North Korean Economy Watch

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UPDATE 6:  According to KCNA:

Kim Yong Nam Attends Unveiling Ceremony

Pyongyang, April 4 (KCNA) — Kim Yong Nam, president of the Presidium of the DPRK Supreme People’s Assembly on an official goodwill visit to Senegal, participated in the ceremony for unveiling the “Monument to Revival of Africa” on Saturday.

The monument represents in a formative artistic way the strong stamina and will of the African people to bring about their bright future by their own efforts while aspiring after independence and building of a new society. It has been successfully built in a short span of time with help of Korean technicians.

Present at the ceremony were Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and heads of state and government from at least 20 African countries, representatives of different international and regional organizations, diplomatic envoys of different countries in Dakar and thousands of its citizens.

Incumbent and former presidents of African countries and representatives of international and regional organizations said at the ceremony that this wonderfully-built monument is pride of not only Senegal but also Africa.

They expressed belief that the African people would make greater progress with the conviction of the future.

UPDATE 5: Senegal unveils £17m African Renaissance statue built by North Korea’s Mansudae Overseas Investment Group.  According to the Gaurdian:

Senegal’s vast African Renaissance monument was unveiled yesterday amid criticism that the 49-metre bronze statue is a presidential vanity project and waste of money.

The representation of a man, woman and child emerging from a volcano was inaugurated at a ceremony featuring hundreds of drummers and dancers.

The statue, which cost £17m and is taller than the Statue of Liberty, stands on a hill overlooking the capital, Dakar. It marks Senegal’s 50 years of independence, and the president, Abdoulaye Wade has said he hopes it will become a tourist attraction.

Wade, 83, who is expected to seek another term in office at elections in 2012, said the monument commemorated the entire continent. “It brings to life our common destiny,” Reuters reported him saying at the launch ceremony. “Africa has arrived in the 21st century standing tall and more ready than ever to take its destiny into its hands.”

Wade has faced criticism for spending so much money on the structure when Dakar residents living in its shadow endure regular power blackouts and flooding. He has angered both Senegal’s Christian minority and some within the Muslim majority population.

Wade apologised to the former group after likening the monument to Christ, while some imams have condemned the Soviet realist-style statue as idolatrous. Other have expressed concern at the thigh-length hemline skirt worn by the female figure.

UPDATE 4: According to Access Asia’s Weekly Website Update – 1st April 2010:

Senegal may not have much to attract tourists, but it does now have something most other potential holiday destinations don’t – a 50 metre high bronze monument crafted by North Koreans. It’s a quick bit of profit for Pyongyang. Hopelessly corrupt and slightly potty Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade wanted a tall bronze statue – and what he wants, he gets. Actually it’s taller than the Statue of Liberty in the very-difficult-to-get-a-visa-in-these-days United States of America. Called “African Renaissance” it stands on a hill near Dakar International Airport and represents a heroic couple apparently about to launch their child into the sky, for some reason unspecified.

President Wade couldn’t afford the statue so he called in Pyongyang as specialists in providing oversized tat. They did, in return for a prime chunk of real estate in exchange. Pyongyang has since sold the land on, making a tasty profit. Senegal, still mired in poverty, now has Africa’s daftest statue and some dodgy property developers in charge of a chunk of their land – fair swap?

UPDATE 3: Great photos here (h/t Marmot)

UPDATE 2: The Wall Street Journal fills in some more details on the Monument:

This month, workers from Mansudae Overseas Project Group of Companies, a North Korean design firm, were putting the finishing touches on a giant copper sculpture of a family. Senegal President Abdoulaye Wade will inaugurate the African Renaissance Monument in April to mark the 50th anniversary of the country’s independence from France, a ceremony he expects the president of North Korea’s Parliament to attend.

“Only the North Koreans could build my statue,” says Mr. Wade, sitting in a red velvet chair in his palace. Moreover, they offer monuments at a good rate, he says: “I had no money.”

North Korea is mainly known for a totalitarian regime overseeing economic failure. But it has also produced a successful export business—building monuments to freedom and independence. The statues’ selling point: They are big, simple and cheap.

Over the past decade, Mansudae has built dozens of statues and monuments for cash-strapped African countries. Botswana cut the ribbon on a memorial to three tribal chiefs in 2005. Neighboring Namibia boasts a bronze of its founding president wielding an AK-47.

The African Renaissance is Mansudae’s biggest work yet, measuring 164 feet high and crowning two barren hills in Dakar called “Les Mamelles” at the westernmost point of Africa. That makes it taller than either the Statue of Liberty (151 feet) or Rio de Janeiro’s Christ the Redeemer (100 feet). The statue depicts a father holding a baby in his left arm. The man’s right arm is around the waist of the baby’s mother. The three are reaching out to the sky and out to the ocean.

