Choson Exchange has let the world know about a new North Korean beer: 삼각맥주
The name means “triangle” beer, or more accurately “river delta” beer.
It is manufactured at the Rajin Drink Factory (라진음료공장). I do not know where this factory is located, so please let me know if you happen to learn.
UPDATE 4 (2015-7-6): Stephan Haggard provides some additional information on Queensway Group/KKG.
UPDATE 3 (2015-6-24): Writing in the Financial Times, Tom Burgis links Queensway Group/KKG with Office 39.
UPDATE 2 (2015-5-1): J.R. Mailey has much more information on the Queensway Group/KKG.
UPDATE 1 (2014-7-17): Over at 38 North, J.R. Mailey has uncovered much more information on KKG (Queensway Group) and linked it with the Kaesong High Tech Industrial Park.
ORIGINAL POST (2012-9-11): “Kumgang Street/KKG Avenue Project in Pyongyang”: Aggressive construction and re-development projects have taken place on Pyongyang’s Mansudae Street over the last few years as part of the DPRK’s “Strong and Prosperous Nation (강성대국)” policies. See Mansudae renovation no. 1 here and Mansudae renovation no. 2 here.
Residential construction projects, however, have been limited neither to Mansudae Street (See here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here) nor to Pyongyang. In the interest of [my] time, I will offer only the most recent example: There are reports of an ambitions real-estate project in Chongjin, though satellite imagery in the area is too old to confirm the project or evaluate its size/scope.
However, a recent tourist photo taken in Pyongyang near the Tongil Market reveals yet another ambitious plan for residential development in Rakrang-guyok (락랑구역). It is unclear how long this project has been planned or if/why it appears to be on hold. Here is the photo of the billboard:
Click here to see a larger version of this photo on flickr.
According to the billboard, this project bears the name “Kumgang Street” in Korean (금강거리) and “KKG Avenue” in English. The operation appears to be run by 금강경제개발총회사 (The Kumgang Economic Development Corporation). A quick Google search for “금강경제개발총회사” yields pleanty of results, but all of them are in Korean–meaning it will be excruciatingly painful for me to do any research on this organization. If you can determine anything else about this project, please let me know.
From what I can tell, this effort is set to take place just north of the Tongil Market (conspicuously absent from the billboard, though enhanced with a wide avenue and bridge to Yanggak Island). Here is the approximate location as seen on Google Earth (I have added the position of the proposed Yanggak Bridge to make the comparison easier):
According to the billboard, the Mullet Soup Restaurant on the bank of the Taedong River will be part of the finished project. The remainder of the land looks like it has been cleared and prepared for the development project, although historical imagery on Google Earth indicates that this land has been largely unused for decades. The image below dates from 2000-6-12:
According to “The Skyscraper Center” the tallest building(s) in the new development will be 274m/899 feet.
I have been able to find out little more about this project. Again, if you can find additional information, please let me know.
According to Xinhua:
An oft-suspended tourist route between China and North Korea has been reopened after its latest closure.
A charter flight carrying 73 tourists left from Yanji, in the Korean autonomous prefecture of Yanbian in northeast China’s Jilin province, for Pyongyang in North Korea on Thursday.
The route will be open until early October, with a planned 32 charter flights on Thursdays and Sundays. All seats on the flights in June have been booked, according to Yanbian Tianyu Travel Agency, which runs the route with North Korea’s Air Koryo.
A four-day trip costs 3,980 yuan (US$650) per person while a five-day trip costs 4,480 yuan (US$720) per person, according to the agency.
The route between Yanji and Pyongyang was first opened in July 2012, but it was closed for the whole of 2013 due to tensions in North Korea. It resumed on June 29 last year and was suspended again in October. A total of 90 flights had been completed on the route by October.
Read the full story here:
Yanbian-Pyongyang tourist route reopens
Xinhua
2015-6-21
According to the Reuters:
A Mongolian coal miner has signed a deal with a shipping company to deliver its coal via Russia to North Korea’s Rason port, part of the landlocked north Asian nation’s efforts to find new ways to reach overseas markets such as Japan and South Korea.
