North Korean Economy Watch

BBC
6/2/2003

Video of the ship’s sinking on Youtube: 1, 2

Tourists in Tokyo are flocking to visit the salvaged remains of a suspected North Korean spy ship, sunk after a gun battle with the Japanese coast guard in December 2001.

The unusual tourist attraction in the fashionable O-Daiba area attracted more than 20,000 people in its first weekend on display to the public.

Exhibits included an underwater scooter and a portable missile launcher, as well as the bullet-scarred hull.

The spy ship was put on display by the coastguard in order to raise awareness of the threat from North Korea, whose alleged nuclear programme has severely strained its foreign relations with Japan in recent months.

Some visitors said that the exhibit confirmed their view that Tokyo was too soft on Pyongyang.

“Japan is just too wimpy,” 60-year-old Goro Masuda told Reuters news agency. “We must take a stronger line.”

But others thought that the Japanese coastguard was trying to manipulate the public.

“I think the coast guard had its own reasons for wanting to show us this,” said Akihiko Nishimura.

The ship was disguised as a Chinese fishing boat when it was intercepted by the Japanese coastguard.

It was sank after a six-hour chase and fire fight with Japanese patrol ships.

The vessel, which was said to have failed to heed Japanese warning shots and an order to stop, fled in the direction of China before it sank.

After salvaging the wreckage, coastguards found a small button labelled “self-destruct” on board, which they believed was used by the crew to scupper the boat rather than be captured.

Ten bodies were recovered from the ship, although officials said that the array of equipment on the ship meant that there were probably several more North Koreans on board.

from the BBC:

The BBC’s Kevin Kim joined the first overland tourist trip to North Korea, and reflects on his journey to the other side of the border.

“I was on board one of 20 buses that crossed the DMZ for the first time.

As a South Korean it felt really strange, because up to now we were strictly forbidden from getting near to the DMZ.

The mountains on the North Korean side looked totally different from the mountains on the South Korean side.

It was very barren. There were hardly any trees.

North Korea is in an energy crisis right now and every single tree is put to good use, for heating.

The South Korean guide told us that while travelling through the DMZ we must not take pictures, wave outside, or show any South Korean newspapers or magazines through the window.

I guess that is why everyone on the bus was talking in a very soft voice.

Every few hundred metres there were North Korean soldiers with their rifles just looking on as the buses went by.

I was really tempted to just open the window and say “hello” or “nice to see you”.

But I had been told by my South Korean guide that I could open the window but I could not say anything to them.

Like the words of the South Korean song, “Longing for Mount Kumgang”, getting to North Korea and seeing its natural beauty has been something that people in the South could only long for until now.

Unification, too, is something that Koreans have only dreamed about.

But having travelled through the most heavily fortified border in the world, I began to think that while unification in the Korean peninsula may seem impossible right away, it does not have to stay as a dream.

Who knows, in 20 years time we might actually be seeing the fences coming down.

It is wishful thinking. But Koreans are natural born optimists. ”

Also from the BBC:

The overland border between the two Koreas has opened for the first time since the Korean war ended half a century ago. The BBC’s Seoul correspondent Caroline Gluck was among the first to cross.

Fanfare, fireworks and balloons greeted us at a ceremony on the South Korean border, as we prepared to journey through the world’s most heavily fortified road border to the North.

This is the first land route for civilians since the end of the Korean war half a century ago.

The pilot journey is due to pave the way for regular overland tourist trips to the North’s scenic resort of Mount Kumgang, or Diamond Mountain – which has been developed by the South Korean company Hyundai Asan.

Hyundai Asan’s president, Kim Yoon-Kyu, described the trip as a historic moment.

“I can compare it to breaking the wall between East and West Germany,” he said.

Opening the border was also one of the ways to reduce tensions between North and South Korea, he said.

“I’m going to persuade (the North Koreans) not to have any nuclear power. We need money. Money is better than nuclear power,” he said.

