North Korean Economy Watch

This weekend Kim Jong Il attended a mass rally in Hamhung to celebrate the re-opening of the 2.8 Vinalon Complex.  This is the first mass rally (of which I am aware) that he has attended outside of Pyongyang (Kang Chol Hwan agrees).  

According to Yonhap:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il attended a massive rally celebrating the reopening of a long-suspended factory, state media reported Saturday, a rare move that appears aimed at appeasing public sentiment worsened after the regime’s currency reform.

North Korea often organizes such pro-government rallies, forcing citizens to turn out to mark major state events including the country’s launch of a long-range rocket and recent nuclear test. But Kim has rarely attended such rallies, limiting his appearances only to military parades or ceremonies to welcome key foreign guests.

Leader Kim and top aides attended the 100,000-strong rally held in Hamhung to celebrate the reopening of the February 8 Vinalon Complex in the northeastern city, Pyongyang’s Korean Central TV Broadcasting Station and other state media reported.

The move appears aimed at showing North Koreans that their leader is focusing on the economy as public sentiment has deteriorated in the wake of the government’s currency redenomination. The currency reform reportedly disrupted the already troubled economy, prompting senior officials to apologize and Kim to sack those in charge.

Kim’s attendance in the rally also reflects his strong interest in the vinalon factory that resumed operation last month after shutting down 16 years earlier. Vinalon, an artificial textile similar to nylon, was invented in North Korea and is used in many of the country’s textiles.

According to state media, Kim visited the factory twice last month, and sent a thank-you letter to officials and workers involved in the reconstruction. The totalitarian regime also decorated about 2,400 people for their contribution to the factory’s reopening.

Mr. Kim stood on a balcony on the Hamhung Grand Theater and faced North East towards the monument in the plaza square:

Here are some photos of the rally: photo 1, photo 2, photo 3, photo 4.

Josh found a Youtube video of the rally here.  Apologies to readers in China.

The Febuary 8 Vinalon Complex is located here.  It has been featured quite frequently in DPRK media recently.  Mr. Kim just participated in an inspection tour of the facility on February 15th: Youtube video here.

Here is the Wikipedia blurb on Vinalon:

Vinalon is a synthetic fibre, produced from polyvinyl alcohol using anthracite and limestone as raw materials. Vinalon was first developed by the Korean scientist Ri Sung Gi at the Takatsuki chemical research institute in 1939. The fibre was largely ignored until Ri defected to North Korea in 1950. Trial production began in 1954 and in 1961 the massive February 8 Vinalon Complex was built in Hamhung.[citation needed] Its success and widespread usage in North Korea is often pointed to in propaganda as an example of the success of the juche philosophy. Hamhung remains a major production centre for vinalon; in 1998, a vinalon factory opened up in South Pyongan.  Vinalon, also known as Juche fibre, has become the national fibre of North Korea and is used for the majority of textiles, outstripping fibre such as cotton or Nylon, which are only produced in small amounts in North Korea. Other than clothing, Vinalon is also used for canvas shoes, ropes and quilt wadding. Vinalon is resistant to heat and chemicals but has numerous disadvantages: it is stiff, uncomfortable, shiny, prone to shrinking and difficult to dye.

NTI has much more substantive break down of vinalon and February 8 Complex—and maybe points to why this factory is getting so much attention.  Read the NTI summary here.

Here are Kang Chol Hwan’s thoughts.

The DPRK also produces vinalon at the Sunchon Vinalon Complex–also known as the April 25 Vinalon Complex.  It is located here. More about it here.

According to the Washington Post:

The Obama administration, concerned that Burma is expanding its military relationship with North Korea, has launched an aggressive campaign to persuade Burma’s junta to stop buying North Korean military technology, U.S. officials said.

Concerns about the relationship — which encompass the sale of small arms, missile components and technology possibly related to nuclear weapons — in part prompted the Obama administration in October to end the George W. Bush-era policy of isolating the military junta, said a senior State Department official, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

Senior U.S. officials have since had four meetings with their Burmese counterparts, with a fifth expected soon. “Our most decisive interactions have been around North Korea,” the official said. “We’ve been very clear to Burma. We’ll see over time if it’s been heard.”

…

Underlining the administration’s concerns about Burma is a desire to avoid a repeat of events that unfolded in Syria in 2007. North Korea is thought to have helped Syria secretly build a nuclear reactor there capable of producing plutonium. The facility was reportedly only weeks or months away from being functional when Israeli warplanes bombed it in September of that year.

“The lesson here is the Syrian one,” said David Albright, president of the nongovernmental Institute for Science and International Security and an expert on nuclear proliferation. “That was such a massive intelligence failure. You can’t be sure that North Korea isn’t doing it someplace else. The U.S. government can’t afford to be blindsided again.”