Miner Sharyn Gol signed a binding agreement on Friday with Mongol Sammok Logistics to ship its coal to Rason, where Mongolia already has an agreement with North Korea that gives its exporters preferential treatment at the port.
Mongolia currently ships the bulk of its mostly resource-based exports to China, leaving its economy dependent on its powerful southern neighbour and putting it at a disadvantage when it comes to negotiating prices.
“This is a pretty historic deal,” said James Passin, who controls Mongolian Stock Exchange-listed Sharyn Gol through the New York-based Firebird Mongolia Fund.
“This deal has to be viewed in the context of international relations and diplomacy,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of a signing ceremony.
Sharyn Gol currently has no sales agreements in place with any potential overseas buyers, Mr. Passin said, adding that he could not disclose any further details.
…
Mr. Passin declined to reveal any estimated delivery cost for shipments from the Sharyn Gol mine to Rason, but pointed to the preferential treatment at the port and the Russia exports that already go through there to South Korea.
South Korea has at least twice in the past year taken deliveries of Russian coal from Rason, with steelmaker POSCO one of the regular buyers, according to a company spokesman.
Namgar Algaa, executive director of the Mongolian Mining Association, said opening up new markets would allow Mongolian miners to manage the risk of slowing Chinese growth.
China’s weakening growth this year has meant its coal imports from Mongolia fell 6.9 percent across the first four months of the year to 5.2 million tonnes.
…
Read the full story here:
Mongolian miner signs deal to ship coal to North Korea
Reuters
2015-6-19
Pictured Above (Google Earth): The new Samjiyon railway line route (in blue) and the original narrow gauge line (in white)
UPDATE (2015-11-18): According to the Pyongyang Times:
Broad-gauge railroad construction makes good headway
The project for building a broad-gauge railway between Hyesan and Samjiyon is being pushed briskly.
According to information available, the work for roadbed has been carried out by 80 per cent and that for small structures by over 70 per cent as of mid-November.
The field construction headquarters set a goal to speed up the construction of roadbed, railway bridge, tunnel and retaining wall for the first-stage assignment and complete the building of small structures by the end of this year, and is concentrating all efforts and means on its implementation.
To wind up wet project before the soil is frozen it is organizing the guidance over the execution of construction scrupulously while seeking the ways to carry on construction uninterruptedly even in winter.
Every construction group ensures that the flames of creating a new Korean speed flare up in all construction sites by arousing the enthusiasm of members of the shock brigade.
In the wake of having cut two tunnels through, the members of the South Hwanghae provincial construction group are pushing the projects for roadbed, retaining walls and small structures in a three-dimensional way.
Ministries and national agencies, the Pyongyang municipal construction group and the northern railway construction youth shock brigade have completed the construction of three railway bridges.
The flames of innovation for rounding off the projects as soon as possible are also blazing up at the workplaces of the North and South Hamgyong provincial construction groups.
Though working at the section with the most unfavourable working conditions, the members of the Jagang provincial construction group overfulfil their assignments two or three times every day.
Builders are making collective innovations in every workplace while putting the main stress on ensuring the speed and quality of construction.
UPDATE 3 (2015-10-7): Naenara announces that work has begun on the new line. You can read the PDF here.
UPDATE 2 (2015-6-17): I discuss this new railway project on Radio Free Asia.
UPDATE 1 (2015-6-4): KCNA announces work on Samjiyon railway line. According to the article:
A broad-gauge railroad from Hyesan to Samjiyon will be constructed.
A ground-breaking ceremony took place before the Samjiyon Grand Monument on Thursday.
Present there were O Su Yong, secretary of the C.C., the Workers’ Party of Korea, officials concerned, builders and working people in Samjiyon County.
The participants laid bunches of flowers before the statue of President Kim Il Sung at the Samjiyon Grand Monument and paid tribute to him.
O Su Yong made a report to be followed by speeches.
The reporter and speakers said the construction of the new railroad is a sacred work for glorifying forever the immortal exploits performed by Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il in the area of Paektu and their revolutionary careers.
They called on all builders to wind up the project as scheduled by overcoming hardships and difficulties.
ORIGINAL POST (2008-10-19): According to the Daily NK:
North Korean authorities have started construction for expanding the railway connecting Hyesan, Yangkang Province and Samjiyeon from a narrow to a broad railroad.
An inside source from Yangkang Province relayed in a phone conversation with the Daily NK on October 16th, that “Since the 1st of this month, the ‘Shock Brigade for the Propagation of Party Ideology (the June 18th Shock Brigade)’ came and started preparing for expanding the railway between Hyesan and Samjiyeon. Now, they are building housing for brigade members who will begin construction in early November.”
According to the source, the Hyesan-Samjiyeon railway was a “narrow gauge (railroad)” which connected the rail between Hyesan and Bocheonbo to Samjiyeon Lake in the mid-1980s and only small cars which fit 38 people could travel on it. Not only was it a railroad on which small trains could travel, it suffered significant damage in the 1994 mass flood and ceased operations until recently.
The North Korean authorities believed that Samjiyeon played an important role to propagandize Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il’s revolutionary ideology, so they attempted to build a “broad gauge” between Hyesan and Samjiyeon when Kim Il Sung was alive. However, the project is still under construction due to the nation’s weak financial predicament and rough construction environment.
The source relayed, “The number of construction workers totals approximately 50,000 people, including 30,000 ‘June 18 Shock Brigade members and 20,000 others mobilized from rural areas, enterprise officials, and farms. The area of construction is approximately 70km, but it is a rough, mountainous terrain, so the construction will not be easy.”
He also stated, “Currently, a part of the Shock Brigade have come in to build housing, but at the end of October, all members will come. The Shock Brigade is in charge of doing construction far from the city and in some places near the city, and the enterprise officials or farmers will take charge and lead the construction.”
At the news of the beginning of the railroad construction, citizens showed a welcoming and a concerned response.
The source said, “The merchants are glad at the opportunity to make money, but the farmers are all concerned that the number of thieves will increase on the farms. The place where construction will take place is near the border region, so smugglers are concerned that the border patrol will become toughened.”
The source added that, “The Shock Brigade mobilized for the construction has said that the construction has to be completed before the 100th anniversary of the Supreme Leader’s (Kim Il Sung) birthday in 2012. That is why people have been rushing to begin construction despite the coming of winter.”
The Los Angeles Times reported on the 27th of last month that the construction of high buildings has been rapidly taking place in Pyongyang and hotels and theaters have also been refurbished. The construction of the 107-story Ryukyung Hotel, which has been left under construction for a long time, also has resumed.
The LA Times pointed out the fact that such construction is taking place when the World Food Programme (WFP) has warned of an economic crisis as serious as in the mid-1990s, during which 2,000,000 starvation deaths resulted in North Korea, is simply miraculous and outrageous.
Read the full story here:
Railway Construction by Kim Il Sung’s 100th Birthday Takes Precedence
Daily NK
Lee Sung Jin
2008-10-19
Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
2015-6-17
Last year North Korea’s foreign trade volume (excluding economic exchanges with South Korea) totaled 7.6 billion USD, a 3.7 percent increase over the previous year. According to a report recently put out by KOTRA (Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency) entitled “North Korea’s International Trade Patterns in 2014,” last year North Korean exports totaled 3.16 billion USD, while imports totaled 4.45 billion USD. This represents a 1.7 percent decrease in exports and 7.8 percent growth in imports over the previous year. As a result North Korea’s trade deficit in 2014 leaped to 1.29 billion USD, a 41 percent increase over 2013. This expansion of trade appears to be a product of growth in the import of goods such as plastics, machinery and electricity, as well as growth in the export of clothing.
Among North Korea’s main exports, mineral fuels such as coal, at 1.18 billion USD, represented 37.2 percent of total exports and was the country’s main export product. Meanwhile, exports of clothing and components saw the biggest growth rate, at 23.7 percent, and amounted to 640 million USD. In regards to other exports, iron ore totaled 330 million USD (18.3 percent decrease over 2013), fish and crustaceans totaled 140 million USD (21.9 percent increase), and steel amounted to 130 million USD (22 percent increase).
North Korea’s main imports were as follows: mineral fuels (750 million USD – 4.7 percent decrease), electric equipment (430 million USD – 54.8 percent increase), furnaces and machinery (330 million USD – 3.3 percent increase), motor vehicles and parts (230 million USD – 9.6 percent decrease), and plastic (200 million USD – 31.8 percent increase).
It appears North Korea’s main trading partner is still China. Last year its trade volume with China reached 6.86 billion USD (exports – 2.84 billion USD, imports – 4.02 billion USD), a 4.9 percent increase over 2013. This contributed to a slight increase in North Korea’s reliance on trade with China. Its proportion of trade with China went from 89.1 percent in 2013 to 90.1 percent in 2014. After China, the countries that North Korea traded most with were Russia, India, Thailand, and Bangladesh, in that order. Hong Kong and Ukraine dropped off the list of North Korea’s top ten trading partners, and Pakistan and Germany newly appeared on the list at 8th and 10th place, respectively. Trade with Japan has been nonexistent since 2009. Due to its economic sanctions against North Korea, the United States also had no economic exchanges with North Korea in 2014 outside of relief aid, mostly in the form of medical supplies and equipment.
As North Korea’s over-reliance on trade with China continued, its trade deficit widened due to the decrease in exports and surge in imports. Considering factors such as the complementary trade structure (including contract processing and natural resource trade), the protraction of North Korea’s political and economic isolation, and their highly interdependent relationship, it seems likely that North Korea’s strong reliance on trade with China will continue in the future.
[NOTE: KOTRA data excludes inter-Korean trade. If South Korean trade were included, it would be North Korea’s second largest trading partner, and the composition of trade allotted to China would fall.]
Here is coverage in Yonhap:
North Korea’s global trade expanded in 2014 from a year earlier, but its trade deficit also widened due to a drop in exports, a report showed Friday.
According to the report by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, North Korea’s trade came to US$7.61 billion last year, up 3.7 percent from a year earlier. The figures did not count its trade with South Korea.
North Korea’s exports shrank 1.7 percent on-year to $3.16 billion last year, while imports grew 7.8 percent to $4.45 billion over the same period, the report showed.
Based on the figures, North Korea posted a trade deficit of $1.29 billion last year, with its shortfall jumping 41 percent from the year before.
Minerals and fossil fuels, including coal, were among the country’s major export items as its overseas sales stood at $1.18 billion, which accounted for 37.2 percent of its total annual exports.
The report showed that North Korea continues to depend heavily on China for its trade.
Last year, bilateral trade between the two countries reached $6.86 billion, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier. North Korea’s dependence on China in trade increased slightly from 89.1 percent in 2013 to 90.1 percent last year, according to the report.
Read the full story here:
N. Korea’s global trade expands but trade gap widens: report
Yonhap
2015-6-5
Here is coverage in UPI:
South Korea’s trade promotion agency KOTRA stated North Korea’s trade with the outside world rose to $7.61 billion in 2014, a marginal increase from the previous fiscal year.
In its annual report on North Korea trade trends released Friday, KOTRA noted North Korean exports scaled down while demand for outside materials was up between 2013 and 2014, Yonhap reported.
Numbers indicated North Korea’s exports decreased by 1.7 percent to $3.16 billion in 2014, while imports rose by 7.8 percent to $4.45 billion.
North Korea’s trade deficit jumped to $1.29 billion, up 41 percent from 2013.
In 2014 North Korea imported more electrical equipment, machinery and plastics than it did a year earlier, while exporting more clothing and accessories, according to KOTRA.
The country’s primary export is coal, a trade valued at $1.18 billion and comprises 37.2 percent of North Korea exports.
Clothing and accessories inched up in its share of total exports, rising to $640 million – up 23.7 percent from 2013.
The country’s primary import was fossil fuels at $750 million, followed by electrical equipment at $430 million and boilers, machinery at $330 million.
China remained North Korea’s No. 1 trading partner, reported South Korean newspaper Kyunghyang Sinmun.
In 2014 China-North Korea trade inched up 4.9 percent to $6.87 billion. North Korea imported more than it exported from China. Exports were estimated at $2.84 billion while imports totaled $4.03 billion.
