Archive for June, 2007

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

S. Korea to complete fertilizer aid to N. Korea late this month

Monday, June 11th, 2007

Yonhap
6/11/2007

South Korea will complete shipments of 300,000 tons of fertilizer aid to North Korea late this month, the Unification Minister said Monday.

“As of last week, 233,800 tons of fertilizer had been shipped to North Korea. By June 20, the planned shipments will be completed,” said a ministry official on the usual condition of anonymity.

South Korea resumed shipments of fertilizer and other emergency aid to the North in late March, but it withheld rice aid as an inducement for North Korea to fulfill its promise to shut down its main nuclear reactor as part of the landmark February 13 agreement.

South Korea suspended its food and fertilizer aid to North Korea after the North conducted missile tests in July. Resumption of the aid was blocked due to the North’s nuclear bomb test in October.

According to a recent think tank report, North Korea could run short of up to one third of the food it needs this year if South Korea and other countries withhold aid.

Data from the World Food Program and the Unification Ministry show that the North will need between 5.24 million tons and 6.47 million tons of food this year. Depending on the weather, the availability of fertilizer and other factors, the communist state may only be able to produce 4.3 million tons of food by itself, the report said.

Share

Posted in Agriculture, Foreign aid statistics, International Aid, RoK Ministry of Unification, South Korea, UN World Food Program | Comments Closed

Favorite Movies

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Korea Times
Andrei Lankov
6/10/2007

“I love foreign movies! They are free of ideology!” I’ve heard this comment more than once from North Koreans. What they mean is not that foreign movies do not have any ideological messages (something quite impossible, every movie has some message, even if the more subtle are usually not noticed by the audience). They mean that foreign movies are free from the overt boring propaganda statements which play such a prominent role in North Korean cinema production.

Revolutionary enthusiasm and the unremitting cruelty of the enemy _ the U.S. imperialists and their South Korean puppets _ have been the major topic of North Korean cinema for many decades. Of course, movie-goers are used to these ideological messages and somehow manage to filter them out, concentrating their attention on the depiction of ‘real life’ with its problems of relationships and families. Nonetheless, foreign movies are especially welcomed by the public, since their ideological content is less pronounced.

Once upon a time, in the 1940s and 1950s, foreign movies constituted the bulk of films screened in North Korean theaters. Most of those movies came from the Soviet Union, with an occasional film from another “fraternal country”. However, in the early 1960s, the split between Moscow and Pyongyang led to a nearly complete halt of those exchanges. The East European Communist regimes began to liberalize themselves, while an unabashed Stalinist nationalism (a.k.a juche) reigned supreme in the North, making its leaders suspicious of all exchanges with external regimes, including the communist states. The cultural exports of the increasingly liberal Soviet Union came to be perceived as a source of dangerous revisionism

Only in the 1980s were foreign movies re-introduced to the North, accompanied by films from India, China, and other “non-imperialist” countries. Soon it became clear that as far as box-office success is concerned, those films fared much better than the local productions.

No North Korean statistics have been released so far, but it seems that one of the greatest box-office successes in North Korean history was the ‘Pirates of the Twentieth Century’, a remarkably silly 1979 Soviet action movie about brave Russian sailors who use their martial arts skills to teach a lesson or two to those naughty pirates somewhere in the Pacific. The story line is utterly implausible, the acting ludicrous, but the martial arts and special effects are never far from the screen, and even semi-nudity is present (well, I am not sure if that episode survived the scissors of the North Korean censors).

The movie was a tremendous hit in the USSR where, in the early 1980s, to the great dismay of the high-brow audience, it was seen by one third of all Soviet movie-goers. Judging by available reports, the ‘Pirates of the Twentieth Century’ was even more successful in the North where it, in fact, became the first widely seen martial arts movie.

In an improbable twist, this genre, usually seen as quintessentially Chinese, was introduced to the North via Russia. Soon there were some North Korean copies around, where the goodies were smashing either the US Imperialists (‘Order No. 027,’ a story about North Korean commandos during the Korean War) or evil feudal landlords (‘Hong Kil-dong,’ a Korean version of the Robin Hood tale).

