Archive for February, 2015

Total development plans completed for economic development zones: Tenant companies to be put under selection process

Friday, February 27th, 2015

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
2015-2-27

According to the Choson Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan, North Korea is promoting “diversification in foreign economy,” and has recently signed “bilateral agreements on promotion and protection of foreign investment” with 28 countries and “double taxation avoidance agreements” with 13 countries.

The newspaper cited an interview with Kim Chon Il, the director of (North) Korea Economic Development Association: “multilateral foreign economic development signifies developing foreign economic relations with many countries around the world in various economic sectors and units, unlike in the past where foreign economic activities were concentrated around only a few countries.”

In addition, he said, “the form of exchange and cooperation is also orienting toward diversification” and “We are promoting businesses in various sectors in trade, investment, joint venture, and science and technology cooperation based on new products and achievements made with the state-of-the-art science and technology.”

The Choson Sinbo article emphasized that, “Currently foreign economic business projects are not delegated to only a specific unit,” and that “Choson [North Korea] is promoting various business establishments and management of domestic institutions, corporations, and organizations as well as encouraging various overseas companies and individuals in joint venture projects and establishing independent foreign companies in special economic zones.”

The news also elaborated on the amendment of recent foreign investment laws and explained that new regulations and bylaws are being developed to incorporate various investment strategies including internationally recognized BOT (build-operate-transfer) method.

Moreover, the article confirmed that “the core of the DPRK’s foreign economic development lies with the economic development zones,” and the development plans for economic development zones and investment attraction projects are well underway since last year.

Director Kim Chon Il confirmed that “Currently, the total development plans of 13 provincial-level economic development zones were completed and the total plans for the rest of the economic development zones are in the closing stages.”

He added that the Wonsan District Development General Corporation was launched last year and disclosed that the development plans for the Wonsan-Mt. Kumgang International Tourist Zone was completed.

Furthermore, Kim estimated the preparatory period for the business to take about two years and that the substantial business plans must begin now, starting with the selection process for tenant companies. He stressed, “It is timely to vigorously attract investment from around the world on a large scale in accordance with the total development plans of the economic development zones.”

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Kim Jong-un’s speech on animal husbandry

Friday, February 27th, 2015

North Korean media reports that on January 28, 2015, Kim jong-un delivered a speech to senior officials of the party and state economic agencies titled, “Let Us Expedite the Construction of the Livestock Farming Base in the Sepho Area and Bring about a New Turn in Developing Animal Husbandry”.

The western media that reported on the speech primarily latched onto a phrase used a the beginning where Kim Jong-un admitted to problems sleeping at night when he thinks about his people:

Whenever I am reminded of my failure to provide a rich life to these laudable people, who, in spite of their difficult living conditions, have firmly trusted and followed only our Party and remained faithful to their pure sense of moral obligation to the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, I cannot get sleep.

The majority of the speech, however, focuses on the development of the Sepho Tableland Stock-breeding Project. It does not appear to be going well. Kim opens with these optimistic words:

This is the first time for our country to create pastures covering tens of thousands of hectares and build a large-scale livestock farming base. Though they are inexperienced and many things are in short supply, the builders of the large-scale livestock farming base in the Sepho area are creating miracles and innovations to the wonder and admiration of all by giving full play to the fighting spirit of self-reliance and fortitude. The service personnel of the People’s Army and shock-brigade members, who have gone to the Sepho area in hearty response to the Party’s call, have created tens of thousands of hectares of pastures in a short period, taking up the challenges of Nature, and overfulfilled the last year’s target of grass production. Great successes have also been achieved in the road work and the construction of dwelling houses, animal sheds, public buildings and other structures.

Following these words, however, is a cascade of complaints and problems he wants resolved: Shortages of supplies for workers, poor soil, unsuitable grass for animals, strong winds, shortage of capital for investment in buildings, transport and production. There are also shortages of livestock, livestock feed, and technicians.

Kim then moves onto other problems with the nation’s livestock breeding enterprises.  He states:

We should normalize production at the modern livestock farming bases built under the Party’s leadership. […] several of them are not functioning properly because officials failed to take measures necessary for their normal operation after they were built.

So apparently many of the country’s livestock farms are incapable of turning out a regular [predictable] quantity of protein. Of course there is no data here, so we do not know if there is a problem with production or whether there is a problem with the production finding its way to official distribution channels. Either way, the Party Center is not pleased.

Kim Jong-un offered a laundry list of technological fixes to these problems:

“In order to develop livestock farming, it is necessary to solve the problems of animal breeds and their feed, improve the methods of raising them and take thoroughgoing veterinary and anti-epizootic measures.”

But little about enterprise management, or how it can be improved, is discussed in detail. For example Kim still officially believes that patriotism and propaganda campaigns can lead to sustained improvements in output:

“Party organizations at all levels, those in the stockbreeding sector in particular, should conduct a proactive political offensive to rouse officials and working people to carry out the Party’s line on animal husbandry. They should implant in their hearts the ennobling love for the people cherished by the General all his life, so that they will all turn out enthusiastically to carry out the Party’s policy. They should give wide publicity to the units and working people that do livestock farming with all consistency and enjoy benefits from it, and generalize their experiences.”

However, the speech was not entirely depressing from an economic perspective. Kim did reference private livestock farming as one option that could be encouraged to mitigate supply problems with the official agriculture sector:

“Private livestock farming at rural households should be encouraged. Every house teeming with domestic animals adds to the socialist rural scenery. Rural households should be encouraged to raise large numbers of pigs, goats, rabbits, chicken and other kinds of domestic animals so as to augment their income and enrich their lives.”

I have made a PDF of the entire speech and you can read it here.

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The 2015 UNSC Panel of Experts report published

Monday, February 23rd, 2015

The report is dated February 23, 2015 and you can download the PDF here.

Andrea Berger commented on the report in this article at 38 North.

Media coverage of the report has focused on two aspects: 1. North Korea has changed the name of the ships in its commercial fleet to avoid sanctions enforcement. 2. North Korean spies managed to infiltrate the UN World Food Program and UNESCO.

Here is Reuters on the report:

Exclusive: Sanctioned North Korea shipping firm still active, renamed ships – U.N. panel

A U.N.-blacklisted North Korean shipping company has renamed most of its vessels in a bid to disguise their origin and continues its illicit shipments in violation of United Nations sanctions, according to a U.N. experts report seen by Reuters on Wednesday.

The U.N. Security Council’s Panel of Experts on North Korea, which monitors implementation of sanctions on Pyongyang, also said in the 76-page report that North Korea “continued to defy Security Council resolutions by persisting with its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.”

North Korea is under United Nations sanctions because of its nuclear tests and missile launches. In addition to arms, Pyongyang is banned from importing and exporting nuclear and missile technology and is not allowed to import luxury goods.

The experts’ report also said the sanctions have not curbed food or humanitarian aid to the impoverished hermit state, but it recommended that the U.N. spell out which items for such use are exempt.

The council last July blacklisted shipping company Ocean Maritime Management Company (OMM) for arranging an illegal shipment on the Chong Chon Gang ship, which was seized in Panama and found to be carrying arms, including two MiG-21 jet fighters, hidden under thousands of tonnes of Cuban sugar.

“Following the designation of OMM … (North) Korea acted in order to evade sanctions by changing the registration and ownership of vessels controlled by the company,” the report said.

“Thus far, 13 of the 14 vessels controlled by OMM have been renamed, their ownership transferred to other single ship owner companies (with names derived from the ship’s new names) and vessel management transferred to two main companies,” it added.

The report said OMM worked with individuals and entities based in countries such as Brazil, China, Egypt, Greece, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Russia, Singapore and Thailand.

The panel recommended that the council’s sanctions committee blacklist 34 OMM entities (shell companies), including Chongchongang Shipping Co, Amnokgang Shipping and Biryugang Shipping. It also recommended sanctioning OMM Vice President Choe Chol Ho, Chongchongang Shipping President Kim Ryong Chol and three Chongchongang directors.

It said that North Korean diplomats, officials and trade representatives played key roles in illegal weapons and missile deals. They often were involved in illegal funds transfers.

The panel also said North Korean intelligence agents aided the movement of money believed to be linked to weapons transactions.

The report said agents of the Reconnaissance General Bureau (RGB), North Korea’s main intelligence agency, had worked at international organizations and were using those positions to support activities aimed at skirting sanctions.

It cited as an example the French government’s decision to freeze assets of Kim Yong Nam, an RGB officer working under cover as an employee at UNESCO, the U.N. cultural and scientific organization in Paris, and his son and daughter. His son Kim Su Gwang, also an RGB officer, was working at the U.N. World Food Program.

The panel said Kim Young Nam’s daughter, Kim Su Gyong of the Korean United Development Bank, “was engaged in financial activities under false pretences in order to conceal the involvement of her country.”

The panel also opened its first inquiry into the use of drones. Between October 2013 and March 2014, South Korea found wreckage of three drones it determined were from North Korea and had been spying on military facilities.

The Security Council has banned the supply, sale or transfer of complete armed or surveillance drones with a range of at least 300 km (186 miles). The panel said it was unclear if the recovered drones were acquired abroad or made in North Korea.

EXEMPTIONS

The experts found “no incidents where bans imposed by the (U.N.) resolutions directly resulted in shortages of foodstuffs or other humanitarian aid.”

“National legislative or procedural steps taken by (U.N.) member states or private sector industry have been reported as prohibiting or delaying the passage of certain goods to (North Korea),” the report said. “It is sometimes difficult to distinguish these measures from United Nations sanctions.”

The U.N. Security Council says the sanctions are not intended to harm North Korean civilians, but there is no exemption mechanism. For that reason, the experts recommended that exemptions be proposed “provided that such items are confirmed to be solely for food, agricultural, medical or other humanitarian purposes.”

North Korea has said the sanctions are illegal and aimed at toppling the country’s reclusive government. A U.N. inquiry last year reported systematic torture, starvation and killings by the country’s leaders that are comparable to Nazi-era atrocities.

In the Associated Press:

UN: North Korean company renames ships to evade sanctions

A North Korean shipping company that famously tried to hide fighter jets under a cargo of sugar later sought to evade U.N. sanctions by renaming most of its vessels, a new report says.

The effort by Pyongyang-headquartered Ocean Maritime Management Company, Ltd. is detailed in the report by a panel of experts that monitors sanctions on North Korea. The report, obtained by The Associated Press, makes clear the challenge of keeping banned arms and luxury goods from a nuclear-armed country with a history of using front companies to duck detection.

The U.N. Security Council holds consultations Thursday on the report, which also says North Korea’s government persists with its nuclear and missile programs in defiance of council resolutions.

North Korea’s mission to the U.N. did not respond to a request for comment.

The council last year imposed sanctions on OMM after Panama in 2013 seized a ship it operated that carried undeclared military equipment from Cuba. Panamanian authorities found two Cuban fighter jets, missiles and live munitions beneath the Chong Chon Gang’s cargo of sugar.

The council’s sanctions committee said that violated a U.N. arms embargo imposed in response to North Korea’s nuclear and missile programs. At the time, U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said that imposing a global asset freeze on OMM meant that the company would no longer be able to operate internationally.

But the new report says that in the months after the sanctions were imposed, 13 of the 14 ships controlled by OMM changed their owners and managers, “effectively erasing” the company from a database kept by the International Maritime Organization. Twelve of the ships “reportedly stayed, visited or were sighted near ports in foreign countries,” and none were frozen by member states as the panel of experts recommends.

The new report explores the shipping company’s global reach, using people and entities operating in at least 10 countries: Brazil, China, Egypt, Greece, Japan, Malaysia, Peru, Russia, Singapore and Thailand. The report recommends updating the sanctions list with 34 OMM entities and says all 14 vessels should be subject to sanctions.

No interdictions of the kind that Panama made in 2013 were reported in the period between Feb. 8 of last year and Feb. 5 of this year. But the new report warns that the panel of experts sees no evidence that North Korea “intends to cease prohibited activities.”

The report also says diplomats, officials and trade representatives of North Korea continue to “play key roles in facilitating the trade of prohibited items, including arms and related materiel and ballistic missile-related items.”

The panel of experts warns that some U.N. member states still are not implementing the council resolutions that are meant to keep North Korea from further violations.

North Korea also faces an embargo on luxury goods, but the report found that it managed to bring in luxury goods from multiple countries, including with the help of its diplomatic missions. Some items were for the country’s Masik Pass luxury ski report, which opened in 2013. China told the panel of experts that the ski lift equipment it provided was acceptable because “skiing is a popular sport for people” and that ski items are not specifically prohibited.

In another case, a yacht seen alongside leader Kim Jong Un in 2013 was sourced by the panel of experts to a British manufacturer, Princess Yachts International, which the panel said did not reply to a request for more information.

The panel also said it has opened its first investigation into a case involving North Korean drones after the wreckage of three drones was found in South Korea in late 2013 and 2014. The report says the drones had been used for reconnaissance over South Korean military facilities and that the drones contained components “sourced from at least six foreign countries.”

North Korea protests that the U.N. sanctions are harmful to its citizens, but the report says it has found no incidents where they “directly resulted in shortages of … humanitarian aid.” It does recommend that the sanctions committee propose exemptions for purely food, medical or other humanitarian needs.

Here is more in the Telegraph.

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DPRK and Russia set up business and exchange council

Friday, February 13th, 2015

According to the Moscow Times (2015-2-4):

Russia and North Korea will establish a business council to facilitate trade, news agency TASS reported Wednesday, following a slew of measures last year that saw the two countries boost economic ties.

“This is certainly a new stage in business cooperation between Russian and North Korea, and it will certainly strengthen our economic and trade ties,” said Vladimir Strashko, vice president of Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry, TASS reported.

The new council will assist Russian companies and organizations find North Korean partners to engage in joint ventures.

The council’s creation follows in the wake of last year’s meeting of the Russia-North Korea intergovernmental commission in Vladivostok, chaired by Alexander Galushka, Russia’s Far East development minister.

In Vladivostok, the two sides took concrete steps toward realizing an ambitious goal to boost interstate trade to $1 billion annually by 2020.

Moscow agreed to let North Korean firms open accounts in Russian banks, while Pyongyang promised to ease up on the visa process. North Korea also agreed to grant Russian businessmen access to the Internet and allow them to use their mobile phones while visiting North Korea — hardly trivial concessions from the so-called “Hermit Kingdom.”

Galushka said that these breakthroughs would allow Russian companies to gain access to North Korean gold and metal mines, claiming to have discussed specific resource exploration projects with his North Korean counterparts.

Russia under President Vladimir Putin has sporadically courted North Korea, a former Soviet client state, in the hopes of gaining direct access to South Korean markets via a proposed railway and natural gas pipeline project.

Vitaly Survillo, the chairman of Russia’s Business Council for Cooperation with North Korea, gave an interview with Voice of America (2015-2-13):

“It seems to me the most promising areas of cooperation between our countries are infrastructure projects – roads, utility networks, [and] tourism.”

Moscow established the council last week to increase trade between Pyongyang and Moscow.

The council plans to work on the first stage through the support of government agencies in both countries, according to Survillo. The main goal is to find new channels of communication with the North Korean partners.

The council is currently focusing its efforts on working with Russian organizations to ensure their interests in the structure of state bodies of both countries.

Russia is also eyeing North Korea’s resources, including minerals, for new business opportunities.

“North Korea has significant reserves of natural and labor resources,” Survillo said.

In October 2014, the two sides began a rare joint project that would overhaul the North’s railway system. The project calls for Russia to upgrade North Korea’s railway network in return for access to the North’s mineral resources.

“If someone needs our support, we will be glad to assist in facing the challenges of successful development of the project,” Survillo said in reference to the railway project.

When asked about the biggest challenge his team faces, Survillo answered, “the loss of the habit of mutual economic cooperation.”

“Much needs to be recovered from scratch,” he added.

Read the full stories here:
Building on Trade Ties, North Korea and Russia to Launch Business Council
Moscow Times
2015-2-4

Russia Eyes Ailing N. Korean Infrastructure
Voice of America
Yonho Kim
2015-2-13

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On the 349 slogans (not 310)–and the politburo meeting resolution

Friday, February 13th, 2015

Yesterday nearly every major media outlet reported that the DPRK had published 310 new slogans. This was inaccurate. The DPRK published 349 slogans. Here they are numbered in a PDF document. You might marvel that I would go and count them like this, but it was not that hard. Another friend told me there were 375, and he was also wrong.

Here is what Yonhap had to say about the slogans:

North Korea’s key governing party organs have released a set of campaign slogans calling for painstaking efforts to improve the livelihoods of its citizens, Pyongyang’s state media said Thursday.

The Central Committee and the Central Military Commission of the Workers’ Party of Korea announced the 310 slogans [ACTUALLY 349] to mark the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the country from the 1910-45 Japanese colonial rule as well as the founding of the governing party, according to the Korea Central News Agency (KCNA).

Noteworthy among the long list were calls to shore up the North Korean economy and enhance the livelihoods of the country’s citizens.

Among the slogans calling for livelihood enhancement was, “Make tireless efforts with an extraordinary determination to resolve the problems of the people’s living at any cost!,” according to the KCNA.

The slogans also stressed the regime’s willingness to mend ties with South Korea.

“It is a long-cherished desire of all the fellow countrymen and an urgent task of the nation to put an end to the tragedy of national division that has lasted 70 years,” one of the slogans read.

Lately, the North has shown signs of attempts to thaw long-standing tension with Seoul, with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un expressing his desire to open inter-Korean talks during his New Year’s address earlier this year.

North Korea often announces such slogans encompassing all sectors of society on special occasions, hinting at the communist country’s policy direction going forward.

But more importantly, today (February 13th) KCNA announced a meeting and resolution of the KWP’s politburo:

On February 10, Juche 104 (2015), the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea met in Pyongyang, capital of the revolution.

Attending the meeting were members of the Presidium of, and members and alternate members of, the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea.

The meeting adopted a resolution of the Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea, titled, “On Greeting the 70th Anniversaries of the Founding of the Workers’ Party of Korea and the Liberation of the Country as Revolutionary, Auspicious Events of Songun Korea Which Is Prospering under the Leadership of the Great Party.”

The resolution stated that our Party, army and people will greet before long the 70th anniversaries of the founding of the glorious Workers’ Party of Korea and the liberation of the country in a meaningful way.

A grand celebration of the anniversaries will constitute an important occasion for exalting the brilliance of the immortal exploits performed by the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, who achieved the historic cause of national liberation, founded a revolutionary party of the Juche type and led our revolution along the road resplendent with victory, and for demonstrating the high prestige and militant might of our Party, which is adorning the new century of the Juche era with proud victories and prosperity.

Holding fast to the banner of independence, the great Comrade Kim Il Sung defeated the brigandish Japanese imperialists by fighting a bloody war for 20 years and thus achieved the historic cause of national liberation; and on the basis of the organizational and ideological groundwork of building a party and the glorious revolutionary traditions created in the flames of the anti-Japanese revolution, he founded a revolutionary party of the Juche type, the Workers’ Party of Korea.

By enhancing the leadership role of the Party in the revolution and construction, he led to victory the Fatherland Liberation War, postwar reconstruction and two stages of social revolution, built the people-centred socialist system of our own style, achieved socialist industrialization of our country from scratch, and turned it into a powerful socialist country, which is independent, self-supporting and self-reliant in national defence.

The great Comrade Kim Jong Il formulated ComradeKim Il Sung’s revolutionary ideology as Kimilsungism and developed our Party into an ideologically pure and organizationally integrated body in which monolithic ideological and leadership systems are firmly established, into a motherly party which has formed a harmonious whole with the masses and serves them, into a seasoned and experienced party which is possessed of a high level of leadership art, and into a promising party which has definitely been assured of the leadership being inherited.

In the days of the Arduous March and forced march, when our people and revolution faced the worst-ever hardships and trials, he developed our Party into the guiding force of the Songun revolution, firmly safeguarding the sovereignty of our country and nation, developing our motherland into a single-heartedly united politico-ideological power and into an invincible military giant, which no formidable enemy dares to provoke, and kindling the flames of the industrial revolution in the new century to lay a firm foundation on which we can effect a great leap forward, great innovations, in building our country into an economic giant.

The exploits of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, who laid an eternal cornerstone for the victorious advance of our country and revolution by leading the cause of building a party of the Juche type and a prosperous country along the road resplendent with victory, will shine for all ages to come.

It is the steadfast will of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Unto further develop our Party and our Republic, which were founded by Comrade Kim Il Sung and led by him and Comrade Kim Jong Il, into the party and state that will shine forever together with the ideas and august names of the great leaders.

By formulating Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism as the eternal guiding ideology of our Party and revolution, he has provided a fundamental guarantee for developing ours into the party of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, and under the unfurled banner of modelling the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism, he is wisely leading to victory the showdown with the United States and the building of a thriving nation.

Under his outstanding and seasoned leadership, the prestige and authority of our Party are being raised remarkably, and the history and tradition of victory of heroic Korea are being carried forward to the hilt, and the cause of building a thriving nation is advancing full of vigour despite the incessant moves of the imperialist reactionaries to isolate and suffocate our country.

The respected Comrade Kim Jong Un said:

“We must hold up the great Generalissimos Kim Il Sung andKim Jong Il as the eternal leaders of our Party and people, as the sun of Juche, and step up modelling the whole society on Kimilsungism-Kimjongilism so as to build on this land a dignified, thriving socialist country, a powerful Paektusan nation, as wished by the great Generalissimos.”

All Party members, service personnel and people, rallied behind the Party ring after ring under the slogan “Let us all turn out in the general offensive to hasten final victory in the revolutionary spirit of Paektu!” must make greater efforts to create a new speed of the times, the speed of Korea, in building a thriving socialist country and demonstrate to the whole world the prestige and mettle of the prospering Songun Korea.

The Political Bureau of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea has adopted a resolution on the measures aimed at greeting the 70th anniversaries of Party founding and national liberation as revolutionary, auspicious events of Songun Korea which is prospering under the leadership of the great Party by giving full play to the revolutionary spirit and mettle of Paektu. The resolution reads in the following vein:

First, we will hold the great Comrades Kim Il Sung andKim Jong Il in high esteem as the eternal leaders of our Party and people and add eternal brilliance to their immortal revolutionary exploits.

We will splendidly lay out the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun, where the great Generalissimos are preserved in their lifetime appearances, as the eternal sanctuary of the sun and defend it to the death, and have their bronze and coloured statues set up at such important units as those visited by them.

We will renovate the Korean Revolution Museum as befits the storehouse of national treasures, where one can learn the revolutionary careers of the peerlessly great men of Mt Paektu and their immortal exploits in a comprehensive way, spruce up other bases for education in revolutionary traditions and intensify educational work through them.

Second, we will strengthen the Party and consolidate rock-solid the single-hearted unity of our Party and revolutionary ranks.

This is a decisive guarantee for carrying forward through the generations and accomplishing under the leadership of the respected Marshal Kim Jong Un the revolutionary cause of Juche and the revolutionary cause of Songun pioneered on Paektu.

We will establish stringent organizational discipline whereby the whole Party acts as one under the monolithic leadership of the respected Marshal, and consolidate the political and ideological position of our revolution by taking hold of public sentiments and uniting the masses of the people firmly around the Party.

Third, we will hold fast to the Party’s line of the Songun revolution so as to build up our national self-defence capability.

In order to achieve final victory in the showdown with the United States and speed up the building of a thriving socialist country, it is urgent to strengthen the People’s Army, the buttress and main force of the Songun revolution, develop defence industry and step up the work of arming all the people and fortifying the whole country on a high level.

We will establish the monolithic command system of the respected Supreme Commander Kim Jong Un more firmly across the People’s Army and press on with the movement of winning the titles of O Jung Hup-led 7th Regiment and Guards Unit, in order to develop the army into an invincible force of guards who are fully possessed of the spirit of defending their leader and country to the death, the strongest in idea and faith, and capable of winning all battles.

We will display the same spirit and mettle as we did in conquering outer space to manufacture larger numbers of powerful, cutting-edge military hardware of our own style that are of high precision, light, unmanned and intelligent, so that we can cope with modern warfare, and develop defence industry by relying on latest science and technology.

Fourth, we will raise a fierce wind and achieve a major leap forward on all the fronts where we are building a thriving socialist country, in order to usher in a great golden age of Songun Korea.

That all sectors and all units of the national economy accelerate the onward march to bring about an upsurge in the building of an economic giant is a sure guarantee for fully demonstrating the country’s might as a politico-ideological and military power and achieving a brilliant triumph in the struggle to build a thriving nation and defend socialism.

We will open up a shortcut to the building of the knowledge-based economy by developing science and technology and going beyond the cutting edge, and bring about a radical turn in improving the people’s standard of living by resolving the food problem of the people with crop cultivation, animal husbandry and fishing as the main thrusts and directing great efforts to developing light industry.

In particular, we will firmly take hold of agriculture as an area of major thrust, enlist and concentrate nationwide efforts for agricultural production, speed up the building of the livestock farming base in the Sepho area, and make a fresh turn in the development of animal husbandry.

We will open up a new era of “gold sea” and make the whole socialist country permeated with the fragrant smell of fish and other kinds of seafood by decisively bolstering up the fishing sector, and direct uninterrupted efforts to developing light industry so as to increase the production of consumer goods for the people.

We will thoroughly translate the Party’s Juche-oriented idea on architecture into reality and usher in a new golden age of construction by completing without fail and by the dates set by the Party such major projects as building the Sci-Tech Complex, Mirae Scientists Street, second-stage Wisong Scientists Dwelling District, Terminal 2 of Pyongyang International Airport, Building No 3 of Kim Il Sung University, Pyongyang University of Architecture and Secondary School No 1 and renovating the Central Zoo and Mangyongdae Schoolchildren’s Palace.

We will make a leap forward in the vanguard sectors, basic industries, including electric-power generation, coal mining, rail transport and metal, chemical and machine-building industries, and other major sectors of the national economy.

We will direct nationwide efforts especially to expediting the construction of the Paektusan Songun Youth Power Station, the multi-tier power stations on the Chongchon River and the Wonsan Army-People Power Station, and to stepping up modernization of factories and enterprises.

We will bring about a new turn in the fields of education, public health service, art and literature, mass media and sports and in conserving the cultural heritage of our nation and exalting their brilliance by putting spurs to the building of a civilized socialist nation.

We will enlist the whole Party, the entire army and all the people in restoring the forests of the country and improving the work of land administration so as to transform the appearance of the country’s land.

We will arouse the whole society to vigorously conduct mass-based movements like those of winning the titles of Forest of Socialist Patriotism and Model County in Afforestation, and push ahead with the work of covering the whole country with fruit and other trees and flowers on the strength of cooperation between the service personnel and people.

Fifth, we will make a vigorous effort to achieve the historic cause of national reunification and promote international solidarity with our revolution.

Holding aloft the slogan “Let the whole nation join efforts to open up a broad avenue to independent reunification in this year of the 70th anniversary of national liberation!” we will resolutely frustrate the anti-DPRK war moves and nuclear and human rights rackets by the US imperialists and the south Korean puppets and open up a broad avenue to independent reunification by uniting firmly all the fellow countrymen in the north, in the south and abroad under the banner of patriotism, under the ideal of By Our Nation Itself; we will also develop foreign relations in a multilateral and proactive way, and strengthen international solidarity with our revolution.

Sixth, we will organize and hold events in celebration of the 70th anniversaries of Party founding and national liberation as grand political festivals.

We will hold in grand style a parade of the service personnel of the ground, naval, air and anti-aircraft and strategic forces of the Korean People’s Army and a procession of Pyongyang citizens in celebration of the Party’s 70th anniversary so as to fully demonstrate at home and abroad the might of the service personnel and people united single-heartedly behind the respected Marshal.

We will also hold different political events in a meaningful way to mark these landmark anniversaries.

The resolution, in its last part, stressed the need for Party organizations and other political organs at all levels to thoroughly implement the tasks set forth in the resolution by scrupulously arranging organizational and political work to carry it out and regularly keeping up-to-date with the progress of the work, and for the Cabinet and other relevant organs to take administrative and practical measures to carry out these tasks.

Looking back with deep emotion upon the immortal revolutionary exploits the peerlessly great men of Mt Paektu performed for the development of the Party and the building of a prosperous country, our service personnel and people are now filled with a firm determination to work harder to achieve the final victory of the revolution under the leadership of the great Party.

Invincible is the cause of the Workers’ Party of Korea, the party of the great Comrades Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, which is advancing under the leadership of the respected Comrade Kim Jong Un holding aloft the banner of independence and Songun, and certain is the final victory of the building of a thriving socialist nation, a powerful Paektusan nation.

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China plans tourism zone with Russia, DPRK

Friday, February 13th, 2015

According to the China Daily:

The Tumen River Delta international tourism area will include part of China’s Hunchun City, as well as a 10 sq km plot each from Russia and DPRK, said the government of China’s Jilin Province. The three sides will jointly build tourism facilities.

At the ongoing annual session of the provincial legislature, Jiang Chaoliang, governor of Jilin, said the province would draw up a blueprint for the tourism area this year and explore a management model that would involve the three countries.

The initiative was put forward by the Hunchun City government in 2013 and has drawn interest from authorities of the border areas of Russia and DPRK.

Visitors shall enter the tourism zone without visa and shopping shall be duty-free, according to officials.

In the long run, the Republic of Korea, Japan and Mongolia will join the tourism area via highways, railways and air routes, said Zhao Xiaojun, director of Jilin Provincial Tourism Administration.

The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) launched the Greater Tumen Initiative (GTI) in 1995, which provides a multilateral forum for its member countries to tap potential economic opportunities.

The article featured a picture with this caption:

National scenic spot of Fangchuan in Hunchun city, Jilin province, with Russia on its southeast and DPRK across the Tumen river.

Because of this, I presume the new zone is intended to be in Fangchuan. And this makes geographic sense for the Chinese because the land is isolated and surrounded by Russia and China. Here is a Google Earth satellite image of the site. Russia in red. China in blue. North Korea in yellow.

Fangchuan

Here is coverage in Yonhap and in Reuters.

Read the full story here:
China plans tourism zone with Russia, DPRK
China Daily
2015-2-13

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Kyonghung Foodstuff Factory

Tuesday, February 10th, 2015

Khonghung-Foodstuff

According to KCNA (2015-2-10):

The Mangyongdae Kyonghung Foodstuff Factory was newly built and went operational with due ceremony on Tuesday.

Officials and employees of the Kyonghung Guidance Bureau built its splendid building by their own efforts, automated raw material feeding and put overall production processes on a CNC, germ-free and dust-free basis thanks to the help of teachers and researchers of Pyongyang University of Mechanical Engineering.

The updating of the factory helps successfully carry out the last instructions of leader Kim Jong Il, who worked heart and soul to provide greater quantities of tasty and nutritious foodstuff to the people and consolidate the Juche character and independence of the foodstuff industry.

A message of thanks of the Central Committee of the Workers’ Party of Korea was conveyed to the officials and employees of the bureau at the commissioning ceremony.

Present there were An Jong Su, department director of the C.C., the WPK, officials of the bureau and units under it and officials and employees of the factory.

At the end of the ceremony the participants looked round the factory.

Photos of the factory can be seen here on Uriminzokkiri.

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UNFAO on DPRK food supply outlook

Thursday, February 5th, 2015

On February 3, 2015, the UNFAO recently published the DPRK “Outlook for Food Supply and Demand 2014/15“.

Here are the highlights:

1. After increasing markedly for three consecutive years, food production remained stagnant in 2014 with the aggregate output put at 5.94 million tonnes (including cereals, soybeans and potatoes in cereal equivalent). This figure comprises the official estimate of the 2014 main harvest and forecast for the 2015 early crops from cooperative farms, as well as FAO projections of production from sloping land and household gardens.

2. Paddy production dropped by about 10 percent due to reduced irrigation water availability, following low precipitation in the winter and dry spells during the 2014 main season. However, this decline was compensated by a significant increase in maize output, as a result of mass mobilization of people to water maize plants.

3. Production of the 2014/15 early season potatoes and minor wheat and barley crops, to be harvested from next June, is forecast to fall considerably.

4. The total utilization needs for the 2014/15 marketing year (November/October) are set by FAO at 5.49 million tonnes of cereal equivalent and the cereal import requirement is estimated at 407 000 tonnes. The Government is expected to import 300 000 tonnes of cereals, leaving an uncovered deficit of 107 000 tonnes for the current marketing year. This gap is larger than in 2013/14 partly as a result of revised post-harvest losses.

5. With a stagnant harvest in 2014, the food security situation in 2014/15 is likely to remain similar to that of the previous marketing year, with most households estimated to have borderline and poor food consumption rates.

The report listed these statistics that I thought were worth highlighting:

The marginal increase (0.3  percent) in the 2014/15 food production follows three consecutive years of strong growth at 4.4 percent in 2011/12, 8.7 percent in 2012/13 and 3.5 percent in 2013/14. However, at the forecast level, production remains above the past five-years average.

Andrei Lankov takes an optimistic view of this report in his article for Radio Free Asia and in the Carnegie Moscow Center. He credits implementation of the 6.28 Measures.

Marcus Noland commented on technical aspects of the report (such as the fact that the assessment was made without direct access to the country).

Scott Snyder commented on some of the political economy around the reports findings in Forbes. He asks why the UNFAO was not allowed into the DPRK, and notes that Russia has become the DPRK’s largest food donor.

The Daily NK has also noted the stability of food prices in late 2014 and early 2015.

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KCNA: Business success in store for foreign investors

Monday, February 2nd, 2015

According to the article:

A project to set up economic development parks has been steadily pushed forward in different parts of the DPRK, drawing attention of many foreign investors, says Ri Sun Hak, a department director of the Ministry of External Economic Relations.

He said the DPRK government has made all its efforts to create a legal environment favorable for the rights and interests of foreign investors.

The government encourages them to invest in the country on the principle of equality and mutual benefits, he said, and continued:

A series of laws on foreign investment, including the DPRK Law on Foreign Investment and the Law on Economic Development Parks, has been newly enacted, amended and supplemented to provide foreign investors with legal guarantee.

The DPRK government has already made the agreement on promotion and protection of mutual investment with 28 countries and agreement on prevention of double taxation with 13 countries in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Rules and detailed regulations have been adopted one after another to introduce internationally recognized investment formulas in keeping with the actual circumstances of the country.

Now the DPRK government has been carried forward the cooperation with Russian companies in the fields of railway transportation and harbor express service, while establishing economic development parks and paying deep attention to different projects of cooperation with other countries in the field of investment.

Tourism is also gaining momentum with the development of Wonsan-Mt. Kumgang and Mt. Chilbo areas into fashionable tourist attractions.

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