“Its message is about Africa emerging from the darkness, from five centuries of slavery and two centuries of colonialism,” says Mr. Wade.

Africa’s rash of nationalistic monuments, statues and shrines has made Mansudae’s signature aesthetic of socialist realism fashionable. In Benin, for example, a statue of a 19th-century king holds his hand up, symbolically forbidding the French to enter.

Socialist realism is popular “because people can access it easily,” says Mary Jo Arnoldi, curator for African Ethnology at the Smithsonian Institution. It is easy to understand for illiterate populations, she says. “But aesthetically, it’s not going to win any prizes.”

In Senegal, however, the statue has been a beacon of discontent, sparking angry newspaper editorials and protests from religious leaders. The statue’s sultry mother figure, dressed in a wisp of fabric that reveals part of a breast and a bare leg, has offended imams in this majority-Muslim country.

Financing details for the project have been murky, and some taxpayers are outraged by the very idea of it when power outages occur daily and university students strike over rising fees. Mr. Wade had no budget for the African Renaissance, so instead offered a prime chunk of state-owned land in exchange, which North Korea has since resold at a large profit, he says.

However, a panel near the base of the monument lists the official budget as $25 million, though foreign government officials estimate its cost at around $70 million. Mr. Wade says he plans to keep 34% of the profit from entrance fees and merchandise for a personal foundation.

The North Korean role is of less concern, though labor unions do lament that Mansudae got the job when an estimated 49% of the population is unemployed: 150 North Koreans are building the statue, helped by just 50 Senegalese. Mamadou Diouf, the head of the Confederation of Autonomous Unions of Senegal, says the project doesn’t look African.

“If [building the statue] was a priority for our country, it could have been done by Senegalese workers in a manner much more in line with our values,” he says.

A short video related to this story can be seen here.

The monument’s location is here.

UPDATE 1: The Guradian brings us up to date with the monument’s construction:

According to the Guardian:

The statue shows a muscular man in a heroic posture, outstretched arms wrapped around his wife and child. Nearly 50 North Korean workers were brought in to build it, because of their expertise with bronze art, and some Senegalese have complained of its communist-era design. It has also drawn criticism from Muslims, who make up 94% of Senegal’s population, because of Islamic prohibitions on representations of the human form.

Abdoulaye Wade, Senegal’s octogenarian president, has compared the work to some of the west’s best-known landmarks, and some Senegalese do regard it as a symbol of pride that has economic spin-offs.

Alassane Cisse, a Senegalese delegate at the world summit on arts and culture in Johannesburg, South Africa, said: “All cities need signatures, but in Dakar we have had only monuments which existed during colonisation. Africa needs its own great monuments like the Eiffel tower and the Statue of Liberty. This symbol of African renaissance will motivate people to rehabilitate and work with Africa.”

He added that the site has exhibition, multimedia and conference rooms, as well as a top-floor viewing platform giving a bird’s eye view of Dakar. “It will be a cultural place. Around the monument there will be a theatre and shops. Many tourists will visit there, so the economic effects will benefit the population.”

But the president has sparked anger by maintaining that he is entitled to 35% of any tourist revenues it generates, because he owns the “intellectual rights”.

Critics say the £17m could have been used for more pressing concerns. Djiby Diakhate, a sociologist at Dakar’s Cheikh Anta Diop university, told the Associated Press: “Senegal is going through a profound crisis. Our economy is dying. People are struggling to eat. We should be spending money helping people survive.”

ORIGINAL POST: As some readers may be aware, I have been tracking down monuments and buildings constructed by North Korea’s Mansude Overseas Project Group.  To date, I have tracked down quite a few (see North Korea Uncovered for the full list).

One such find is the “Monument to the African Renaissance” in Dakar, Senegal.  See this Voice of America story for background.  Well, a friend of mine recently visited Dakar and snapped this photo of the monument’s construction:

Click on image for larger version

I believe we can see a leg on the lower left.  The majority of the construction so far seems to be support.

Note to readers: if you are aware of any other North Korean-built (or operated) buildings/monuments/businesses/restaurants in your country, please let me know. I do not believe a comprehensive list of these projects exists, so getting this information together now will certainly be valuable to future historians. How is that for motivation?

UPDATE: According to Michael Rank:

Two power stations are under construction on the Yalu river between China and North Korea, a Chinese website reports.

They are both small plants with an installed capacity of 40,000 kilowatts and both are situated near the border town of Ji’an 集安 in southwestern Jilin province, near the border with Liaoning.

The dams are set to be finished in 2013. Negotiations concerning construction have been protracted: a preliminary agreement was reached in July 2004, followed by a further agreement in August 2008 and a final accord last January.

The Wangjianglou or Lintu 望江楼（林土）dam will be based on the Chinese side of the river with investment totalling 600 million yuan ($88 million), while the Wenyue or Changchuan 文岳（长川）dam will be based on the North Korean side with investment put at $500 million ($73 million). The report did not say how power, or costs, would be shared between the two countries.

A ceremony marking the beginning of construction was held on March 31, attended by North Korean vice-minister of electricity industry Kim Man-su and Jilin vice-governor Chen Weigen.

The plants will each produce 154 million kilowatt-hours per year. The Wangjianglou dam is 397 metres long and 16 metres high, while Wenyue is 602.7 metres long and 15.5 metres high. They are 36 and 24 km from Ji’an, respectively and are 1.5 and 5.5 km from North Korean railway stations (Rinto린토 and Mun’ak 문악 – these are the Korean names of the dams).

These dams are very small scale compared with the world’s largest dams, which run into thousands of megawatts (440 kW is just 0.44 MW).

ORIGINAL POST: According to the AFP:

China and North Korea will build two hydro-electric dams on the Yalu River that marks their border, Chinese state media reported on Thursday.

The dams will cost a total of 1.1 billion yuan (161 million dollars) and generate a combined 308 million kilowatt hours of electricity when completed, China Central Television reported.

The announcement came amid reports that North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il would soon visit China in a trip that could revive talks on ending Pyongyang’s nuclear drive.

Xinhua news agency said one dam would be built at Wangjianglou in China’s northeastern Jilin province and the other at Changchuan.

Electricity from the dams would help “drive economic growth in Jilin and North Korea,” it added.

It was not immediately clear how the two sides would share the cost of the projects or the electricity.

Construction would begin this year.

North Korea, desperately poor after decades of isolation and Stalinist economic policies, is heavily dependent on China for trade and aid.

South Korea’s government said this week there was a “high level of possibility” that Kim would pay a visit to China, the reclusive regime’s closest ally.

The South’s Yonhap news agency cited diplomatic sources saying he might leave for China as early as Thursday or Friday.

China’s foreign ministry declined to confirm the reports.

After an October visit to Pyongyang by Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, Kim said his nation would rejoin the six-nation denuclearisation talks which the North stormed out of in April of last year.

The talks group hosts China, the two Koreas, Japan, the United States, and Russia.

Adam Cathcart offers a translation of the Xinhua dispatch:

中朝两国在鸭绿江新合建的两座水电站开工   // China and North Korea to Begin Construction on Two New Shared Hydroelectric Plants

Huanqiu Shibao, April 2, 2010 [translated by Adam Cathcart]

新华网吉林频道3月31日电(记者李双溪)31日， 中国与朝鲜在界河鸭绿江上共同建设的两座水电站开工。这两座电站总投资为11亿元人民币 ，建成后年发电量达3.08亿千瓦时。其中，望江楼(朝鲜称林土)电站计划投资6亿元，发电厂位于中方一侧，电站主要由混凝土重力坝、泄水闸、电站厂房及变电站等部分组成。On Jilin’s newschannel on 31 March, Xinhua’s reporter Li Shuangxi broadcast that China and North Korea would start joint construction on two hydropower plants in the border areas of the Yalu River. Investment on these two power plants will total 1.1 billion yuan, and the year after completion, they are projected to have a power generation capacity of 308 million kilowatts.  Among these plants are the Wangjiang Station (called Lintu by the Koreans), which is slated for 6oo million RMB of investment.   The power plant on the Chinese side will be a concrete gravity dam with a sluice gate and substation components.

[Lots of details follow on dam dimensions, projected electric output…It seems clear that China will bear all of the cost, though.]
2004年7月中朝双方审查通过了两座电站的初步设计，2006年中国有关部门批准了建设方案。2010年1月，双方在朝鲜签署了《中朝建设鸭绿江望江楼和文岳电站第九次会议纪要》，一致同意两电站开工建设。 In July 2004, China and the DPRK jointly reviewed the preliminary design of the two power stations.   In 2006, the Chinese authorities approved the construction plan.  In  January 2010, the two sides signed an agreement in North Korea known as the “Minutes of the Ninth Meeting on Sino-North Korean Construction of Yalu River Dams at Wangjianglou and Wenbing,” in which it was agreed to commence with the construction of the two power stations.

发源于长白山主峰、总长约795公里鸭绿江水能资源丰富，流经过吉林省和辽宁省。 目前在吉林省境内中朝双方已建有云峰、渭源两座水电站。 望江楼、文岳电站将成为双方共同受益的水电站，对开发鸭绿江、拉动吉林省和朝鲜的经济增长将起到积极的促进作用。Originating in the main peak of the Changbai Mountain range, with a total length of 795 km, the Yalu River is a rich resource flowing through Jilin and Liaoning provinces.  Currently, on the borders of Jilin Province, China and the DPRK have already built two jointly benefitted-from hydropower plants called Yunfeng and Weiyuan.  The Wangjianglou and Wenbing power stations will be built for of mutual benefit, developing the Yalu River, driving forward continued economic development between Jilin province and North Korea, playing a positive role.

I am not sure where these dams are going just yet.  The DPRK and China already share 4 dams across the Yalu. Here are satellite images of them (Dam 1, Dam 2, Dam 3, Dam 4).  Unfortunately I do not know the names of most of them, but Dam 2 is now known as the Suphung Dam.  It used to be called the Suiho Dam and it was bombed during the Korean war:

Read the full story here:
China, N.Korea plan Yalu hydropower dams: reports
AFP
4/1/2010

According to the Choson Ilbo:

South Korean goods remain popular among well-to-do North Koreans, especially women, Open Radio for North Korea station reported on March 25.

The defector-run radio station said one North Korean official bought South Korean goods including a robot vacuum cleaner, air conditioner, heater, underwear, and cosmetic goods worth US$3,000 in December last year. He was quoted as saying his wife asked him to buy them and was very happy with them, so her circle of friends asked him to buy the same things for them.

South Korean goods are apparently no longer confiscated in customs. The official said customs officers do not mind as long as the goods are for personal use and not for sale. Control by Chinese customs is stricter than in North Korea.

It said South Korean robot vacuum cleaners are thought to be cheaper than Japanese ones, and the batteries last longer. South Korean underwear and cosmetic goods suit North Koreans better than those imported from other countries.

Read the full story here:
Rich N.Korean Women Lead Craze for S.Korean Goods
Choson Ilbo
4/3/2010

According to the Korea IT Times:

The number of science and technology institutions in North Korea is estimated to hover around 300; about 200 institutions have been officially confirmed. Therefore, the North is unable to focus on building the hardware industry, which requires massive capital input and long-term investment, and is left with no choice, but to be keen on nurturing IT talent geared toward software development. As a result, the North has been producing excellent IT human resources in areas like artificial intelligence, needed for controlling man-made satellites and developing arms systems, and programming languages.

The following IT institutions are in charge of fostering the North’s software industry: DPRK Academy of Sciences, Korea Computer Center (KCC), Pyongyang Information Center (PIC) and Silver Star, which is currently under the KCC.

In particular, the creation of the PIC, modeled on the Osaka Information Center (OIC) at Osaka University of economics and law, was funded by Jochongnyeon, the pro-North Korean residents’ league in Japan, and was technologically supported by the UNDP. The Jochongnyeon-financed KCC has been responsible for program development and distribution; research on electronic data processing; and nurturing IT talent.

Thanks to such efforts, nearly 200,000 IT talents were fostered and about 10,000 IT professionals are currently working in the field. Approximately 100 universities such as Kim Il-sung University, Pyongyang University of Computer Technology and Kim Chaek University of Technology (KUT) – and 120 colleges have produced 10,000 IT human resources every year. At the moment, the number of IT companies in the North is a mere 250, while the South has suffered from a surplus of IT talent. Therefore, inter-Korean IT cooperation is of great importance to the two Koreas.

As aforementioned, the North has set its sights on promoting its software industry, which is less capital-intensive compared to the hardware industry. Above all, the North is getting closer to obtaining world-class technologies in areas such as voice, fingerprint recognition, cryptography, animation, computer-aided design (CAD) and virtual reality. However, the North’s lack of efficient software development processes and organized engineering systems remains a large obstacle to executing projects aimed at developing demand technology that the S. Korean industry wants. What is more, as the North lacks experiences in carrying out large-scale projects, doing documentation work in the process of development, and smoothing out technology transfer, much needs to be done to measure up to S. Korean companies’ expectations.

Thus, the North needs to build a system for practical on-the-job IT training that produces IT talent capable of developing demand technology- which S. Korean companies need. In addition, it is urgent for both Koreas to come up with an IT talent certification system that certifies both Koreas’ IT professionals.