At the demilitarized zone, there was a razor wire fence on either side, and signs warning that landmines were present.

When we reached the military demarcation line, I could see the first North Korean soldiers watch the convoy – around 20 buses in all.

All around me I could see the mountains covered in snow.

It is a barren landscape but quite beautiful. Many believe that if the two Koreas reunify, it should be turned into an ecological zone.

On the North Korean side, a welcoming committee with a female brass band was waiting for us, playing the North Korean song Pangap-sumnida, or Nice to Meet You.

Around 150 North Koreans took part in the ceremony to welcome their southern counterparts.

Ro Chang hyup, a North Korean tourist official, said it was an important step forward in inter-Korean exchanges.

“This is a first step towards unification. It is helping to break the ice and I really welcome our south Korean brothers.”

Ri Jong-hyok, deputy head of the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee which handles the North’s joint ventures with South Korea, said: “People are here for tourism. Why are you talking about nuclear issues? I get a headache when people talk about that”.

Bang Jong-Sam, head of the Mount Kumgang international tourism company, had a similar message.

“We don’t have nuclear weapons. Let the crazy people say whatever they want. All we have to do is to continue tourism,” he said.

Since 1988, when tours by cruise boat to Diamond Mountain began, around half a million South Koreans have travelled to the area.

For most, it is their only chance to visit the Communist North. They come to explore the peaks of the fabled mountain – immortalised in songs, paintings and poetry.

Fenced-in resort

But contacts between the two Koreans at the resort is limited.

The Hyundai-built tourism site is fenced in, and North Korean guides are on hand to monitor all movements.

You can catch glimpses of North Korean villages and people travelling on roads only allowed for locals – but most visible are the soldiers.

A group of around 40 soldiers marched by our tour group, singing the praises of their leader, Kim Jong-il.

He’s our great commander, they said.

“His love is like the sun, reaching out to every corner.”

If the project is aimed at breaking down barriers between the two Koreas, there is clearly a long way to go.

But some ventures, like a locally run restaurant open only to South Koreans, at least help to allow more contact between the two sides.

“I’m sure unification will come,” said my waitress.

“It’s really good that so many South Koreans are coming here. I’m proud to work here – and I welcome them.”

Projects like this and the opening of the cross-border road between the two Koreas are full of symbolism.

But, in practice, it is clear that there is still a long way to go before the two sides can freely mingle.

BBC
2/5/2003

The two Koreas have re-opened their land border for the first time in half a century, despite continuing anxiety about the North’s nuclear programme.

About 100 South Korean tourism officials passed through the heavily fortified frontier by bus on Wednesday, travelling to the scenic Mount Kumgang tourist resort, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) to the north.

The opening of the first of a set of planned overland links came as the US made its strongest pledge yet to hold direct talks with the North to resolve the nuclear crisis.

North Korea says that the only way forward is for face-to-face talks with Washington, without pre-conditions.

Historic crossing

Buses carrying around 100 officials from the South Korean company Hyundai and invited guests snaked from Kosung on the South’s east coast for a 50-minute journey along a dirt road towards Mount Kumgang.

The 10 buses were escorted by a South Korea military jeep as far as the border.

The jeep then pulled over to allow the buses to make the historic crossing, and a military official from the US-led United Nations Command, which enforces the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War, followed their progress on the other side of the border through binoculars.

If the pilot visit is a success, tours will officially begin next week.

The road is the first of four planned overland routes between the two sides to be completed. A parallel rail link on the east, and a rail and road link on the west are still under construction.

Diplomacy

The links are a key part of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s “sunshine policy” of economic co-operation with the Stalinist state.

Seoul has been urging the US to pursue diplomacy rather than sanctions over the current nuclear crisis.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Tuesday gave a strong assurance that direct talks with Pyongyang would take place.

“Of course we’re going to have direct talks with North Korea. There’s no question about it,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Mr Armitage said that the consultations would only take place when Washington was confident that it had built a “strong international platform” from which to end North Korea’s nuclear programme.

He also warned that North Korea’s reported moves toward restarting a plutonium reprocessing facility could enable it to build four to six nuclear weapons within months.

Despite Washington’s assurances that it has no plans to invade North Korea, it has announced that is considering strengthening its military forces in the Pacific Ocean as a deterrent against Pyongyang.

US officials said the reinforcements would help signal that a possible war with Iraq was not distracting the US.

But the commander of the 37,000 US forces in South Korea, General Leon LaPorte, stressed on Tuesday that any deployment would be made in conjunction with Seoul.

Economic co-operation

Some analysts believe the nuclear stand-off is simply a blackmailing tactic by the North to obtain more aid for the impoverished nation.

In easing the North’s economic plight, Hyundai has played a key role. It has hitherto organised cruises to the North by boat, but they have lost the company money.

Hyundai hopes the cheaper overland trip will attract more tourists.

But its role in inter-Korean co-operation has not been without controversy.

The company became embroiled in a scandal last week when government auditors revealed that a Hyundai affiliate had sent nearly $200 million to North Korea just before the 2000 inter-Korean summit.

The company said the money was used to finance its business projects in the North; opposition lawmakers allege the money was a pay-off for the summit.

Members of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party have called on President Kim Dae-jung to make a public statement, while opposition politicians are calling for an independent counsel to investigate the fund transfers.

BBC
1/27/2003

North Korea has made a key concession on cross-border road and rail links with South Korea, South Korean officials have said.

The move means that tourists and businessmen from the South could be able to cross over to the North Korea within weeks.

The apparent breakthrough in the long-running negotiations came as South Korea’s top national security adviser, Lim Dong-wan, arrived in Pyongyang seeking to resolve tension over the Stalinist state’s nuclear programme.

Mr Lim, a former unification minister, said he hoped to avert war, but warned he did not have a quick solution.

“My visit to Pyongyang is designed to lay the ground for dialogue on the peaceful settlement of the North Korean nuclear issue that will help avoid war,” Mr Lim said before leaving Seoul on Monday.

The BBC’s Caroline Gluck in Seoul says North Korea’s decision to allow the visit indicates it is now willing to accept mediation from its neighbours. Before, it had said it would only discuss the nuclear issue with Washington.

North Korea’s concession in the separate, cross-border talks ends months of wrangling over who should control the so-called Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

Analysts said North Korea might be pushing for progress with the South as a way to undermine South Korea’s alliance with the United States, which favours a much harder line policy on engaging with the North.

‘Cat’s paw’

The South Korean delegation includes Lee Jong-suk, an advisor to President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, who takes office next month.

Its visit comes a day after the US said it had no intention of attacking North Korea but warned the nuclear standoff was a danger to Asia.

Mr Lim is expected to meet North Korean leaders and other top officials during his visit.

North Korea on Monday hit out at the United Nations nuclear watchdog, describing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as the “cat’s paw” of the United States.

“It is… an objective reality that the secretariat of the IAEA is not in a position to discuss the DPRK’s (North Korea) issue and the days are gone, never to return, when it could unreasonably handle it,” reported the official Korean Central News Agency.

The Vienna-based IAEA has said it will hold an emergency session on 3 February to decide whether to refer the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council.

The crisis started last October, when the US said North Korea had admitted it was working on a banned nuclear weapons programme.

The US stopped fuel aid to North Korea in protest, and that led to North Korea expelling United Nations weapons inspections and announcing it was reactivating a previous nuclear programme.

Earlier this month North Korea announced it was pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

BBC
12/11/2002

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has condemned North Korea over its apparent attempt to deliver a shipment of Scud missiles to Yemen.

Acting on American intelligence, the Spanish Navy intercepted and boarded the freighter So San in the Arabian Sea on Monday.

US naval forces then conducted a search of the vessel and discovered 15 Scud missiles and warheads hidden under a cargo of cement, along with a quantity of chemicals.

Yemen has now confirmed that it ordered the missiles, and has protested to the US and Spain over the ships’s seizure.

While the Yemeni Government is not regarded as an enemy by the US, there are fears that such military hardware could fall into the hands of radical Islamic groups operating in the country.

Mr Rumsfeld said: “North Korea doesn’t like to hear me say it, but they continue to be the largest proliferator of missiles and ballistic missile technology on the face of the Earth.

“They are putting in the hands of many countries technology and capabilities which have the potential for destroying hundreds of thousands of people.”

Legal questions

Mr Rumsfeld declined to comment on whether the missile shipment constituted a violation of international law, but said there were legal issues surrounding efforts to conceal the weapons.

Questions about the legality of the seizure have already been raised.

US naval forces have taken charge of the ship and are escorting it to Diego Garcia island.

The current US administration has branded North Korea part of an “axis of evil”, along with Iraq and Iran.

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BBC
11/26/2002

North and South Korea have begun land surveys for a cross-border railway across the heavily-fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that has separated the two sides since the 1950-53 Korean War.

The work is the latest evidence that the two sides are still co-operating on the goodwill project, despite an international furore over North Korea’s alleged admission that it has a nuclear weapons programme.

The two sides began clearing mines from the border in mid-September in preparation for the transportation links.

But the project has been delayed by North Korea’s refusal to co-operate in agreed landmine removal verification procedures.

The joint survey which began on Tuesday is aimed at finding the best place to connect the railway and road planned for the east side of the peninsula.

This will conclude on Wednesday, followed by similar procedures along the west coast later in the week, South Korea’s unification ministry said.

The two sides will exchange the results of the surveys in early December, South Korean officials said.

The plan is to link the western line to China and the eastern line to Russia, so freight can travel overland to Europe, significantly cutting costs.

Delay

The first of the rail links had been scheduled to be re-connected as early as this month.

But a US army general accused North Korea on Tuesday of delaying the project, by demanding two weeks ago that the US-led United Nations Command (UNC) – which supervises the southern half of the DMZ – hand over control of the transportation corridors to the two Koreas.

South Korea’s defence ministry said Pyongyang was refusing to deal with the UNC in arranging mine clearing inspections, arguing that the body had no right to be involved in the project.

Major General James Soligan told cable television YTN that North Korea wanted to retain authority over the transport links so “they could move combat forces into this corridor and challenge the security of South Korea”.

BBC
9/19/2002

South and North Korean troops have begun clearing landmines from the heavily-fortified Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that separates the two countries.

Dignitaries watched as about 100 South Korean soldiers, some armed, others carrying demining gear, marched through a previously locked barbed wire gate into the treacherous buffer zone.

South Korean officials said a similar event was taking place in the North.

The work is aimed at clearing two 250-metre (277-yard) corridors through the border so that road and rail links can be reconnected for the first time since the Korean War half a century ago.

Peppered with mines

The work follows spectacular ceremonies on both sides of the border on Wednesday to mark the resumption of the work, which was agreed to two years ago, but has been heavily delayed.

It is just the latest in a series of acts of reconciliation between the rival neighbours, which are still formally at war.

Our correspondent in Seoul, Caroline Gluck, says South Koreans are cynical about the ups and downs in cross-border relations. So much was promised two years ago, when their two leaders met in an historic summit, but so little has been delivered.

Demining the border will prove a challenge for both sides.

“Neither of us (North or South Korea) know where the mines are,” said South Korean Lieutenant Colonel Kim Kye-won.

“We are being very careful in consideration of the safety of the troops involved.”

Passageway to Europe

A South Korean defence ministry spokesman told Reuters news agency the number of mines was a secret, but that some dated from the Korean War, whilst others had been put down recently.

Clearance work is expected to take several months.