On more sophisticated note, Pyongyang movie buffs enjoy the romantic comedies by Russian director Riazanov, also a major hit with the Russian middle-brow audience (to which the present author proudly belongs himself!). The love stories, with a light touch of social satire, portray the middle classes of the late Soviet era.

Other Soviet hits were the intellectual spy thrillers based on novels by the prolific Yulian Semenov. The authorities love those films since they have a “correct” ideological message (the brave KGB agents dwarf the intrigues of the CIA or Gestapo). The common people like the same movies because they exhibit a level of sophistication impermissible in North Korean cinema. Semenov’s CIA agents, and even the Gestapo thugs, are by no means the one-dimensional “wolf-like Yankees” of the North Korean films.

Indian movies are popular as well. While nearly unknown in the West, the numerous studios of Bombay/Mumbai (“Bollywood”) churn out an astonishing amount of musicals and melodramas, to be enjoyed across South Asia and in some parts of the former Communist bloc. These movies are sugary, hyper-sentimental, with one-dimensional characters, predictable storylines, primitive dialogue, and no acting worthy of the name.

But they also have a lot of singing and dancing numbers, as well as stunningly beautiful sets and scenery. It’s escapism in its purest form, and this is probably what people north of the 38th really want. Perhaps, even the heavy doses of syrup in the storyline appeal to the North Korean public who, for decades, have subsisted on a diet of ideologically wholesome movies where the major emotion was love for the Leader (and, perhaps, hatred towards one’s enemies).

People are tired of the ideological messages _ especially if those messages are presented in a crude way. It seems that not only movie producers, hardly happy about ideology themselves, but even their supervisors are beginning to realize this in the most recent decade. The system is getting more and shallow, based on assumptions few people actually believe. But that is another story…

Share

Posted in Art, Civil society, Film | Comments Closed

25 pct of Kaesong-made goods exported this year, ministry says

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Yonhap
6/10/2007

Products made in an inter-Korean industrial park in the first four months of the year were valued at US$48.1 million, about 24 percent of which, or $11.3 million worth of products, were exported, South Korea’s unification ministry said Sunday.

Last year’s comparable figure during the cited period was 18.4 percent, or $2.3 million, according to the ministry.

The industrial complex, located in the North Korean border city of Kaesong, is one of two flagship projects the South operates with the North in the spirit of reconciliation that developed following the historic inter-Korean summit in 2000.

Over 13,000 North Korean workers are currently employed by 22 South Korean companies there. They produce garments, utensils and other labor-intensive goods.

The biggest importer of Kaesong-made goods was the European Union (EU), followed by China, Russia and Australia.

The ministry did not give figures on how many goods made in the industrial park the countries imported.

Share

Posted in Australia, China, EU, Foreign direct investment, International trade, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Labor conditions/wages, Russia, Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013) | 1 Comment »

To be or not to be the N.K. foreign minister

Sunday, June 10th, 2007

Korea Herald
Lee Joo-Hee
6/11/2007

Following the death of former foreign minister of North Korea Paek Nam-sun this January, eyes and ears are open to who would succeed him.

While in most countries, being named the next foreign minister would be a coveted honor, it was the opposite in North Korea.

Kang Sok-ju, the first vice foreign minister, indeed, has tried with all his means not to be named the new foreign minister, according to sources familiar with the North Korean system.

“North Korea designated Kang as the successor of late Paek, but he somehow dodged the actual appointment citing his illness, possibly arthritis,” a source was quoted as saying by Yonhap News.

Instead, former ambassador to Russia Pak Ui-chun was named to the seat on May 18 after it was vacant for four months.

Whether it was possible for Kang to “dodge” the appointment remains unconfirmed, the situation is quite understandable considering how North Korea bestows actual authority on the No. 2 man while the more public figure takes on the official top seat. Kang, seeking to remain in a position of real power, may have wanted to stay where he is.