Burma is thought to have started a military relationship with North Korea in 2007. But with the passage of a U.N. Security Council resolution last June banning all weapons exports from North Korea, Burma has emerged “as a much bigger player than it was,” the senior U.S. official said.

In a report Albright co-wrote in January, titled “Burma: A Nuclear Wannabe,” he outlined the case for concern about Burma’s relations with North Korea. First, Burma has signed a deal with Russia for the supply of a 10-megawatt thermal research reactor, although construction of the facility had not started as of September.

Second, although many claims from dissident groups about covert nuclear sites in Burma are still unverified, the report said that “there remain legitimate reasons to suspect the existence of undeclared nuclear activities in Burma, particularly in the context of North Korean cooperation.”

Previous posts about the Myanmar-DPRK relationship can be found here. 

Read the full story here:
U.S. increasingly wary as Burma deepens military relationship with North Korea
Washington Post
John Pomfret
3/4/2010

According to TVNZ:

North Korean experts were in Vietnam this week to advise the government on - no, not uranium enrichment - choreography for an extravaganza celebrating Hanoi’s 1,000th anniversary, state media said.

The delegation was led by Song Pyong Won, deputy director of the Arirang performance department in North Korea’s Ministry of Culture, and included experts in mass performance, stage design, sound and lighting, reported the website of the newspaper Saigon Tiep Thi (sgtt.com.vn).

“This is the advance team that will make preparations for the various art performances, including card flipping to make images and words, as well as stage design, sound and lighting for the opening ceremony,” the newspaper said.

Hanoi will mark its 1,000th anniversary on October 10 this year.

Song hoped “through this visit the delegation would gain a precise grasp of the basic material conditions in Vietnam, like human resources, so that the staged programme can be the most unique and best possible,” the article said.

The group met representatives of Vietnam’s Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and planned to visit various anniversary event venues, including the 40,000-seat My Dinh Stadium. It would also visit other sites, such as Ho Chi Minh’s mausoleum, it said.

Read the full story here:
N Korea teaches Vietnam how to party
TVNZ
3/5/2010

According to Bernama (Malyasia):

Farmers in Pahang will soon be able to use North Korean technology to commercially grow paddy, after an alliance was formed between North Korea and Syarikat Sungai Duri Plantations Sdn Bhd.

Sungai Duri Plantations managing director Datuk Normala A. Kahar said the technology acquired from North Korea was used countries like China, Uganda, Angola and the Philippines successfully.

Normala said five experts from North Korea who would be involved in a project that covers an area of 263 hectares in Sungai Pelak, Pekan, would conduct a study and research to help soil enrichment and identify pest that can be a problem to the growth of paddy.

She added that an area of 60 hectares in Mambang, Pekan had already been planted with the MR219 type of seeds produced by Mardi and would be ready for harvest in May.

“The results have been very encouraging and we are optimistic that the project will be a success,” she told reporters after sealing an agreement with the North Korean government here on Thursday.

Normala said through the technology, farmers can reap up to seven tonnes of paddy per hectare a season.

Malaysia has an interesting relationship with the DPRK.  I have been told that Malaysia does not require entry visas for North Koreans.  If this is not true, please let me know.  There are also a couple of North Korean restaurants in Kuala Lumpur.  Finally, the Mansudae Overseas Projets Group built the Rice Museum (“Muzium Padi” located here) in northern Malaysia.

Pahang is here.

According to the Associated Press (via the Washington Post):

North Koreans are getting better medical treatment as the result of a joint program between the two Koreas that has trained thousands of doctors, provided modern equipment and renovated hospitals, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

Maternal mortality has declined by over 20 percent since 2005, and diarrhea cases and deaths in operations have also dropped, said Dr. Eric Laroche.

The World Health Organization has helped in the wide-ranging program, which started in 2006 and is funded by South Korea. It has cost a total of $30.2 million so far.

The program has trained more than 6,000 doctors and nurses in emergency obstetric care, newborn care and child illnesses, said Laroche, who assessed its progress in a four-day visit to North Korea.

The specialization marks a change in health strategy in North Korea, which has about 90,000 family doctors who care for about 130 families each, according to Laroche.

“They know each family one by one,” he said. But, he added, “they’re extremely keen to be trained.”

…

Laroche said hospital staff have been trained in hygiene and clinics have received better material for operations, blood transplants and other medical interventions.

Numerous hospitals have been renovated, and material has also been distributed to 1,200 rural clinics.

