Archive for January, 2011

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

China seeks to station troops in DPRK?

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

UPDATE: China denies sending troops to the DPRK.  According to the Global Times:

A Chinese government official Sunday dismissed a report by a South Korean newspaper that China was sending troops to North Korea.

“China will not send a single soldier to other countries without the approval of the UN,” an official at the Chinese Ministry of Defense told the Global Times on condition of anonymity, citing China’s basic policy on troop deployment.

ORIGINAL POST BELOW: According to the AFP:

China is in discussions with North Korea about stationing its troops in the isolated state for the first time since 1994, a South Korean newspaper reported Saturday.

The Chosun Ilbo newspaper quoted an anonymous official at the presidential Blue House as saying that Beijing and Pyongyang recently discussed details of stationing Chinese soldiers in the North’s northeastern city of Rason.

The official said the soldiers would protect Chinese port facilities, but the location also gives access to the Sea of Japan (East Sea), while a senior security official was quoted as saying it would allow China to intervene in case of North Korean instability.

A spokeswoman for the Blue House said she had no information, while China’s defence ministry declined comment to AFP on the matter this week.

“North Korea and China have discussed the issue of stationing a small number of Chinese troops to protect China-invested port facilities” in the Rason special economic zone, the unnamed official was quoted as saying.

“The presence of Chinese troops is apparently to guard facilities and protect Chinese nationals.”

China reportedly gained rights in 2008 to use a pier at Rason, securing access to the Sea of Japan (East Sea), as North Korea’s dependence on Beijing continues to grow amid a nuclear stand-off with the United States and its allies.

The last Chinese troops left the North in 1994, when Beijing withdrew from the Military Armistice Commission that supervises the truce that ended the 1950-53 Korean war.

Seoul’s International Security Ambassador Nam Joo-Hong told the Chosun Ilbo that China could now send a large number of troops into the North in case of instability in the impoverished communist state.

“The worst scenario China wants to avoid is a possibly chaotic situation in its northeastern provinces which might be created by massive inflows of North Korean refugees,” Nam was quoted as saying.

“Its troops stationed in Rason would facilitate China’s intervention in case of contingencies in the North,” he said.

Here is the original report in the Choson Ilbo (in Korean).

UPDATE: The Choson Ilbo posted a story in English which claims the Chinese soldiers are already in North Korea:

Chinese troops have been stationed in the special economic zone of Rajin-Sonbong in North Korea, sources said Friday.

This would be the first time since Chinese troops withdrew from the Military Armistice Commission in the truce village of Panmunjom in December 1994 that they have been stationed in the North.

“Pyongyang and Beijing have reportedly discussed the matter of stationing a small number of Chinese troops in the Rajin-Sonbong region to guard port facilities China has invested in,” a Cheong Wa Dae official said. “If it’s true, they’re apparently there to protect either facilities or Chinese residents rather than for political or military reasons.”

How many of them are there is not known. The move is unusual since North Korea is constantly calling for U.S. forces to pull out of South Korea and stressing its “juche” or self-reliance doctrine.

A China-based source familiar with North Korean affairs said, “In the middle of the night around Dec. 15 last year, about 50 Chinese armored vehicles and tanks crossed the Duman (Tumen) River from Sanhe into the North Korean city of Hoeryong in North Hamgyong Province.”

Residents were woken up by the roar of armored vehicles. Hoeryong is only about 50 km from Rajin-Sonbong. Other witnesses said they saw military jeeps running from the Chinese city of Dandong in the direction of Sinuiju in the North at around the same time.

“The Chinese armored vehicles could be used to suppress public disturbances and the jeeps to round up on defectors from the North,” the source speculated.

Nam Joo-hong, the ambassador for international security, said, “What China is most worried about in case of a sudden change in the North is mass influx of defectors, which would throw the three northeastern Chinese provinces into confusion. With its military presence in Rajin-Sonbong, there is a likelihood that China could intervene in Korean affairs by sending a large number of troops into the North under the pretext of protecting its residents there in an emergency.”

The North and China have engaged in lively military exchanges since two visits to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-il last year. Guo Boxiong, the top Chinese military officer and vice chairman of the Chinese Central Military Commission, visited the North in late October last year and met with leader Kim Jong-il and his son and heir Jong-un. In the meeting, Kim senior emphasized “blood ties” between the two countries.

A Chinese mission has been stationed in Rajin-Sonbong since last December. China is transporting natural resources from its northeastern region to the south via Rajin-Sonbong Port, which has recently been renovated.

According to China’s official Xinhua news agency on Jan. 3, China first used the port on Dec. 7, when it transported 20,000 tons of coal from a mine in Hunchun, Jilin Province to southern parts including Shanghai. There is speculation that China will supply its own electricity to Rajin-Sonbong from April.

Quoting an internal North Korean source, the online newspaper Daily NK said the North and China in December signed an investment pact on building three more piers at the port and building a highway and laying a railroad between Quanhe in Jilin and Rajin-Sonbong.

The number of Chinese people arriving in the special zone has grown as a result of the North’s quest for investment, observers said.

“The North Korean State Security has more or less stopped checking Chinese people,” another source said. “The North has apparently concluded that it is unavoidable to accept the Chinese military presence on its land to woo Chinese investment, even if it’s not happy about it.”

Read the full story here:
China to station troops in N. Korea: report
AFP
1/16/2011

Share

Posted in China, Military, Rason Economic and Trade Zone (Rajin-Sonbong), Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013) | Comments Closed

DPRK to host amateur golf open

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

UPDATE 2: Apparently female graduates of the DPRK’s most prestigious university can look forward to careers as….Golf Caddies.  According to the Choson Ilbo:

He said there are about 30 female caddies at the complex in their 20s or 30s, many of them graduates of the prestigious Kim Il-sung University. “Caddies were beautiful and considerate,” he said. “After I finished playing golf, I came out of the shower at the club house, and there was a woman dressed in traditional Korean costume holding a towel. I instantly wondered whether there was another service waiting for me, but there was no 19th hole.”

UPDATE 1: Simon adds some interesting information in the comments section below.  Also, here are two additional stories about a golf tournament held back in 2004: story one, story two.

ORIGINAL POST:

Click image to visit the official web page

According to the Choson Ilbo:

North Korea will host its first ever amateur golf tournament for foreign visitors. London-based Lupine Travel on Thursday announced that together with China Youth Travel Service of Dandong, it is organizing the North Korean Amateur Open for golfers from around the world in Pyongyang from April 26 to 30.

Lupine Travel, which specializes in tour packages to unique destinations, is currently offering a five-day tour to the North through the website www.northkoreanopen.com.

According to the website, any amateur golfer who hits an average of 90 can take part. The package costs 999 euros, and includes visas, tournament entry, return train travel from China into North Korea, meals and accommodation.

Pyongyang Golf Complex, located near Taicheng Lake some 27 km from the capital, is the only golf course in the country for North Koreans. The Korea LPGA Pyongyang Open was held there in August 2005.

“The 18-hole, par 72 course covers 120 hectares with 45 hectares of green and is 7 km long. The course can service up to 100 competitors at a time and includes a service area covering 2700 square meters; including shops, restaurants, conference facilities and a sauna,” the website said. “When Kim Jong-Il opened the course in 1991, he shot a world record 38 under par on his first ever round of golf (including 11 holes in one).”

The Wall Street Journal’s Korea Real Time also covered the announcement.

North Korea has four golf facilities and one driving range.  Only three golf facilities are in operation and only two open to “the public”. Here are satellite images of all four (the last image was taken when the golf course was under construction): Pyongyang Country Club, Yangak Golf Course, Sosan Driving Range, elite three-hole range, and Kumgangsan (under construction in the image).

Share

Posted in Education, Golf, Sports, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

DPRK fined $2000 for hiding athlete

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

According to the Associated Press:

The Asian Football Confederation has fined North Korea $2,000 for failing to bring a player to an Asian Cup news conference.

The fine, announced Sunday, is the latest to be imposed on teams at the tournament in Doha, Qatar for violating the AFC’s media policy. Qatar has also been fined $2,000 for the same offence while complaints against Iraq and Saudi Arabia for failing to bring players to a news conference have been sent to the AFC’s disciplinary committee.

Read the full story here:
North Korea fined $2,000 for failing to send player to Asian Cup news conference
Associated Press
1/15/2011

Share

Posted in Football (soccer), Sports | Comments Closed

On Philippine-DPRK relations

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer:

Is there a large number of “talbukja,” or North Korean defectors, living in the Philippines?

According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, there are. And aside from the country and South Korea, the other Asian nations that are sympathetic to refugees from North Korea include China, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States.

Asked for comment, the Department of Foreign Affairs told the Philippine Daily Inquirer it was “not aware of any significant number of North Korean refugees in the country.”

But DFA spokesman J. Eduardo Malaya said the government quietly permits the transit of North Korean nationals destined for a third country “only for humanitarian reasons.”

Malaya pointed out that generally, “North Korean nationals are welcome to visit our country.”

“The Philippines has diplomatic relations with North Korea and maintains cordial relations with its government and people,” he noted.

Another Filipino diplomat said Manila “has been sympathetic to defectors from North Korea. We’re doing it out of compassion, like the way we treated Vietnamese refugees in the past.”

The same source, who asked not to be named, described as “confidential” the North Korean defectors issue.

A check with the Bureau of Immigration said there were no North Koreans legally staying in the country.

But some BI old timers claimed an undisclosed number of North Korean refugees had “blended into the South Korean community” here.

On January 1, 2010, 22 North Korean seafarers reportedly abandoned the 3,461-ton MV Nam Yang 8 after the cargo ship listed dangerously and ran aground off Claveria town in Cagayan.

The Associated Press reported that Claveria folk helped the sailors obtain police assistance.

It also said immigration authorities checked if the North Koreans had required work permits.

Sometime in mid-March 2002, China sent 25 North Korean asylum seekers to Manila.

Then National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the visitors could stay for three days before heading to South Korea.

The North Koreans had said they might be killed if sent back, and some said they carried rat poison to kill themselves if they were repatriated.

In June 2001, seven members of a North Korean family sought refuge in a United Nations-attached office in Beijing. After a four-day wait, they were allowed to leave for South Korea via Singapore and the Philippines.

In March 1997, the Chinese government defused a diplomatic crisis by spiriting Hwang Jang-yop, a senior North Korean defector, out of Beijing and sent him by a special plane to Manila.

Hwang arrived at the Clark Special Economic Zone aboard a China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 that had carried him and three escorts from the south China port of Xiamen. He was later given safe passage to an undisclosed location in South Korea.

Seoul also calls North Korean defectors “saeteomin,” or people of the new land, and “bukhanitalchumin,” or residents who renounced North Korea.

In 2000, the Philippines and North Korea finally established diplomatic relations after more than 20 years of negotiations.

Seven years later, they forged another agreement aimed at boosting diplomatic ties between the two Asian states.

Manila deals with Pyongyang “through the Philippine embassy in Beijing, which covers North Korea affairs,” according to Malaya.

“There are only eight Filipinos based in North Korea, all of whom are connected with United Nations agencies, international non-government organizations, and a foreign tobacco company,” he disclosed.

Malaya expressed hope “peace and stability in the Korean peninsula will take deeper roots and such requires continuing dialogue among countries in our region, including North Korea.”

A series of acts of aggression by North Korea have raised tensions on the Korean peninsula to boiling point, said Agence France-Presse.

In March, Seoul accused Pyongyang of sinking one of its naval corvettes on with the loss of all 46 hands near the North Korean border.

Last November, North Korean troops fired artillery shells into South Korea’s Yeonpyeong island, killing four and injuring around 20 on a border island and prompting an exchange of fire with southern troops.

Pyongyang had warned it may carry out another atomic test to bolster the status of its leader-in-waiting Kim Jong-un as it also vowed readiness for what it called a “sacred war” using its nuclear weapons.

North Korea, tagged regional “pest” by Time magazine, later called for unconditional talks to ease tensions.

But South Korea, which wants an apology after North Korea’s deadly shelling of Yeonpyeong, dismissed it as propaganda and an empty gesture.

Read the full story here:

Philippines—Is there a large number of “talbukja,” or North Korean defectors, living in the Philippines?

According to the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, there are. And aside from the country and South Korea, the other Asian nations that are sympathetic to refugees from North Korea include China, Japan, Russia, Mongolia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the United States.

Asked for comment, the Department of Foreign Affairs told the Philippine Daily Inquirer it was “not aware of any significant number of North Korean refugees in the country.”

But DFA spokesman J. Eduardo Malaya said the government quietly permits the transit of North Korean nationals destined for a third country “only for humanitarian reasons.”

Malaya pointed out that generally, “North Korean nationals are welcome to visit our country.”

“The Philippines has diplomatic relations with North Korea and maintains cordial relations with its government and people,” he noted.

Another Filipino diplomat said Manila “has been sympathetic to defectors from North Korea. We’re doing it out of compassion, like the way we treated Vietnamese refugees in the past.”

The same source, who asked not to be named, described as “confidential” the North Korean defectors issue.

A check with the Bureau of Immigration said there were no North Koreans legally staying in the country.

But some BI old timers claimed an undisclosed number of North Korean refugees had “blended into the South Korean community” here.

On January 1, 2010, 22 North Korean seafarers reportedly abandoned the 3,461-ton MV Nam Yang 8 after the cargo ship listed dangerously and ran aground off Claveria town in Cagayan.

The Associated Press reported that Claveria folk helped the sailors obtain police assistance.

It also said immigration authorities checked if the North Koreans had required work permits.

Sometime in mid-March 2002, China sent 25 North Korean asylum seekers to Manila.

Then National Security Adviser Roilo Golez said the visitors could stay for three days before heading to South Korea.

The North Koreans had said they might be killed if sent back, and some said they carried rat poison to kill themselves if they were repatriated.

In June 2001, seven members of a North Korean family sought refuge in a United Nations-attached office in Beijing. After a four-day wait, they were allowed to leave for South Korea via Singapore and the Philippines.

In March 1997, the Chinese government defused a diplomatic crisis by spiriting Hwang Jang-yop, a senior North Korean defector, out of Beijing and sent him by a special plane to Manila.

Hwang arrived at the Clark Special Economic Zone aboard a China Southern Airlines Boeing 737 that had carried him and three escorts from the south China port of Xiamen. He was later given safe passage to an undisclosed location in South Korea.

Seoul also calls North Korean defectors “saeteomin,” or people of the new land, and “bukhanitalchumin,” or residents who renounced North Korea.

In 2000, the Philippines and North Korea finally established diplomatic relations after more than 20 years of negotiations.

Seven years later, they forged another agreement aimed at boosting diplomatic ties between the two Asian states.

Manila deals with Pyongyang “through the Philippine embassy in Beijing, which covers North Korea affairs,” according to Malaya.

“There are only eight Filipinos based in North Korea, all of whom are connected with United Nations agencies, international non-government organizations, and a foreign tobacco company,” he disclosed.

Malaya expressed hope “peace and stability in the Korean peninsula will take deeper roots and such requires continuing dialogue among countries in our region, including North Korea.”

Read the full story here:
Are there North Korean defectors in the Philippines?
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Jerry E. Esplanada
1/16/2011

Share

Posted in Emigration | Comments Closed

DPRK focuses on CNC in 2011: Kim Jong-un’s birthday passes quietly

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 11-01-11
(1/11/2011)

On January 7, the Korean Workers’ Party newspaper Rodong Sinmun ran an article introducing the Huichon Ryonha Machine Complex, which manufactures Computer Numerical Control (CNC) systems. The article appeared just before Kim Jong Un’s birthday, and the CNC system appears to be attributed to the youngest son of Kim Jong Il.

The newspaper introduced the machine complex by calling for advancements in the coming year, stating that the CNC system manufacturer “saved our country” and that it was the envy of everyone, catching eyes around the world. The article also proclaimed that “the fatherland” was “growing younger and stronger” with the implementation of vanguard-technology CNC, and that equipment filling a space the size of seven soccer stadiums was set to further the push for industrialization. The reference to ‘growing younger and stronger’ is thought to refer to Kim Jong Un.

In particular, the article stated that North Korea “is not a country that only answers the hardline talk of aggressors with a more hardline response,” and that the North “is not a country that answers the nuclear cudgel of the aggressors as a satellite-launching country or a nuclear country by name alone.” Rather, “the citizens living on this land will answer with vanguard technological breakthroughs” in the face of the economic and technologically dominant aggressors.

North Korea’s satellite launch and nuclear programs were credited to Kim Jong Il in both domestic and international propaganda. The article emphasizing ‘vanguard technological breakthroughs’ is part of a campaign in which the succession system and Kim Jong Un’s reputation are being built on economic and technological development. Increasing propaganda touting CNC technology, in particular, is reflective of the realization of Kim Jong Un’s leadership role.

On one hand, there were no special ceremonies on January 8, the first birthday of Kim Jong Un’s to pass since his official emergence into DPRK politics. In fact, according to the Daily NK, Kim Jong Un’s birthday is not acknowledged in the official calendars issued by Pyongyang at the end of last year.

Last year, North Korea recognized Kim Jong Un’s birthday as a special holiday, with laborers and farm workers all having a day off. Within the Party, the day is known as “the people’s holiday,” and there were internal celebrations attended by Party members. A source within North Korea explained to Daily NK, “with no official promulgation of a successor, it doesn’t make sense to make the Young General’s birthday a holiday.”

While it’s clear that Kim Jong Un will move up through the ranks to take his father’s leadership position, he has to first be officially established within the Party before his birthday can be celebrated on a national level. Furthermore, since the currency reform measures at the end of November, 2009, prices skyrocketed and the lives of the people grew more difficult. With the current atmosphere within North Korea, it would not benefit Kim Jong Un to be cast into the spotlight by politicizing his birthday.

In addition, North Korean authorities have been emphasizing the ‘battle’ for light industrial development and the improvement of the lives of the people through the New Year’s Joint Resolution and other articles in state-run newspapers and media, while the people of North Korea have been gathering in groups to have the joint resolution explained and the key points emphasized. In this situation, it appears authorities decided that public celebration of Kim Jong Un’s birthday would be distracting.

Share

Posted in CNC, Domestic publication, Kim Jong Un, Manufacturing, Political economy | Comments Closed

Troubling news of DPRK crackdown

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

According to the Choson Ilbo:

The North Korean regime appears to have started a new reign of terror to consolidate the succession of leader Kim Jong-il’s son Jong-un.

The South Korean government and a North Korean source on Wednesday said public executions more than tripled last year. And increasing numbers of North Koreans have been killed trying to cross the Apnok (or Yalu) or Duman (or Tumen) River after the regime gave a shoot-to-kill order. The party and military, meanwhile, are engulfed in a whirlwind of purges, observers believe.

Public Executions

A diplomatic source familiar with North Korean affairs Wednesday said there were 60 confirmed public executions in the North last year, more than triple the number of 2009. “Since last year, the regime has put a notice on bulletin boards warning that those who use Chinese-made mobile phones or illegally circulate dollars face public execution, the source said.

Another source familiar with North Korean affairs said, “It’s rumored that Kim Jong-un has called for ‘gunshots across the country.’ Kim Jong-il did exactly the same thing when he took power.”

Jang Se-yul of the North Korean People’s Liberation Front, a group of former North Korean soldiers and officers who defected to South Korea, said, “In Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province alone last year, at least six people were executed publicly on charges of human trafficking and robbery. People are executed publicly for crimes that would have sent them to prison for just a few years in the past.”

“The number of public executions had gradually dwindled in the North since the famine of the late 1990s,” said International security ambassador Nam Joo-hong. “But since last year, the regime has apparently relied increasingly on public executions to tighten control in the aftermath of the botched currency reform and complaints about the hereditary succession.”

‘Shoot-to-Kill’ Order Against Defectors

Observers believe the regime has issued a shoot-to-kill order against defectors. According to a high-level source in the Changbai region in the Chinese province of Jilin, five North Koreans were shot dead and two others wounded by North Korean border guards on the Chinese side of the border after they crossed the Apnok River on Dec. 14.

And the military is being purged of unreliable elements. Quoting an internal North Korean source last Saturday, Free North Korea Radio, a shortwave broadcaster in the South, said the number of inmates has soared at a labor camp under the Ministry of People’s Armed Forces in North Hamgyong Province. It said many of the inmates are former army generals who have been purged by Kim Jong-un.

The regime’s determination to tighten control is also reflected in the Workers Party’s new regulations, the first for 30 years. The regime recently added a new clause calling for all party members to abide by a new regulation requiring them “to oppose and fight against anti-socialist trends.”

A South Korean intelligence official said the phrase refers to elements of capitalism that have flowed in from South Korea. “The regime has paved the way to publicly execute even people who watch South Korean soap operas or dress in South Korean style, branding them as anti-party elements,” he said.

The Daily NK also reports some personnel changes:

North Korea has been replacing local Party officials with a younger generation since the Chosun Workers’ Party Delegates’ Conference on September 28th, in preparation for Kim Jong Eun’s ascent to power.

In particular, North Korea replaced a great many officials in November and December of last year, a source from Chongjin has revealed, bringing in new provincial, municipal, and district institution officials and industrial complex Party committee members to replace those over 60 with people in their 30s and 40s.

The source commented, “After each Party committee’s annual evaluation meeting, the replacement of officials took place,” continuing, “For the stated purpose of raising the quality of the Party to make it a ‘young, vigorous, and ambitious party’, they are replacing aged officials with younger ones. Thus, recently some officials that people wouldn’t know if they tripped over them have been appearing.”

The policy apparently stems from Kim Jong Il, who is pushing the succession process forward relatively swiftly for reasons said to include his own health and North Korea’s external political environment. Of course, it is also a strategic move on the part of Kim Jong Il, to strengthen unity around Kim Jong Eun by bringing in new blood which will henceforth owe a debt of gratitude to him.

According to the source, Party committees organized a one-month short course for such young officials in October of last year, during which instructors dispatched from Pyongyang or the provincial Party center promoted the idea that youth, vigor and ambition, alongside iron loyalty to the dictator, would be necessary tenets of future party operations.

According to the source, officials emphasized during the lecture course, “Obeying Youth Captain Kim Jong Eun and working well are the kind of faithful actions which repay the trust we receive from the General,” and, “Officials need to strengthen the Party, following on from their predecessors.”

Adding detail to the Party reshuffling; the source said that graduates of Communist Colleges older than 60 are being relieved of their positions, and graduates of Kim Il Sung Senior Party College are filling the ranks in behind.

Those who have at least two-year career as secretary of a Party cell can enter a Communist College, a provincial entity managed by the provincial committee of the Party; after graduation they can work on a provincial committee of the Party.

However, Kim Il Sung Senior Party College, the so-called Central Party College, is a more elite institution in Pyongyang charged with fostering the Party’s core workers; it admits officials with a good family background who have been working for more than two years on a provincial committee.

According to North Korean defectors, once one graduates from Central Party College, one is on the road to a comfortable life. For example, in the words of one defector with experience of the system, any North Korean official with access to a vehicle is almost certain to have graduated from Central Party College.

Accordingly, using North Hamkyung Province as an example, people in ‘powerful’ departments like factory guidance units, the Propaganda and Agitation Department of the Guidance Department of North Hamkyung Province Party Committee, the Ministry of Administration, factory and industrial complex Party committees (Guidance Department, Officials Department, Propaganda and Agitation Department, Party Member Registration Department and General Affairs Department) have been or are being replaced with graduates from the Central Party School.

Those who are being eased out are either destined for less powerful departments, the source said, citing the Party Inspections Committee or Labor Organization Department, or are being completely removed.

Quoting a common phrase relating to the holding of power, the source said that those about to be replaced are full of regret, saying, “If I had known this would happen, I would have done more to prepare for my future when I had glue on my hands.”

A similar process of replacing officials was conducted in the 1980s, prior to Kim Jong Il’s coming to power. In addition to which, this fits in with the overall propaganda rhetoric, which is justifying Kim Jong Eun’s succession by emphasizing youth and his regime’s concomitant ability to apply technology (CNC etc.) to solve North Korea’s chronic economic shortcomings.

The usual caveats apply.

Read the full story here:
N.Korean Regime Intensifies ‘Reign of Terror’
Choson Ilbo
1/13/2010

Youth, Vigor, Ambition, and Loyalty
Daily NK
Im Jeong Jin
1-12-2011

Share

Posted in Black markets, Emigration, Kim Jong Un, Political economy | 1 Comment »

DPRK-UK diplomatic numbers

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

According to TheyWorkforYou.com:

January 11, 2011

Lord Moonie (Labour)
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many North Korean diplomats are stationed in London and how many British diplomats are in North Korea; and what representations they have made to those diplomats in London about concerns over recent cross-border incidents on the Korean peninsula.

Lord Howell of Guildford (Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Conservative)
There are five diplomats from North Korea based in London. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office employs approximately 10 staff in Pyongyang. This includes UK-based civil servants and locally engaged staff. For operational and security reasons, we cannot provide a more detailed breakdown. Senior officials in the UK, and our ambassador to Pyongyang, expressed to the North Korean authorities grave concern about the recent cross-border incidents, and urged restraint.

Share

Posted in United Kingdom | Comments Closed

DPRK tops 3-G ranking

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

According to Martyn Williams at North Korea Tech:

The late start of cellular telephony in North Korea has brought the country at least one advantage: it leads the world in 3G adoption.

An impressive 99.9 percent of all subscribers in the country use 3G, placing North Korea number one in the world, telecommunication analyst TeleGeography said on Wednesday.

The solid showing doesn’t really mean North Korea’s cellular network is ahead of the world. In fact, it does more to illustrate how statistics can sometimes provide only half the picture.

While 3G adoption is indeed strong, it’s because most people didn’t have a chance to subscribe to the country’s 2G network.

A small handful of subscriptions on the Sunnet network were allowed before restrictions were put in place in the wake of the Ryongchon train explosion in 2004. Phones were also expensive and the network was not available nationwide.

In contrast the 3G network has been made more widely available. It’s operated by Koryolink, a joint venture between the state-run Korea Posts and Telecommunications Co. and Egypt’s Orascom.

Koryolink had 301,199 subscriptions at the end of its third quarter, which represents a penetration of just over 1 percent of the country – that’s poor by international standards.

In contrast, Japan ranked second in the survey with 94.6 percent of cell phone users on 3G. That works out to about 115 million lines.

Read more here (image source).

Share

Posted in Cell phones, Communications, Internet | 1 Comment »

Kim Il-sung sought discussions with US in 1974

Sunday, January 16th, 2011

According to the Korea Times:

The late North Korean leader Kim Il-sung proposed secret negotiations with Washington ahead of the assassination of then South Korean first lady Yuk Young-soo in 1974, according to a classified document dated June 6, 1974 from the U.S. Embassy in Senegal.

The revelation came after An Chi-yong, a former journalist based in the United States, posted the confidential dossier, classified as “secret,” on his website “Secrets of Korea,” Tuesday.

It reveals that the North’s founder, father of current leader Kim Jong-il, asked the late Senegalese President Leopold Senghor to deliver a secret message to the U.S. in 1974.

“President Senghor informed me on June 5 that during his recent visit to Pyongyang, Kim Il-sung charged him with a message for the United States government,” according to the dossier.

“Kim Il-sung said the DPRK (North Korea) would welcome secret negotiations with the USG (U.S. government) on the future of Korea.”

The suggestion was made two months before the assassination of the first lady on Aug. 15, 1974.

Yuk was shot by a Japan-born Korean believed to be a communist sympathizer and having acted upon orders from a pro-Pyongyang organization there.

The dossier also offers a glimpse of Kim Il-sung’s attitude toward Washington and Tokyo and his thoughts on the unification of the two Koreas.

“The North Korean leader told Senghor he felt the DPRK’s enemy in the Pacific is Japan, not us,” the document stated.

“What North Korea seeks is a confederation, not suppression of South Korea, and within that confederation, there would be a place for U.S. influence in the South.”

Another U.S. government document that cites a New York Times article by Richard Halloran reveals that Kim Il-sung may have sought a similar favor from the late Japanese Prime Minister Takeo Miki before the 1974 assassination.

“Halloran (NYT 8/10) says Kim Il-sung informed President Ford through Prime Minister Miki he wants to open direct talks with us to settle outstanding issues of Korea,” according to the dossier dated Aug. 11, 1975. “Wants us to send envoy to prepare agenda for talks with HAK (Henry A. Kissinger) on U.S. troop withdrawal, peace treaty to replace 1953 truce.”

The two Koreas remain technically at war as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in an armistice, not a peace treaty

It remains uncertain whether the communist North succeeded in holding bilateral talks with Washington.

A declassified U.S. document shows that Pyongyang continued its efforts to have dialogue with the U.S. even after the tragic assassination took place.

It says on Aug. 27 1974 an aide to then Romanian President Nicolae Ceausescu met with then U.S. President Ford at the White House to deliver a message from Kim Il-sung.

“The North Korean leadership wants to have confidential contact with the United States for discussions,” according to the declassified memorandum from President Gerald Ford’s files.

Yet, Ford’s response to the repeated proposal for talks was lukewarm.

“Certain things must precede such contacts. We don’t want to go in without a firm understanding,” the U.S. President was quoted as saying in the declassified documents.

Here is a link to the actual document.

Here is a link to “Secret[s] of Korea“.

Read the full story here:
NK proposed talks with US before 1974 assassination’
The Korea Times
Lee Tae-hoon
2011-1-11

Share

Posted in Political economy, South Korea, USA | Comments Closed

Naenara, TaeMun, and KCNA get new URLs

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

UPDATE (1/14/2011): More form Martyn Williams here.

UPDATE (1/13/2011): According to Yonhap:

South Korea has blocked its people in the South from accessing Web sites using North Korea’s national Web domain name, saying the sites contain “illegal information” under the nation’s anti-communism and security laws, officials said Thursday.

The blockage by the South’s state-run Communications Standards Commission came less than a day after an expert said North Korea had renewed the use of its own national Web domain name of “.kp” in an apparent effort to widen public access to its propaganda sites.

The commission started blocking Web sites using the “.kp” domain from Internet users in the South attempting to view those sites, including an Internet portal with an address of http://www.naenara.com.kp, officials said.

“We continue to monitor propaganda activities by North Korea throughout the Internet,” said a commission official. “The Web sites were briefly accessible (in South Korea) because North Korea used its national domain (.kp) it had not used usually.”

Earlier in the day, Martyn Williams of IT research group IDG said in an e-mail that he found http://www.naenara.com.kp operating over the weekend while http://www.friend.com.kp and http://www.star.edu.kp likely came into use at about the same time. All of the sites use “.kp” — assigned to North Korea — as their final domain names.

“It was assigned in 2007 and managed by a company based in Germany, but the domain and a handful of sites also managed by the company disappeared in the second half of last year for reasons that are still unclear,” he wrote in his online article.

The re-emergence of the domain name represents “a step-up in the country’s Internet presence,” Williams said.

Kim Yong-hyun, a North Korea professor at Seoul’s Dongguk University, said, “North Korea seems to be trying to increase public access to its sites as part of its recent online propaganda campaign.”

The sites have separate addresses to allow Internet users to access them. According to Williams, the sites, which include one that represents the North’s official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), all have their servers based in the communist country.

In the e-mail, the Tokyo-based technology expert said the main record for all the .kp names was updated on Jan. 3.

“So that’s the earliest any of these sites could have reappeared,” he said.

In recent months, North Korea has opened accounts at world-famous sites such as Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, drawing wide public attention. But the one on Facebook no longer operates while its Twitter and YouTube accounts were apparently hacked last weekend.

Naenara at http://www.naenara.com.kp is a multilingual portal site, and http://www.friend.com.kp is mainly an English Web site run by an organ that handles exchanges with other countries. The KCNA has its Web site at http://www.star.edu.kp.

South Korea bans its citizens from accessing pro-North Korea propaganda sites, citing the technical state of war it has been in with Pyongyang since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce.

UPDATE (1/11/2011): Martyn Williams at North Korea Tech offers some more information:

Offline for months, the service has resumed via servers run by Star JV, the Internet joint venture formed by the North Korean government and Thailand’s Loxley Pacific. As reported previously, dot-kp was run by the KCC Europe operation in Germany but went offline in the third quarter of last year.

Two websites are already available via KP domain names. Both are hosted on the same web server. The first, Naenara, has been available for a few months via an IP address and the second, Friend.com.kp, has been offline since its domain name disappeared. You can find out more about each site in The North Korean Website List.

I’ve done a little digging around in the DNS (domain name system) records for KP and found the following eight KP top-level domains have been prepared for future use: net.kp, com.kp, edu.kp, gov.kp, org.kp, rep.kp, tra.kp and co.kp.

Both Naenara and Friend are already using com.kp. A domain name has been prepared for the Star Internet provider: star.net.kp, and one for the state-run Korea Posts and Telecommunications Co.: kptc.kp. I can’t find any other registered domain names at present.

Friends.com.kp is the web page of the Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries (aka TaeMun.  In Korean: 대외문화련락위원회)

UPDATE (1/9/2011): The Naenara URL came back online this weekend. The IP address http://175.45.176.14 has been replaced by the more memorable http://www.naenara.com.kp, though the IP address still works.  The Naenara mirror site, kcckp.net, apparently did not survive the transition.    Content from 2008 to the present is available, but all the content from 2005-2007 remains off-line and probably will not return.

ORIGINAL POST (Oct 28, 2010): North Korea’s premier web outlet, Naenara, was frequently inactive in the month of August.  Sometimes it was there, other times it was not.  The web portal was up for one day in September under a slightly different URL.  It has not appeared at all under its original URLs in October.

Today, Martyn Williams, who broke the story on the DPRK’s acquisition of a block of IP addresses, reports that Naenara has been migrated to the new DPRK addresses alongside the newly created KCNA web page.

According to Martyn:

North Korea’s Naenara website is back. The site went offline around early September when the dot-kp domain name space went down.

Naenara is run by Pyongyang’s Korea Computer Center and offers news, photos, shopping, tourism information and MP3 files from North Korea.

It’s running inside North Korea’s recently-activated domestic IP address space, but isn’t working perfectly. Some of the links point to dot-kp addresses, which are still not working. It’s worth keeping an eye on.

You can find it at http://175.45.176.14/en/

The IP address Martyn mentions is for the English version.

The Korean version is here: http://175.45.176.14/ko/

The French version is here: http://175.45.176.14/fr/

The Russian version is here: http://175.45.176.14/ru/

The German Version is here: http://175.45.176.14/de/

The Spanish version is here: http://175.45.176.14/sp/

The Chinese version is here: http://175.45.176.14/ch/

The Japanese version is here: http://175.45.176.14/ja/

The Arabic version is here: http://175.45.176.14/ar/

I will go through the new site to see if it is different in any way.  One obvious difference is that the archived materials from 2005 & 2007 are gone.

Share

Posted in Committee for Cultural Relations with Foreign Countries, Communications, Computing/IT, Internet | 9 Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »