North Korean Economy Watch

UPDATE 1 (2012-10-1):   Martyn Williams reports that the Chinese funded the renovation of KCNA’s equipment and appearance.

ORIGINAL POST (2012-9-9): This weekend KCTV updated their news format to give it a more modern appearance. See the videos bleow.

In recent years, the appearance of the the DPRK evening news has changed several times (following decades of the same unchanging format). See here and here to learn more about past changes at KCTV.

Martyn Williams provides additional details at North Korea Tech. See here and here.

Joseph Bermudez has published the most recent issue of KPA Journal.

Here are the topics:

“KPA 17th Tank Brigade (Tank Division, Mechanized Brigade, Mechanized Division), Part I,”

“Addendum: KPA River Crossing Units”

“KPN 14.5 mm 6 Barrel CIWS” by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.

“BTR-80A in KPA Service” by Joseph S. Bermudez Jr.

Download the issue here.

So “Gangnam Style” seems to be popular these days…

To get an idea of what is going on here, read this article in The Atlantic.

I had no idea that there was such a place (Gangnam/강남) in South Korea (I have been to 49 countries, including to the DPRK, but never South Korea).  However, I am willing to bet that almost nobody knows that there is a Kangnam (DPRK romanization of 강남) in Pyongyang!  In early 2011 it was reported that Kangnam had been separated from Pyongyang and made part of North Hwanghae Province. However, by 2012, it had been moved back into Pyongyang. The only employer in the town, of which I am aware, is a ceramics factory.

Above I have mapped out the borders of Gangnam (Kangnam/강남), including the town(읍) and all the villages (리), on Google Earth.

If you want to experience some inter-Korean culture shock, and get an idea of just how wide the gulf between the two Koreas has grown, I offer this video of Gangnam (North Korea) which aired on KCTV on 2011-9-24:

If anyone can put this to the real “Gangnam Style” video music, please do so and send me the link!

UPDATE: A Korean friend (Mr. Park) has told me that in South Korea “Gangnam” means “South of the Han River”. This makes sense because in the Korean spelling, Gangnam/강남, 강=river and  남=south. So it is probably the case that the North Korean “Kangnam” would mean “South of the Taedong River”.

Juche Strong tells the story of the 2010 North Korean World Cup team. That summer was the country’s first Cup campaign in over forty years. And last time North Korea participated they beat perennial powerhouse Italy, in what is generally considered one of the greatest upsets in soccer history. Juche Strong lays out the many twists and turns of the 2010 outing, including a historic 7-0 throttling at the hands of Portugal, at least parts of which were broadcast live in North Korea. The film interlaces that story with a broader analysis of the DPRK’s propaganda apparatus — and posits that it’s much more powerful and well-designed than the average observer gives it credit for. The narrative crafted by the regime — of a morally pure Korean people struggling mightily against imperialist powers — effectively taps into deeply rooted Korean cultural norms and human psychological instincts.

The director, Rob Montz, visited and shot footage in North Korea this summer. The film also includes interviews with many North Korea scholars, including Bruce Cummings, David Kang, Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland, and Suk-Young Kim, as well as a North Korea refugee now living in the States.

The film’s trailer is here and the official web page is here.

UPDATE: The USA won, 1-0.

ORIGINAL POST: I am watching the game now.

The DPRK team has some amazing skills:

RFA issued a report that the DPRK has imposed new restraints on the operation and functionality of mobile phones. You can read the report here, but it is only available in Korean. Fortunately Yonhap picked up the story and published it in English.

According to the Yonhap article (2012-7-28):

North Korea has disabled video camera and memory card functions in new mobile phones, a news report said Saturday, in what appears to be Pyongyang’s latest move to tighten control over the flow of information within and across its borders.

The North also removed the Bluetooth function, a protocol that allows mobile phone users to exchange data over short distances, and blocked subscribers from using mobile phones beyond the city where they are registered, Washington-based Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported, citing a Japanese journalist familiar with the issue.

“Mobile phones have played a big role in spreading information,” said Ishimaru Jiro, the publisher of Rimjin-gang Magazine, which is written by undercover journalists inside the North, according to RFA. With the technological restrictions, however, the new mobile phones “have lost key functions for the spread and proliferation of information inside and outside North Korea,” he said.

Pyongyang took the new measures last October when it issued a new first four digit number to new subscribers, RFA said, in an apparent move to differentiate more than 1 million subscribers with phones equipped with camera functions and memory cards.

North Koreans can purchase phones using the previous four digit number and equipped with camera functions and memory cards, but the North has raised their price to about US$1,000, putting them out of reach for ordinary citizens, RFA said.

North Koreans earn an average of 3,000 to 5,000 won a month. The North Korean won is traded at around 3,500 won to $US1 in North Korean markets, though the official rate is 100 won to one dollar, according to North Korean defectors in South Korea.

The North’s move appears to be designed to wean North Koreans off phones with high-technology and eventually restrict any free flow of information and foreign news and materials, which the North sees as a potential threat to its stability.

Additional information:
1. On an related note, here is a North Korean video on cell phone etiquette that I uploaded to YouTube.

2. Here are previous posts on cell phones and Orascom.

Read the full story here:
N. Korea disables key functions in new mobile phones: report
Yonhap
2012-7-28

According to Yonhap:

A South Korean company in the inter-Korean industrial zone in North Korea paid about $7,000 in corporate income tax to the North last year, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday.

It was the first time a South Korean company has paid a tax to North Korea since 2004 when the two Koreas opened the complex in the North’s border city of Kaesong to boost cross-border economic cooperation.

South Korean companies in Kaesong are subject to a 10 percent to 14 percent corporate income tax, but their taxes are exempted for five years after first generating profits, and are reduced by 50 percent for the ensuing three years, according to the ministry, which handles inter-Korean affairs.

The company and three others also paid about $153,000 in corporate income taxes to the North’s authorities this year for their profits in fiscal year 2011.

The development indicates that some South Korean companies have begun to make money for their operations in the industrial complex that marries South Korean capital and technology with cheap labor from the North.

The complex is now home to more than 120 South Korean small and medium-sized companies, which produce clothes, utensils, watches and other goods.

Last year, the production of the industrial complex reached an all-time high of US$400 million. The complex has produced $1.65 billion worth of goods since 2004.

A ministry official said more South Korean companies are expected to pay corporate income taxes to the North next year. He did not give details on how many South Korean companies make money in Kaesong.

Read the full story here:
S. Korean company in Kaesong paid first corporate tax to N. Korea
Yonhap
2012-7-11

38 North has launched a video interview series. The first interview is with Bradley Babson and focuses on foreign investmetn in the DPRK:

(This is also the first video I have successfully embedded into my web page!)

“Pyongyang paints history in its own image”
Andrei Lankov
Asia Times
2012-5-11

“Book Review: Secret History of the KLO in the Korean War”
Stephen Mercado
Intelligence in Public Literature

“South Korea-North Korea Relations: Plumbing the Depths”
Aidan Foster-Carter
Comparative Connections 

“NKIDP e-Dossier No. 6: The Origins of the Northern Limit Line Dispute
Terence Roehrig”
Wilson Center North Korea International Documentation Project

“NKIDP e-Dossier No. 7: East German Documents on Kim Il Sung’s April 1975 Trip to Beijing”
Ria Chae
Wilson Center North Korea International Documentation Project 

ITEM 1: The Adventures of Kim Jong-un! An anime perspective on the life of Kim Jong-un (College Humor):

Click image to watch full video.

ITEM 2: Looks like the Korean Friendship Association’s (KFA) “Special Delegation” to the DPRK to celebrate Kim Il-sung’s 100th birthday was not so special–and more expensive to boot! A participant reports on his travel with the Korean Friendship Association (KFA) here, here, and here.

ITEM 3: A reader points out  that KCNA has updated the broadcast background to reflect the new construction on Mansudae Street. Below are two KCNA screen shots (2012-5-4, 2012-5-9):

Also, the news presenters have started wearing the new “double-leader badge” featuring both Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Below are two screenshots (2012-4-11 and 2012-4-12):

A touristto the DPRK took these pictures a few days ago:

On the left, the new Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il badge. On the right, someone who shares the sentiment but lacks the means (or is not as well connected).

According to a colleague the new “pair” badge was distributed to the delegates of the party conference (3-4 to each delegate), and from them to other people. It is very rare to see these badges right now.

The Daily NK and Ruediger Frank  also wrote about the “pair” badges.

ITEM 4: North Korean art–some great works here. Also a reader send in this painting (3rd place and chosen as a national treasure no less!)

ITEM 5: This is the closest thing to a Kim Jong-il screen-saver that I have seen.