Between 2007 and 2009, the number of patients dying in operations fell 73.4 percent, said Laroche, citing a study by the University of Melbourne.

He declined to give an overall view of the health system in the isolated communist nation. But he said services were well-spread among cities and communities.

Read the full article here:
WHO: Korean cooperation boosting health in north
Associated Press (via Washington Post)
Elaine Engler
3/4/2010

According to Yonhap:

North Korea threatened Thursday to revoke its contracts with [Hyundai Asan] for tours to its Mount Kumgang unless the Seoul government agrees to quickly resume the tourism program that was suspended two years ago, following the shooting death of a South Korean tourist.

Officials from South and North Korea held a fresh round of talks early last month, but failed to reach an agreement on measures that will ensure the safety of South Korean tourists traveling to the communist nation.

…

“If the South Korean government continues to block the travel route while making false accusations, we will be left with no choice but to take extreme measures,” an unidentified spokesman for the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee said in a statement carried by the country’s official (North) Korean Central News Agency.

The spokesman added such measures will include the nullification of contracts with South Korea’s Hyundai Asan for the mountain tour program.

Yonhap notes that Seoul is demanding an official apology for the death of the female South Korean tourist in 2008.  In the past, however, Seoul has made multiple demands to the DPRK for resumption of Kumgang Tours. The South Korean government does not plan to allow tourists to return to Mt. Kumgang until the DPRK:

1. Cooperates in an investigation of the shooting of a South Korean tourist last year.

2. Implements measures to prevent a recurrence.

3. Guarantees tourist safety.

4. Provides more transparency about how it spends the money it receives from the Kumgang resort.

Accordong to Yonhap, the DPRK is willing to implement No. 3.

I have added the following CRS reports to my “DPRK CRS Reports” page:

1. North Korea: Terrorism List Removal

2. North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Development and Diplomacy

3. North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons: Technical Issues

4. North Korea: Economic Leverage and Policy Analysis

Hat tip to a consistently helpful reader. 

This year Joseph Bermudez, a military analyst for Jane’s Intelligence Review and author of The Armed Forces of North Korea, launched a journal dedicated to the discussion of the DPRK military: KPA Journal. 

Volume 1, No. 2 contains articles on the 1st Engineer River Crossing Regiment and the KN-02 SRBM (Short Range Ballistic Missile).  You can download it here.

You can download the inaugural issue here.  Both have been added to my burgeoning “DPRK Military Resources” page.

According to Bloomberg, Kim Jong Un [Eun] might have his own flower.

North Korea celebrated Kim Jong Il’s birthday today with tens of thousands of flowers. The most intriguing blossom is a new variety of begonia sent on his son’s birthday that may signify preparations for a succession.

Floral tributes arrived from China, Japan, Laos, Russia and Syria, the Korean Central News Agency reported this month. The inclusion of a new breed of begonia delivered on the Jan. 8 birthday of youngest son Kim Jong Un follows a pattern of using flowers to help legitimize the ruling family’s power, according to Paik Hak Soon, a director of inter-Korean relations at the Seongnam, South Korea-based Sejong Institute.

“North Korean leaders have used the flowers as a propaganda tool to glorify their leadership,” Paik said. “The flower is an obvious sign that Kim Jong Il is preparing a handover,” he said, adding that both Kim and his father Kim Il Sung, who founded the nation, have their own designated blossoms.

Flower symbolism?  I believe Emperor of Japan is owed some royalties! 

Anyhow, I was looking forward to seeing pictures of  the new “Kimjongeunia” but it turns out the flower might not exist.  According to the same article in Bloomberg:

[Kim Il Sung] received a hybrid orchid in 1965 from Indonesian President Sukarno and named it Kimilsungia. Kim was given his begonia in 1988. It is called Kimjongilia and dubbed the “immortal flower” to glorify his leadership.

KCNA said both Kim Jong Il’s flower and the begonia delivered on Jan. 8 were sent by a Japanese botanist named Mototeru Kamo. The KCNA report didn’t mention the son.

Kamo, who said he has visited North Korea about 10 times, denied sending a new flower to commemorate Kim Jong Un. Neither had the 1988 begonia been intended for the father, Kamo said by telephone from his office in Kakegawa, Japan. “At the time, no one knew anything about Kim Jong Il,” he said. “Therefore, there’s no way I could create a flower to suit his image. Horticulture and politics should be separate.” 

Read the full story here:
Birthday Flower May Be Part of Kim Jong Il Succession
Bloomberg
Bomi Lim
2/15/2010

Is is just me, or does anyone else see the “face in the ocean”?  It is in the West Sea north-west of Sunan.

Click image for larger version or see it in Wikimapia here.