The work is symbolic, as it will physically reconnect the divided halves of the peninsula.

But it could also turn Korea into a transport hub.

The project involves two sets of cross-border road and rail links, on the east and west coast of the DMZ.

The plan is to link the western line to China and the eastern line to Russia, so freight can travel overland to Europe, significantly cutting costs.

The first of the rail links is expected to be re-connected as early as November.

BBC
9/18/2002

North and South Korea have held ceremonies ahead of work to re-link road and rail connections between the two states for the first time in more than 50 years.

Fireworks crackled and balloons were set free at the ceremonies, held simultaneously on either side of the heavily fortified border separating the Koreas.

It is the latest act of reconciliation between the rival neighbours, and came a day after North Korea moved a step closer to normalising relations with Japan following an unprecedented visit to Pyongyang by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

Work to clear the heavily-mined buffer zone on the border will begin on Thursday, and the first of the rail links is expected to be re-connected as early as November.

The South Korean Prime Minister-designate Kim Suk-soo said he hoped the work would herald a new chapter in relations between the two Koreas.

Symbolic ceremonies

At one of the ceremonies on the South Korean side of Demilitarised Zone (DMZ), workers unlocked a barbed wire gate leading to the border.

South Korea has already built a rail line and road on the western side of the peninsula right up to the DMZ fence, and on Wednesday, a train trundled as far as it could.

Television pictures then showed a South Korean girl dressed as a North Korean step out from behind the fence and link hands with a South Korean boy, as fireworks exploded overhead.

Speaking at Dorasan train station – the last stop on the South’s western rail line – the South Korean prime minister-designate said the two countries had embarked on a “monumental project”.

“We are burying a history marked by the scars of war and the pain of division,” he said.

Closer ties

Rail links between the two Koreas have been cut since the end of the 1950-1953 Korean War.

North and South Korea agreed to re-link the connections two years ago as part of a series of steps to improve relations.

The project involves two sets of cross-border road and rail links, on the east and west coast of the DMZ.

The plan is to link the western line to China and the eastern line to Russia, so freight can travel overland to Europe, significantly cutting costs.

BBC
9/15/2002

Military officials from North and South Korea have agreed to start clearing land-mines inside part of the demilitarised zone separating the two countries.

The deal paves the way for the reconnection of cross-border road and rail links, after more than half-a-century of division.

The agreement – between two countries that are still technically at war – was reached after 14 hours of talks in the border village of Panmunjom.

It is due to be formally signed on Wednesday, when the two sides plan to simultaneously start work on cross-border projects.

Work to tear down barbed-wire and clear land-mines inside specified areas within the demilitarised zone is expected to begin on Thursday.

The deal also guarantees the security of workers and soldiers, and provides for the first military hotline between the two countries.

No man’s-land

The BBC’s Caroline Gluck in Seoul says it is a major breakthrough.

The demilitarised zone, a heavily fortified no-man’s-land, has been in place since the end of the Korean war in 1953 – with nearly two million troops stationed on either side.

If the work goes smoothly, one of two planned cross-border railways could be completed by the end of the year.

The South has agreed to provide construction materials to the North to enable the work to be completed.

South Korea regards the routes as a powerful symbol of reconciliation efforts, our correspondent says.

It also believes they could turn the peninsula into a transport hub.

With the lines linked to rail networks in China and Russia, freight could travel overland to Europe, significantly cutting costs.

Opening up?

The Panmunjom talks were part of a broader political agreement reached in August.

High-level talks between the two Koreas resumed last month and have been followed by a series of exchanges.

Limited numbers of elderly relatives from the two Koreas have been holding emotional reunions in the North this weekend after being separated for half-a-century.

They are the fifth round of reunions since the historic Korean summit in June 2000.

Correspondents say that the new agreement comes as North Korea is moving to improve relations with the outside world.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is making an unprecedented visit to North Korea on Tuesday