamblers constantly came and went. But since the casino was closed and the Chinese stopped coming, it has been difficult for the employees to be paid. The hotel even laid off half of its employees. At frist 300 people were recruited, but there are less than 150 employees now. Among them, less than 50, mostly janitors, cooks, Karaoche coordinators, massagists, come to the hotel to work.

- Does the owner not pay the employees?

I do not know. Even though the owner is Emperor Group from Hongkong, the employees are controlled by the Administrative Committee of Rajin city. I suppose that wages must be distributed by the civil authorities. Anyhow, I have not been able to be paid since last spring.

- What kind of people are employed in the hotel?

High ranking people were eliminated from the recruit lest they be contaminated by capitalism brought in by foreign gamblers. For example, Kim Il Sung University graduates, partisans, workers involved with law and national defense and their family members were all eliminated. Mostly tall and good looking people from Rajin were accepted.

- How are the employees paid?

At first, we were well paid. We were not rationed but received wages. Until 2000, I received 300 yuan a month. At that time, 1 yuan($0.1237) was equivalent of 25 Chosun(NK) won($0.0125), and rice was quite cheap. Hence 300 yuan made a sound pay. Moreover, we were fed three times a day and allowed to sleep in the hotel, which was considerable benefits for us. But while business was getting difficult, employees were being turned into 8.3 workers one after another. Finally, payment started to be incomplete from last February. We could just take three meals a day thanks to the money the 8.3 workers gave to the hotel.

- What is 8.3 worker?

The hotel forced some of its employees to earn money all by themselves and to give some part of it to the hotel. 8.3 worker is called so because Kim Il Sung ordered the system during a factory visit on a third day of August.

- How do 8.3 workers earm money?

Some workers opened restaurants near the hotel, and others merchandize in market places. There are people like me who are out here in China and do business with old customers. Chinese tourists like to eat fish and other seafoods in Rajin. That’s why 8.3 workers like to open seafood restaurants near the hotel calling them branch restaurants of the hotel. There are more than 10 such restaurants near the hotel. There are also a few souvenir shops. If they earn money, they give some of it to the hotel. Those who merchandize are just like that. If you give some money to the hotel every month, you are not required to go there to work.

- Does the money go to Emperor Group?

No. It goes to the Administrative Committee of Rajin city. The hotel is just a Work Place: we are not under the owner’s control. We are required to take permission from the Administrative Committee to work outside the hotel.

- Do 8.3 workers make much money?

It is advantageous for business to be an employee for the hotel. We do not pay such heavy taxes as ordinary merchandizers do. It is also easier for us to occupy stalls in market places than for ordinary merchandisers.

- What is people’s life like in Rajin recently?

Outsiders envy Rajin and Seonbong because they compose the free trade zone, but the situation is on the contrary. The government takes more from Rajin and Seonbong because of the free trade. Rice is also more expensive. They are good places for the rich to live in but not for the poor.

Yalu River Hotel, the city’s finest accomodation, there are no telephones in rooms and hot water only works for one hour in the evening.  Every night the city plunges into darkness except for floodlights that illuminate a 30ft brone statue of Kim il Sung.

(Wall Street Journal, October 3, 2002, P-A7)