Read the full story here:
North Korea Needs to Set Up Practical IT Training and Certification Systems
Korea IT Times
Choi Sung
4/2/2010

Brigandish Drinking Game
Josh Stanton (One Free Korea) gets credit for inventing the KCNA drinking game.  Every time KCNA mentions “Brandish” behavior, you take a drink.  For those who like to imbibe more frequently, here is a link to every single KCNA story that mentions “Briganish”–all 647 of them. This is courtesy of the indispensable STALIN search engine.

KFA in London
Korean Friendship Association hosted what can only be described as a “hysterical” protest against the US and South Korean embassies in London.  The reasons: Foal Eagle and Key Resolve.  It appears that about half-a-dozen members showed up. See all of their photos here.

Pyongyang Construction Mayhem
The North Koreans are constructing a Pyongyang Folk Village at the foot of Mt. Taesong next to Anhak Palace (satellite image of the construction site here). Below are some images of the construction taken from the Dec 11, 2009 KCTV evening news.

Above are the replicas of the Pongyang ice skating ring and (I believe) Sosan district tae-kwon-do building.

Above are replicas of the Monument to the Founding of the Worker’s Party, the West Sea Barrage, and the Grand People’s Study House.

Above is the replica of the Ryugyong Hotel.  This will likely be the first replica to be completed before the original on which it is based!

No doubt the replica of the Pyongyang Arch of Triumph will also be the worlds largest replica of a triumphal arch as well–over 3 meters taller than the model of the Paris Arch of Triumph at Lego Land!

According tot he Washington Post:

Squeezed by food shortages and financial sanctions, North Korean leader Kim Jong Il appears to be reaching out to China and Chinese investors in a way that could mark an extraordinary opening in the insular nation’s shuttered economy.

Kim might soon travel to China, according to the office of South Korea’s president and U.S. officials. They cited preparations that appear to be underway in the Chinese border city of Dandong and in Beijing. The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Thursday it does not have information on whether Kim will visit China.

…

“The North is now planning to open foreign-owned factories not just in closed-off special economic zones, but in major cities like Nampo and Wonsan,” Lim said. Until now, the government has confined nearly all foreign business operations to sealed-off economic zones, such as Kaesong near the South Korean border. “The military is closely cooperating with the State Development Bank to try to increase foreign investment.”

Although the repressive power of the army and security forces remains strong, the North’s command-style economy is a ruin. There were unconfirmed reports of starvation deaths in some areas this winter.

Kim, 68, and showing the effects of a 2008 stroke, is in the early stages of handing power over to his untested 27-year-old son, Kim Jong Eun. But the legitimacy of the succession — and of the state itself — is being weakened by the growth of the markets and increased public access to foreign media.Refugee surveys show that many North Koreans blame Kim’s government for food shortages, corruption and incompetence.

…

In South Korea and China, there is widespread skepticism about North Korea’s willingness to create modern banking systems and enforce laws that allow foreign companies to operate under standardized accounting rules.

Companies that have invested in North Korean mineral ventures have complained for years of corruption and outright theft by the government.

Read the full story here:
Overtures to China may signal opening of North Korea’s economy
Washington Post
Blaine Harden
4/2/2010

According to the Washington Times:

North Korea’s highest-ranking defector and former mentor to leader Kim Jong-il expressed skepticism on Wednesday that recently reported cracks in the country’s Stalinist regime are significant enough to bring it down.

Hwang Jang-yop also said during a visit to Washington that no group inside North Korea is “influential enough to cause a big dent” in Mr. Kim’s iron fist, and the “military is the only force” that could stand up to him.

Mr. Hwang responded to a recent report, based on interviews with 300 North Korean refugees, many of whom were not part of the ruling elite, that cell-phone usage and other modern technology, as well as black market cross-border trading, have begun to undermine support for the regime in Pyongyang.

“Very few people have cell phones, and those who are found to be in possession of a cell phone [without permission] are penalized,” he said at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.He suggested that a more effective way to shake Mr. Kim’s rule is to secretly send North Korean refugees now living in South Korea to the communist country’s mountains to wage “ideological warfare.” That proved successful “during the Japanese occupation” in the last century, he said.

The recent paper by Stephen Haggard and Marcus Noland at the Honolulu-based East-West Center reported an increased willingness among North Koreans to defy the government by listening to foreign broadcasts and engaging in clandestine trade across the country’s border with China. Those activities, it said, also have facilitated the flow of information, and in a few cases, the smuggling of cell phones into the reclusive North.

The influx of outside information has helped North Koreans realize that their own government is to blame for the dire state of the country’s economy, rather than believe the state-run propaganda that foreign forces are behind the problems, the report said.

“It is evidence that the informational barrier is increasingly permeable,” it added, noting that “loyalty to the regime is in short supply.”Mr. Hwang, 87, defected in 1997 and is considered the highest-ranking official to turn against Mr. Kim, whom he helped educate as a young man. Although his information about the inner workings of the secretive North Korean system is dated, U.S. intelligence officials deem it important for providing assessments on contemporary activities of Mr. Kim’s regime.

Openly airing his low opinion — and even disgust — of Mr. Kim on Wednesday, the defector said that no good can come out of the North as long as he is in power. Mr. Hwang declined to discuss the leader’s personal life, but he said that Mr. Kim “never speaks badly of the U.S. in private,” though he does so of China.

Here is the audio of Mr. Hwang’s talk. (Thanks to a friend)

Read the full story here:
Defector suggests North Korean shake-up
Washignton Times
Nicholas Kralev
4/1/2010

Nautilus Institute Policy Forum Online 10-020A: April 1st, 2010
James E. Hoare
4/1/2010

I. Introduction

James E. Hoare was Britain’s Chargé d’Affaires to the DPRK from 2001-2002 and opened the British Embassy in Pyongyang. In this article on the Sunshine policy he writes, “Slowly, the policy was creating a group of people who could see benefits in remaining on good terms with South Korea and who had wider links with the outside world. Engagement has worked in other countries, most noticeably China, and I believe that it was beginning to work in North Korea. There was never going to be a speedy change in attitudes built up over sixty years, but stopping the process after ten was not a wise decision.”

This article was published by 38 North a web site devoted to analysis of North Korea from the U.S.-Korea Institute at SAIS. 38 North will harness the experience of long-time observers of North Korea and others who have dealt directly with North Koreans. It will also draw on other experts outside the field who might bring fresh, well, informed insights to those of us who follow North Korea.

The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Nautilus Institute. Readers should note that Nautilus seeks a diversity of views and opinions on contentious topics in order to identify common ground.

II. Article by James E. Hoare

– “Why the Sunshine Policy Made Sense”
By James E. Hoare

At a recent private meeting in London, a former senior United Nations’ official, drawing on experience relating to a wide range of countries, said that transforming a “failing” or “fragile” state was not something that could be done overnight. Those involved needed to think in terms of ten to twenty years rather than weeks or months. Regardless of whether or not one accepts the idea of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) as a failed or even fragile state-and the term is often used in some quarters-the idea that one is in for the long haul in bringing about major modifications in behavior and attitude is certainly a good one to have in mind when dealing with the DRPK. It was such an approach that marked the Republic of Korea’s policy towards the North under former Presidents Kim Dae-jung and Roh Moo-hyun.

Since the Lee Myung-bak government took office in the Republic of Korea (ROK or South Korea) in 2008, it is fashionable to dismiss the policies followed by his predecessors as an expensive failure. Sneers about “ATM diplomacy,” innuendo about Kim Dae-jung’s motives, and references to his successor Roh Moo-hyun’s naivety, are the commonplace of South Korean academic and press comment, and are heard much further afield. “Sunshine” or engagement have become terms of mockery. The Lee government has adopted a more aggressive policy towards North Korea. It has not refused assistance outright, but has couched its offers in such a way that rejection is inevitable-the most recent example is the “grand bargain” proposed in 2009 in which the DPRK must first give up its nuclear program to receive security guarantees and aid. This is then played back as evidence that the North is incorrigible and not deserving of assistance.

The Lee government’s approach is based on an incorrect assessment both of the Sunshine Policy and what went before it. “Sunshine” or “engagement” was not something that sprang from Kim Dae-jung’s fertile brain, though he certainly can be credited with refining and developing the idea. The policies pursued by Kim and Roh lay firmly within a tradition that goes back to President Park Chung Hee in the early 1970s and that was followed by all his successors to a greater or lesser degree. However, it was never easy to engage the North and it did not take much to divert earlier presidents from such a policy. Frustrated or annoyed, they eventually gave up the effort.

The difference after 1998 was that South Korea stuck to “sunshine” even when there were difficulties. Neither Kim nor Roh were starry-eyed and neither expected that the North would be changed overnight. Both responded to Pyongyang’s bad behavior with firmness. But they realized that circumstances had changed with the famine and other problems that hit North Korea in the 1990s. They also realized that for engagement to be successful, it was best to avoid rubbing in the fact that the country faced real problems. Even if the explanations offered for the problems often ignored the North Korean regime’s own part in bringing them about, there was nevertheless an acceptance that help was needed. The unprecedented appeal for outside assistance that brought in UN agencies and resident non-governmental organizations in the late 1990s showed that the South would help without preaching. No doubt the expense and complications of German reunification also gave pause for thought. If the two Germanys, which had not fought a savage war and were far richer, could not achieve a smooth reintegration, how could the two Koreas?

So Kim and Roh did not break off engagement as a result of “bad” behavior or outside criticism of “soft policies.” They accepted that it would take a long time to modify Pyongyang’s policies and that there were likely to be few expressions of thanks. Of course there was no instant transformation. But the new approach provided a window for other countries to establish relations with North Korea. In theory, it had long been the South’s policy to allow if not to encourage such relations, but the reality had been different. From 2000 onwards, that changed. Countries that had hitherto held back for fear of offending Seoul now found themselves encouraged to establish relations with Pyongyang.

Those that did so found a North Korea that seemed eager for change, although very careful about how that eagerness was expressed. But there was a readiness to do things that would have seemed improbable only ten years before. While never quite admitting that the policies pursued under Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il might have had defects, those of us working in the North between 2000-2002 found a willingness on the part of officials to admit that they needed assistance and that mistakes had been made. Examples included a vice-mayor who admitted that post-Korean War town planning had many defects that were only then becoming obvious. Officials were willing to admit that the country was in need of a whole range of economic and commercial skills that had hitherto been neglected. Perhaps most telling of all, a country that had responded to the changes in the former Soviet Union, Eastern Europe and China in the early 1990s by calling home all its overseas students now was most anxious to send students abroad once again.

Engagement was thus helping to open North Korean eyes to possibilities beyond juche, but unfortunately, even before the 2002 nuclear crisis, there was relatively little follow-up on these expressions of intent. Pyongyang found difficulty in matching students to the requirements of foreign universities and other training institutions. Some countries that established diplomatic relations preferred to concentrate on human rights issues to the exclusion of other matters. Since several of these were members of the European Union (EU), their approach inevitably affected the EU’s broad approach to North Korea. Even among countries that did not give predominance to human rights, goodwill was rarely transformed into sufficient funding to make a real difference.

That said, in the British case alone, we were able to fund several sessions of economics training, an English-language training program that put initially two-now four -British teachers into DPRK universities to train English teachers, and intensive English courses for a variety of North Korean officials. In addition, non-governmental bodies such as the BBC and Reuters conducted training programs for media staff in modern methods of news presentation and communication skills. Perhaps if the United States had been more supportive of its ally’s engagement policy these efforts would have made a difference. But as the relatively benign approach towards engagement of the Clinton years gave way to hostility under President George W. Bush after 2000 that too had an impact on how far countries such as Britain would support the sunshine policy.

It was South Korea’s approach to engagement that had the greatest impact. Seoul’s aid and other measures taken under the umbrella of the “sunshine” approach brought North and South into contact across many fields. During the period from 1998-2008, the North became known to South Korean citizens in a totally unprecedented way. The process had begun earlier, especially during the Roh Tae-woo presidency (1988-93), but the trickle of information about the North of those years became a flood. And it was not only information but actual contact with North Korea. For some, this meant tightly controlled tours to the Diamond Mountains (Mount Kumgang) or towards the end of the period, to Kaesong at the western end of the Demilitarized Zone. Limited though these were, they were still a glimpse into what had hitherto been unknown and feared. There were also signs that, as the North got used to the idea of such visits, it might open up a little more; the decision to allow the use of visitors’ own cars in March 2008 was one such indication, but there were several others.

Much more important were the wide range of government and non-governmental contacts. Relatively few North Koreans came South but the traffic in the other direction was enormous. On any given day, there were likely to be several thousand South Korean visitors in the North, dealing with aid, trade, cultural, educational and even religious exchanges-both the Protestant and the Roman Catholic churches in the North had regular South Korean officiating ministers as well as hymnbooks and prayer books produced in the ROK. South Korean journalists were also a not uncommon sight. Most of this activity may have been confined to Pyongyang, by not all of it was. South Koreans were visiting many parts of the country, especially in connection with agricultural assistance and other aid-related projects. Nobody was starry-eyed about these visits. South Korean visitors were watched and controlled. But they were able to learn a lot since they could speak and read Korean. If the projects agreed to at the October 2007 summit between Kim Jong-il and Roh Moo-hyun had been implemented by the incoming Lee Myung-bak government, there would have been a huge increase in these types of contacts.

No doubt engagement was expensive and sometimes the means used to bring it about were shady, but it was producing benefits. The South, and to some extent the rest of the world, now has a far better understanding of how North Korea works then it did before engagement began. Within the North, a large number of people have come to see their southern compatriots in a less hostile light and have some, even if limited, understanding of the economic and social structures of South Korea. Perhaps some of the assistance provided was diverted away from its original purpose, but enough rice and fertilizer bags reached areas far away from Pyongyang and enough people were willing to ask questions about the South to show that the impact of engagement extended beyond a small circle of ruling elite. Slowly, the policy was creating a group of people who could see benefits in remaining on good terms with South Korea and who had wider links with the outside world. Engagement has worked in other countries, most noticeably China, and I believe that it was beginning to work in North Korea. There was never going to be a speedy change in attitudes built up over sixty years, but stopping the process after ten was not a wise decision.

According to Business Week:

As many as 1,000 North Koreans use handsets that connect to Chinese networks to tell people in the South about subjects ranging from food shortages to leader Kim Jong Il’s health, said Ha Tae Keung, a South Korean who runs a Seoul-based radio station that broadcasts daily to the North.

Ha’s Open Radio for North Korea is one of several groups gathering information from people on phones that only work near the 1,400-kilometer (870-mile) border with China. The risks are absolute: One caller was executed, Ha’s employees heard, leading Open Radio to curb contact with informants.

“To us, it’s about breaking news,” said Ha, who receives U.S. congressional funding through the National Endowment for Democracy. “To them, it’s a matter of life and death.”

North Korea accuses the U.S. and South Korea of financing such organizations to conduct “a black propaganda campaign,” the Korean Central News Agency said last month. Kim’s government glorifies his achievements as “the great sun of the nation,” who repels “U.S. warmongers and South Korean puppet forces.”

…

Defection and disclosing “national secrets” are deemed treason under North Korea’s criminal code and are punishable by death, according to a copy posted on the Web site of South Korea’s Unification Ministry. Listening to “anti-state radio” is punishable by up to five years in a labor camp.

Radios are pre-tuned to government programs and owning computers without permission is forbidden, according to the Feb. 17 UN report. Security squads raid homes looking for contraband, it said.

While mobile phones are allowed in and around the capital of Pyongyang, their use is forbidden near the border, the UN said. Legal cell phones in North Korea, many operated by Cairo- based Orascom Telecom Holding SAE, can’t be used for international calls, a U.S. State Department human-rights report released in March said.

SIM Cards
More than 10 North Korean informants for Open Radio use phones with pre-paid SIM cards bought in China that work as far as 10 kilometers across the border, Ha said. Pre-paid cards accounted for 82 percent of all users at Beijing-based China Mobile Ltd., that country’s biggest operator, in 2007.

Illegal phones started appearing as early as 2000, when defectors living in China and South Korea had them smuggled across the border to relatives, said Sohn Kwang Joo, chief editor at Seoul-based Daily NK.

Read the full story here:
North Korea Open Radio Prompts Wonder About Riches Over Border
Business Week
Bomi Lim
3/31/2010

(* = assist from the US Navy)

According to Sapa-AFP (via iol.com of South Africa):

Heavily armed Somali pirates shot and wounded nine seafarers during a bloody attempt to hijack a North Korean cargo ship off Kenya on Wednesday, a maritime watchdog said.

“There was a very violent attack against a North Korean vessel by Somali pirates who used automatic rifles and RPGs (rocket-propelled grenades),” Pottengal Mukundan, director of the London based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) told AFP.

“Nine crew members have been seriously injured as a result of the attack,” he added.

Mukundan said Somali pirates, who have become a serious hazard for shipping in the region, attacked the ship which was heading to Mombasa.

“Despite coming under heavy attack, the pirates were unable to board the ship,” he said.

Mukundan said IMB had relayed news of the attack to the relevant authorities to provide assistance to the crew.

Urging seafarers to remain alert, he said pirates were shifting their attacks against ships “well south of the previous areas of risk, threatening the trade route into Mombasa and Dar es Salaam.”

“The level of violence has increased against ships. We call on the navies to continue robust action against mother ships when the mother ships are located,” he said.

Somali pirates have expanded from the Gulf of Aden into the open seas of the Indian Ocean, venturing as far as the Seychelles and beyond.

Despite the increased international military presence off Somalia’s coastline – the longest on the African continent – pirates have raked in huge ransoms.

Alongside the EU, the United States and other national navies deployed warships off the Somali coast in December 2008 to protect shipping and secure maritime routes in the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Read past stories about Somali Pirates and the DPRK here:
DPRK Merchants (2)* Vs. Somali Pirates (2)

DPRK Merchants (2)* Vs. Somali Pirates (1)

DPRK Merchants (1)* vs. Somali Pirates (1)