According ot the Daily NK:
People working for North Korean enterprises overseas are concerned by their poor financial performance and excessive requests for remittances since the Cheonan incident and Kim Jong Il’s visit to China.
Cheong is one such businessman. In his 50s now, he has been residing in Shenyang since the early 2000s working on exports of North Korean mineral resources. He has won recognition from home for his efforts, but nowadays he is growing more anxious and says he has lost his composure.
Upon meeting with The Daily NK’s correspondent, who arranged the meeting in the guise of a businessman, Cheong said frankly that life is exceedingly hard at the moment.
“Even though the General (Kim Jong Il) visited China, there were no clear promises of Chinese aid or investment in North Korea,” Cheong says. “Therefore, the authorities are requesting more foreign investment and that money be given to the country in order to get past the situation.”
According to him, the authorities have threatened to merge export offices that do not perform to expectations. He says he plans to avoid this by first gathering around $2,000 to remit to Pyongyang, and then visiting the North Korean capital to check on the domestic situation next month.
He says that the failure of the currency redenomination has affected the credit worthiness of North Korea. China-based traders are anxious about the situation as the number of foreign investments and sales has deteriorated this year.
“Since the route for seafood exports to South Chosun has been blocked, we have been instructed to sell it all in China,” he adds. “Although the quality is quite good, we have to have dumping sales in order to find immediate ways to sell it. Therefore, profits are reduced and we have to compensate for the loss. It is terrible.”
He says he has thought about going back to the North, but his wife bitterly opposes it for their son’s education. She was surprised by Cheong’s thought, he says, since the couple had even devised a method to bring their daughter, who is still in Pyongyang, to China.
He explains, “Even those who are known as old hands and who are seen as very skilled in foreign currency earning business look worried about the need for ‘loyalty funds.’ They are eager to make contacts in powerful positions by whatever means necessary, because background and supporters can be decisive in your life.”
One example, Kang, who is in charge of importing light industrial products in Beijing, dropped by Shenyang on his way to meetings with other branch managers. He became a well-known trader after he made good money supplying air conditioners to the Mansudae Assembly Hall and fabric to the military authorities.
His business is stable because he is known as a “Kim Jong Nam person”, i.e. a close associate of Kim Jong Il’s first son, and his life is also stable; he resides in a luxurious apartment in Beijing and his son is studying in the U.K.
However, even he has grown concerned lately, he says. “Decrees demanding increased ‘loyalty funds’ have been constantly handed down,” he explains. “The amount they request has increased by two or three times. It is awful.”
North Korean traders residing in Shenyang generally agree that, in Kang’s words, “In order to survive overseas, Kim Jong Eun is now a lifeline. When chiefs of foreign offices go to Pyongyang, they busy themselves trying to find invisible backers (i.e. Kim Jong Eun) to give a few thousand dollars to.”
Read the full story here:
North Korean Traders Feeling Pinch
Daily NK
Jung Kwon Ho and Shin Joo Hyun
6/16/2010