A KOTRA official told Yonhap North Korea’s protracted political and economic isolation has led to a high dependence on trade with China, facilitated by a complementary trade structure between the two countries.
South Korea’s report stated North Korea’s trade dependence on China was as high as 90.1 percent, dwarfing Pyongyang’s next major trading partner, Russia, as well as India, Thailand and Bangladesh.
Read the full story here:
North Korea’s trade deficit continued to grow, says SKorea
UPI
Elizabeth Shim
2015-6-4
Here is coverage in the Joong Ang Ilbo:
North Korea’s international trade volume reached $7.6 billion in 2014, rising by 3.7 percent year-on-year, according to a report on Friday by the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (Kotra).
The growth was backed by Pyongyang’s increased import of electronic devices and machinery and its rising export of clothing, according to the agency.
Kotra said North Korea’s export volume was worth $3.2 billion last year, a 1.7 percent decline from the previous year.
On the other hand, the reclusive state imported $4.5 billion worth of goods, up 7.8 percent. The widening disparity between imports and exports extended the North’s trade deficit by 41 percent to $1.3 billion.
China remained Pyongyang’s biggest trading partner in 2014, the report said, followed by Russia, India, Thailand and Bangladesh. Its trading volume with China increased to $6.9 billion, with imports from that nation accounting for $4 billion and exports $2.9 billion. The overall figure is a 4.9 percent increase from 2013, nudging up the North’s overall degree of dependence on foreign trade with China to 90.1 percent from 89.1 percent.
Hong Kong and Ukraine were no longer in the North’s top 10 trading partners, but Pakistan and Germany made their way onto the list. By contrast, Japan has not traded with the North since 2009, while the United States only provided it with aid and medical equipment.
Kotra noted that the North’s key export products include mineral resources such as coal and brown coal, which account for 37.2 percent of all its exports. Clothing and fisheries products were also among its major exports, with garment shipments recently seeing rapid growth.
The country’s other major export products consist of crude oil, refined oil, machinery, electronic devices, cars and auto parts. The value of resource imports decreased by 4.7 percent last year, while those of electronic machines surged by 54.8 percent.
Kotra expects that the North will continue to rely on its neighboring key ally going forward.
“2014 saw increasing dependence on China, while North Korea extended trade deficits due to the increase in imports and the decline in exports,” Kotra said in a statement. “When considering geopolitical factors and mutually beneficial trade structure, the North is expected to show further reliance on China.”
The Korea Development Institute, a state-run think tank, released its own report that paints dim prospects for the North’s exports.
The institute said the North’s exports of anthracite coal to China are expected to fall in the years to come due to China’s dwindling steel industry and stronger environmental regulations. Its exports of the coal to its ally have been considered the backbone of its economy, accounting for about 40 percent of its overall exports.
The report called on the North to reorganize its trade structure in order to avoid being seriously affected.
“The time has come for North Korea to reshape its external trade structure,” it noted.
Read the full story here:
North’s trade volume rises
Joong Ang Ilbo
2015-6-6
According to Radio Free Asia:
North Korea’s military police force, which operates outside of the control of the normal authorities, is the driving force behind smuggling in the country, despite a nationwide crackdown on the practice, according to sources inside the hermit kingdom.
Sources said that as a result of North Korea’s “military first” policy, the military police wield a vast amount of influence over a far-reaching network of contacts in the nation, which allows them to facilitate smuggling by soldiers along the border with China.
“Most smuggling has been carried out by soldiers, and it’s particularly difficult to smuggle in massive quantities without the help of the military police,” a source in North Hamgyong province on the border with China recently told RFA’s Korean Service.
“The military police smuggle precious metals, such as gold, silver, copper, nickel, industrial diamonds and molybdenum. They also smuggle resources belonging to the nation, and plants and animals, as well as historical items, cultural artifacts, drugs, and medicinal herbs,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Military police help smuggle the goods into China in return for consumer goods, such as food, fertilizer and daily necessities, which are then peddled inside of North Korea, he said.
North Korea’s military police force is divided into the Pyongyang Military Police under the direct control of the military’s central General Staff Department, the Mobile Military Police, the Garrison Military Police serving each provincial branch of the military, and the Train Crew Military Police, the source said.
The Garrison and Train Crew divisions are those most directly involved in smuggling, he said.
A second source living in Yanggang province, which also borders China, confirmed that the Garrison Military Police have been particularly helpful in furthering the work of the nation’s smugglers.
“There’s no problem using trains and cars [to smuggle] with the help of the Garrison Military Police, and people say, no matter how severe the crackdown is, all paths lie open if you have pull with that division,” said the source, who is a resident of Yanggang’s capital Hyesan.
“A few days ago in Hyesan, a military policeman stopped a vehicle and forced the people to get out and load [smuggled] goods sent for a military camp, but driver and passengers couldn’t say a word [in protest].”
Likewise, he said, smuggling has been carried out systematically by members of the Garrison Military Police along the border with China.
Sources in North Korea agreed that as long as the economy remains in shambles and the “military first” policy remains in effect, not only resources belonging to the nation, but historical items and cultural artifacts, will continue to flood out of the country into China.
Lucrative practice
In March, sources told RFA that authorities in North Korea were offering a variety of incentives, including increased food rations and Workers’ Party membership, to informants on would-be smugglers who try to cross the frozen Tumen River into China during the lean months of the winter season.
The sources said the rewards appeared to have been ordered by the Kim Jong Un regime as part of a bid to crackdown on the country’s pervasive smuggling problem.
In January, sources said that demands by North Korean border guards for a greater share of the profits of smuggling had slowed the movement of commodities across the border with China, causing hardships for North Koreans who earn a living by trafficking in goods.
They said at the time that because of tightened security measures put in place over the last year, the fees charged by guards delivering goods across the border had risen as high as 30 to 40 percent of the smugglers’ profit compared to 11 percent previously.
Read the full story here:
Radio Free Asia
Jieun Kim
2015-6-12
Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
2015-6-11
After Kim Jong Un came to power, North Korea made regime stability and unity its priority and launched an intensive propaganda campaign, according to a study.
The Chosun Ilbo and experts on inter-Korean relations recently conducted a joint study in which they analyzed the past 5 years of articles published on the front page the Rodong Sinmun, the mouthpiece of the Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK). The study found that the percentage of articles stressing regime solidarity was 36 percent, higher than any other category. Following that were articles related to the economy (34 percent), the military (16 percent), foreign relations (10 percent), and South Korea relations (1 percent). This contrasts with the year 2011 when Kim Jong Il was in power. That year 51 percent of articles were related to the economy, while 28 percent dealt with regime unity.
However, in 2012, the first year of Kim Jong Un’s rule, the percentage of articles stressing regime unity reached 52 percent. Meanwhile, 21 percent of articles focused on the military, and 18 percent focused on the economy. Thus, we can surmise that after Kim Jong Il’s sudden death in December 2011, new leader Kim Jong Un fully mobilized media like the Rodong Sinmun to build his power base.
In 2013 and 2014, the percentage of front page articles dealing with regime unity was 37 percent and 35 percent, respectively, higher than any other type of article in those years. Thus, in the three years (2012, 2013, 2014) Kim Jong Un has been in power, priority has been placed on consolidating the power structure. During this period Kim Jong Un strengthened regime stability through means such as the purging and successive demotion of party, military, and political officials.
Once Kim Jong Un ascended to power, the amount of coverage related to the military also rose rapidly compared to the Kim Jong Il era. Experts view this as part of the effort to strengthen the foundation of Kim Jong Un’s power. In 2011, when Kim Jong Il was alive, the percentage of front page articles in the Rodong Sinmun related to the military was almost insignificant at 5 percent. But in 2012 that percentage rose to 21 percent, and in 2013 it rose again to 26 percent. Military coverage was especially common around the time of the December 2012 long-range missile launch and the February 2013 third nuclear test. In 2014, articles related to the military decreased; this year they seem to be increasing.
However, as Kim Jong Un approaches the end of the fourth year of his rule, there appears a turn to emphasize economic policy. This year for the first time in Kim Jong Un’s rule the percentage of front page articles about the economy (42 percent) exceeded the percentage of articles related to regime solidarity (26 percent). The North Korean leader intends to make just as much progress on the food security issue as he has in strengthening the foundation of his power. Now, as Kim Jong Un gains confidence in his power status, we might expect him to shift his policy priorities from securing regime support to improving the economy.
From a political perspective, the tendency for Kim Jong Un to honor his father’s legacy is also waning. In 2011 and 2012, articles related to Kim Jong Il’s birthday were continuously published on the front page of the Rodong Sinmun from January to the end of February. But this year the period for this coverage was shortened to five days (from February 14 to 18).
UPDATE 1 (2015-7-4): Voter rolls displayed at constituencies, sub-constituencies for election of deputies to people’s assemblies. According to KCNA:
Constituencies and sub-constituencies for the election of deputies to the provincial (municipal), city (district) and county people’s assemblies have displayed voter rolls on Saturday.
The voter rolls were worked out, thoroughly pursuant to the Law on the Elections of Deputies to the People’s Assemblies at All Levels.
Registered there are all citizens with suffrage residing in the relevant areas.
The voters are confirming whether they are correctly registered.
ORIGINAL POST (2015-6-9): According to Yonhap:
North Korea said Tuesday that it plans to select deputies to local assemblies in mid-July for the first time since the North’s leader Kim Jong-un took power in late 2011.
Elections for deputies to provincial, city and county people’s assemblies will take place July 19, according to the North’s official Korean Central News Agency.
The elections are held every four years, and the number of seats is determined by the population of each area.
However, they are widely considered a formality as the candidates hand-picked by the ruling Workers’ Party are rubber-stamped into office.
The latest local elections were held in July 2011 when Kim was the communist nation’s heir-apparent.
Elected deputies hold a meeting once or twice every year to set their provinces’ budgets and draw up plans for law enforcement, experts said.
Read the full story here:
N. Korea to hold local elections in July
Yonhap
2015-6-9
According to the Daily NK:
Despite vowing to make this year one of ‘abundant harvests’ as North Korea marks its 70th anniversary of the Workers’ Party foundation, the country is facing stumbling blocks in living up to that promise. Full mobilization calls of workers and soldiers for agricultural assistance have failed to draw out greater work capacity from purported ‘volunteers’, but sources report a very different picture when it comes to plots allocated to individuals.
“On collective farms, where all residents have been fully mobilized, rice planting, and sowing of corn and potatoes are in full swing,” a source in South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on June 4th. “But those who have been mobilized are working half-halfheartedly, and there are no measures in place against threats of drought, so other than rice paddies, most crops are drying out.”
Sources in two other provinces of North Korea reported the same trends, but for their safety Daily NK may not release their locations.
She added that as those adhering to the state’s full-mobilization order are far from diligent about their work and “just trying to get by.” Young students are reportedly working from the wee hours to transport buckets of water to the rice paddies but the overall efforts are far from sufficient to overcome the dry spell wreaking havoc on the crops.
“Most ‘volunteers’ play games or sit in the shade, having a few drinks, when the farm managers are not around,” said the source. This behavior earns the ire of managers, who threaten to pull meal provisions for workers or refusing to accept volunteers altogether as a result.
However, this is all in stark contrast to individual plots, the source reported. “On these individual plots, people are using plastic covers and protecting their crops from drought–a popular method employed by most with these swathes of land,” she said. “In each furrow on private plots, people have put down plastic with holes in them, which facilitates moisture preservation and reduces the need for weeding.”
People are connecting plastic strips that are roughly 40cm in width to place down in the furrows. Holes are made every 35cm and seeds are planted within. The plastic not only helps contain moisture in the ground but also raises the ground temperature. This, in turn, improves the growth of vegetables and corn, according to the source.
While collective farm output lags under “Juche farming,” where problems like equipment shortages are endemic, individual plots teem with activity, thriving on innovative methods devised by its tenders. “At the end of the day, farming is more effective when there’s a landowner, and people generally believe now that collective farms aren’t going to yield a good harvest,” she concluded.
Read the full story here:
Individual innovation leaves collective farms in the dust
Daily NK
Choi Song Min
2015-6-8