The clearest example of this power ranking system is Kim Yong-nam, who, as head of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, is the formal president of North Korea. North Korea is, however, ruled by Kim Jong-il, whose official title is the chairman of the National Defense Commission.

“We deem that Kang believed becoming a foreign minister could mean going on all the official and open duties but being distanced from being one of the close confidantes of Kim Jong-il,” the source was quoted as saying.

Kim Jong-il, with intense interest in relations with the United States, reportedly has talked directly with Kang instead of the foreign minister to discuss pending issues since the 1990s.

A possible threat to Kang’s status could now be North Korea’s chief nuclear negotiator Kim Kye-gwan, according to sources quoted by Yonhap. Kim Kye-gwan was reportedly a candidate to succeed Kang if Kang was to be named the foreign minister.

Kim Kye-gwan earned the trust of the communist leader by successfully negotiating the lift of the freeze of North Korean funds at Banco Delta Asia in Macau, the sources said.

He was recently allowed to move into “the club,” a luxurious villa compound located in Pyongyang for some 30 households in which Kim Jong-il’s close confidantes reside.

Share

Posted in Ministry of foreign Affairs, Political economy, Supreme Peoples Assembly | Comments Closed

The People’s Republic of Chippenham, a little slice of North Korea just off the M4

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

The Guardian
H/T DPRK Studies
Steven Morris
6/9/2007

At first sight they seem unlikely bedfellows. One is a friendly market town in Wiltshire where the Tories and Liberal Democrats vie for political control; the other is a secretive dictatorship that George Bush has branded part of an “axis of evil”.

But the burghers of Chippenham were yesterday coming to terms with the idea of their town being invaded – in a benevolent way – by the North Koreans.

Chippenham is one of many towns and cities across the UK hoping to cash in on the 2012 Olympics by hosting one of the teams as it prepares for the games.

Realising it could not hope to attract a country such as the USA or Australia, Chippenham sent off brochures to smaller sporting nations such as Ukraine, Slovakia, Armenia and some African states.

The first to reply was the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. An embassy official wrote that it was very interested and a North Korean photographer turned up earlier this week to take pictures of the town. The only catch so far is that the embassy has wondered if Chippenham would care to pay for its athletes to stay there. The town rather thought it would be the other way round.

Sandie Webb, leader of the consortium working to attract a team and the chairman of Chippenham Town FC, said: “It was a bit cheeky of them. We’ve written back asking them exactly what they would need and how many athletes they would bring. But it sounds like they are serious.

“I’ve been stopped by people in the street asking me about the political situation. I’ve told them all that’s up to people on the global level. If they are allowed to compete in the Olympic Games then they need a place to stay and what better place than Chippenham?”

The town is proud of its sporting facilities. It has a leisure centre, happily called the Olympiad, where North Korea’s judo and taekwondo experts could train. There is a good gym down the road at Melksham while cycling, archery and running could take place at Stanley Park in the town.

Very good equestrian facilities are not far away and training could even take place at Chippenham Town’s Hardenhuish Park, though with seating for 150 it hardly compares with North Korea’s May Day stadium, which holds a thousand times that number.

Of course, North Korea is not the biggest prize. Cities and towns across the UK and further afield are hoping for a multimillion pound Olympic windfall by attracting one of the teams. Birmingham is close to sealing a deal with the USA that could benefit the city by £10m or more. Sheffield and Manchester, both proud of their facilities, are also hoping to attract big teams.

Loughborough, Bath and Millfield, all renowned sporting centres, are vying for the honour of hosting Team GB but are hoping to secure a sporting giant if they miss out on the home nation.

Bristol has signed a deal with Kenya not only to host its pre-games camp but to organise a series of sporting, educational and cultural exchange programmes. Large stretches of the south coast are bound to enjoy boom times as competitors taking part in the sailing events, which are to be based at Weymouth and Portland in Dorset, prepare for British conditions.

The battle to attract teams has also spread to continental Europe: Australia has agreed to train at a lakeside centre at the foot of the Italian Alps.

Smaller UK towns are also in the hunt. Councillors in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, have spoken about setting up a base should a nearby RAF base close down, while local politicians in Hertfordshire will this month discuss plans by Malaysia’s national sports institute to create a training camp for its athletes at the Malaysian Rubber Board’s research centre in Hertford.

The Chippenham consortium, made up of local businesses and public bodies, worked out its targets by discarding the big teams such as the US and the European nations who will stay at home to train.

They then studied the medal tables to work out which teams could benefit from their facilities and wrote off to 28. They included Japan among their targets partly because so many of its countrypeople visit the Cotswolds.

Chippenham town clerk Laurie Brown said he was sure the town would welcome the North Koreans if they do come. “People in the north-east still talk with fondness of the North Koreans who came there during the 1966 World Cup. We would be trying to bond with whichever country comes.”

From Kim to Eddie Cochran: How they compare

Pyongyang (population 3 million)

· Legendarily inaccessible, the North Korean capital has direct flights to and from Beijing and occasionally Russia

· Foreigners are not generally allowed to use public transport and face restrictions on interaction with the local population

· 50,000 members of the ruling elite live in a luxury compound in central Pyongyang while most of the city’s population relies on food aid. In winter the temperature routinely falls to -13C

· Attractions include the Juche Tap, a tower lit at night which is the only constant source of light in the city

Chippenham (population 40,000)

· Sited on the river Avon, the market town was the site of a royal residence during the Middle Ages and appears in Domesday Book as a crown manor

· It is 4 miles south of the M4, giving easy access to Bristol, Swindon, south Wales and London. Once known as Little Bath because honey-coloured stone was used for its public buildings

· Lacock Abbey, close by, became Hogwarts school in the first two Harry Potter films. The town holds an annual festival in honour of rock ‘n’ roll singer Eddie Cochran, who died in 1960 after a car crash in Chippenham.

Share

Posted in Advertising, Football (soccer), Sports | Comments Closed

N. Korean workers asked to leave Czech Republic by end of year: report

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

Yonhap
6/9/2007

About 200 North Korean workers employed by companies in the Czech Republic have been asked to leave the country by the end of this year, as the East European nation refused to extend their work visas, a U.S. broadcaster reported Saturday.

Radio Free Asia (RFA), quoting the Czech News Agency, said the Czech government decided to replace the North Korean manual workers with laborers from Vietnam and Mongolia, following a U.N. resolution against the North over its nuclear weapons program.

The Czech Republic’s decision also seems to be related to suspicion that wages earned by overseas North Korean workers were exploited by the North Korean leadership in Pyongyang, said the report. Some 200 other North Korean workers were already forced to return home last year for similar reasons, it added.

According to the RFA, Czech government officials confirmed that some North Korean workers had asked for their wages to be sent to “one specific account.”

The U.S. government has frequently called for countries not to hire North Korean workers, arguing their wages are being diverted to the government.

“Because the North Korean government takes a major portion of workers’ salaries, these arrangements provide material support for a rogue government, its nuclear ambitions, and its human-rights atrocities,” Jay Lefkowitz, a U.S. presidential envoy for North Korean Human Rights, said in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal earlier this year.

Share

Posted in Czech Republic, Labor conditions/wages | 1 Comment »

U.S. Alleges North Korea Is Misusing Aid for Poor

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

Washington Post
Glenn Kessler and Colum Lynch
6/9/2007

Probe Says U.N. Money Was Spent on Property Overseas

About $3 million in United Nations money intended to help impoverished North Koreans was diverted by the Pyongyang government toward the purchase of property in France, the United Kingdom and Canada, according to a confidential State Department account of witness reports and internal business records. Millions more, the department reported, went to a North Korean institution linked to a bank alleged to handle arms deals.

The U.N. Development Program (UNDP) in North Korea spent about $3 million a year over the past decade to promote the country’s economic growth, foreign trade and investment. It halted operations in March after the United States alleged that the agency engaged in improper hiring and financial practices. A preliminary U.N. audit, released last week, confirmed that it violated its own guidelines by hiring local workers who were selected by the North Korean government and paying them in foreign currency.

A separate State Department investigation suggests that some of the agency’s money enriched the North Korean government. The U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, presented UNDP Administrator Kemal Dervis with new allegations regarding the North Korea programs Wednesday, a UNDP spokesman confirmed.

“At first glance, the allegations do not correspond with our own records, which we have scrutinized extremely closely in the past six months,” spokesman David Morrison said.

The U.S. probe, headed by Mark Wallace, a deputy ambassador, also found that the UNDP procured for North Korea equipment that could be used in a weapons program. Such “dual use” equipment included global-positioning system equipment, computers and computer accessories, and a device known as a mass spectrometer, used to determine the isotopic composition of elements.

Morrison said the UNDP purchased the computers, GPS equipment and spectrometer to enable the forecasting of weather patterns in flood- and drought-prone areas of the country. He noted that the 10 GPS devices cost $65,000 and the mass spectrometer cost $6,000.

“UNDP takes these allegations very seriously and has asked the U.S. Mission to provide all available documentation to substantiate the allegations and to facilitate UNDP’s own immediate review of them,” Morrison said.

Ric Grenell, a spokesman for the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, said the information presented to Dervis “indicates an apparent misuse and diversion of UNDP funds, business dealings with certain suspect entities affiliated with [North Korea], UNDP’s procurement of potential dual-use equipment and information related to the further use of counterfeit U.S. currency in” North Korea. He said Dervis indicated that he is “committed to investigating the matter” and providing answers.

The State Department has not made public any documents to back up its interpretation, and Khalilzad has declined to release details of the department’s investigation. Some congressional staff members have received confidential briefings on the findings.

The revelations come at a sensitive moment, as the Bush administration has been working closely with other countries, particularly Russia, to arrange a transfer of $24 million in tainted North Korean money to facilitate an agreement to shut down North Korea’s nuclear reactor.

The U.S. probe discovered that the UNDP purchased for the North Korean government 29 books for an arms control and disarmament project, including one titled “The Psychology of Nuclear Proliferation.” Morrison said the books were purchased in December and delivered last month. “In hindsight, better judgment could have been used in the selection and delivery of these books,” he said.

The State Department and the UNDP are in sharp dispute over some of the figures in the transactions. Such quarrels have been frequent between State and the UNDP, with tempers subsiding when documentation emerges to challenge the rhetoric.

According to the State Department, the UNDP transferred more than $7 million between 2001 and 2005 to a North Korean government entity, the National Coordination Committee for UNDP. Morrison said the figure is much lower — a few hundred thousand.

During 2001 and 2002, the UNDP also transferred more than $8 million of other agencies’ funds to the North Korean government, the State Department said. Pyongyang then transferred at least $2.8 million of the UNDP funds to North Korean diplomatic missions in Europe and New York to “cover buildings and houses,” including purchasing buildings in France, the United Kingdom and Canada, the probe found.

The UNDP said the national government received $2.2 million. The agency has no means to determine how North Korea financed its purchase of expensive houses, Morrison said, but he said the UNDP has verified that its money was used to fund its programs.

The State Department also alleged that the UNDP paid nearly $2.7 million for “goods and equipment” to a North Korean financial institution that is linked to Tanchon Commercial Bank (also known as Changgwang Credit Bank). President Bush designated that institution in 2005 as the main North Korean financial agent for sales of ballistic missiles and parts used in the assembly of weapons and missiles.

A UNDP official said the State Department has cited to the agency two financial institutions linked to Tanchon — Zang Lok and the International Financial and Trade Company. The U.N. audit found one payment, for $22,000, sent via Zang Lok in 2004 and none for International Finance.

Share

Posted in International trade, Real estate, UNDP | Comments Closed

Overview of the Inter-Korean Exchanges & Cooperation for April 2007

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

South Korean Ministry of Unification

Exchange of People
Visits to North Korea

During the month of April, the total number of accomplishments for visits to North Korea was 3,281, an increase of 99% from 1,648 in the previous month. It included 3,136 for economic exchanges, 60 for social and cultural exchanges, 81 for humanitarian aid and 4 for family reunion.

The number increased by 222% from 1,019 in April 2006.

The total number of actual visits made during this period was 13,250 an increase of 40% from 9,894 in the previous month. It included 9,886 for economic exchanges, 1,411 for social and cultural exchanges, 1,807 for humanitarian aid and 146 for family reunion.

The number increased by 39.5% from 9,495 during the same period last year.

The total number of Mt. Geumgang tourists during April was 17,805 in 30 trips altogether, an increase of 1.1% from 17,610 in previous month and a 35% decrease from 27,404 during the same period last year.

Contacts with North Koreans

During the month of April, the total number of the accomplishments for inter-Korean contacts was 72, a decrease of 17.2% from 87 in the previous month. It included 46 for economic exchanges, 23 for social and cultural exchanges, 1 for humanitarian aid and 2 for family reunion.

The number increased by 111.8% from 34 during the same period last year.

The total number of actual contacts made during this period was 229, an increase of 1.3% from 226 in the previous month, It included 69 for economic exchanges, 151 for social and cultural exchanges, 2 for humanitarian aid and 7 for family reunion.

The number increased by 218% from 72 during the same period last year.

In April, a total of 178 North Koreans visited to South Korea, including 72 for participating in ITF(International Taekwondo Federation) founding ceremony of Seoul chapter, 72 for Inter- Korean Worker’s Unification Convention on May Day, 32 flight attendants of Koryeo Air.

Inter-Korean Trade

The total volume of inter-Korean trade during April 2007 was $132,869 thousand, showing an 98.5% increase from $66,952 thousand during the same month last year(a 28.8% increase from $103,151 thousand during the previous month).

Trade Type

The total amount of Commercial Transaction were $86,052 thousand (64.8%), showing an 52.9% increase from $56,275 thousand(84.1%) during the same month last year.

The total amount of Non-Commercial Transaction were $46,817 thousand(35.2%), showing an 338.5% increase from $10,677 thousand(15.9%) during the same month last year.

table 1.bmp

Import & Export Status

Import from North Korea totalled $46,028 thousand, an 51.5% increase from $30,388 thousand during the same month last year(a 21.5% decrease from $58,637 thousand during the previous month).

  • Composition by Items (Unit : %)

Agricultural and aquatic products    21
Minerals                                       19.6
Textile products                            28.5
Steel and metal products               18.1
Livlihood supp                              4.5

Export to North Korea totalled $86,841 thousand, an 137.5% increase from $36,564 thousand during the same month last year(a 95.1% increase from $44,514 thousand during the previous month).Composition by Items (Unit : %)

Agricultural and aquatic products 48.7
Textile products 8.8
Steel and metal products 7.9
Machineries 16
Electric and products 7.5

The total volume of General Trade during April 2007 was $26,850 thousand ,a 61.9% increase from $16,589 thousand during the same month last year(a 23.9% decrease from $35,265 thousand in the previous month).The volume of import in General Trade was $25,450 thousand, export was $1,400 thousand and had 94.8%, 5.2% each other.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Minerals(33.8%), Agricultural and Aquatic Products(33.1%), Steel and Metal products(29.3%), Electric and Electronic Products(1.5%)

table 2.bmp

The total volume of Processing-on-Commission Trade during April 2007 was $19,992 thousand, a 38.8% increase from $14,402 thousand during the same month last year.(a 15.4% decrease from $23,629 thousand in the previous month)

The volume of import in Processing-on-Commission Trade was $14,063 thousand, export was $5,929 thousand and had 70.3%, 29.7% each other.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Textiles(79.6%), Electric and Electronic Products(8.8%), Agricultural and Aquatic Products(8.7%)

table 3.bmp

The total volume of Economic Cooperation Project during April 2007 was $39,210 thousand, a 55.1% increase from $25,284 thousand during the same month last year(a 12.4% increase from $34,881 thousand in the previous month).

The volume of import in Economic Cooperation Project was $6,513 thousand, export was $32,697 thousand and had 16.6%, 83.4% each other.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Machineries(29.0%), Steel and Metal Products(16.2%), Electric and Electronic Products(14.5%), Livelihood supplies(9.2%)

table 4.bmp

The total volume of Aid to N.K. during April 2007 was $46,815 thousand, a 338.5% increase from $10,677 thousand during the same month last year(a 399.5% increase from $9,373 thousand in the previous month).

The volume of export was $46,815 thousand.

The composition rate by items had a great part of Chemical Products(84.7%), Machineries(8.3%), Plastic rubber and Leather(2.3%), Agricultural and Aquatic Products(1.2%).

Humanitarian Projects

A. Separated Families

Exchange: # of casses(#of people)

Application for contact 9(14)
Address check 2(7)
Reunion 6(25)
Exchange of letters 36

table 7.JPG

Share

Posted in Civil society, RoK Ministry of Unification, Statistics, Trade Statistics | Comments Closed

Tobacco company pulls out of North Korea

Friday, June 8th, 2007

The Guardian
Julia Kollewe
6/8/2007

British American Tobacco is pulling out of North Korea, but insisted the move had nothing to do with political pressure.

The world’s second largest cigarette group, whose brands include Lucky Strike, Kent and Dunhill, said it had agreed to sell its 60% share in Taesong BAT, its joint venture in Pyongyang with the Korea Sogyong Chonyonmul Trading Operation, a state-owned company.

BAT is selling the stake to SUTL, a Singapore-based trading group that invests in business ventures in South East Asia. The price has not been agreed yet but will be small in relation to the group. The sale is expected to be completed later this year.

Read their press release here.

Share

Posted in British American Tobacco (BAT), Foreign direct investment, Korea Sogyong Trading Corporation, Singapore, Tobacco | Comments Closed

Huge Tidal Wave Slammed North Pyongan Beach

Friday, June 8th, 2007

Daily NK
Han Young Jin
6/8/2007

On March 7th a tidal wave hit Soehan Bay on the West Sea, which is bounded by Cholsan, Yongcheon and Sunchon in North Pyongan, leaving 2 thousand flood casualties and around 1 hundred dead. Many were gathering sea shells, according to several sources in North Korea who said the news was released late on instructions to cover up the damage.

Flooded regions include Dosan-ri and Bosan-ri in Yongchoen, Okok-ri in Cholsan, Shinmee Island in Sunchon, with the worst suffering in Dosan-ri in Yongchoen. The damage done by the giant wave came in a flash and was worsened by the lack of weather forecasting and early warning systems.

North Korean authority has not informed the outside world of the tidal wave. However, the South Korean government reportedly has been apprised.

Receiving information from a people’s unit chairperson, a source in Yongcheon said that “people in Dosan-ri and Bosan-ri in Yongcheon make living by collecting sea shells, and around 70 households were affected.” Another source said that the dead included fishermen fishing in the coastal sea of Cholsan, women, and students collecting seashells.

Collecting seashells in North Korea is done by boarding a boat on a coastal sea as the tide rises. When it ebbs, people get off the boat and collect seashells on the foreshore. As the tide rises again, they need to get back on the boat. This practice caused the death toll to rise. The dead included young students who began school in March, who were helping their parents in other cities make a living.

After the incident, the local social safety agency began an investigation and delivered the order not to speak about it. Information would flow through the chairpersons of people’s units. North Korean authority usually broadcasts such news over its central broadcasting network, organizing rescue units from the whole country.

The chairpersons of the people’s units investigated the missing persons and compensated the families of victims with Chinese color television sets, according to the source. A source in Dandung, China said the incident was not reported there as no bodies or boat debris had been found.

Share

Posted in International Aid | Comments Closed

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »