Pictured Above (Tongil News): The new Ryugyong Commercial Bank ATM in the Changgwang Inn
UPDATE 2 (2016-5-12): Simon Cockerell has posted a photo to Instagram of a second ATM at the Pyongyang International Airport. This brings the number of known ATMs to two.
UPDATE 1 (2016-2-1): I stumbled on an article from last year the mentions the Ryugyong Commercial Bank. Apparently they have a pre-pay card as well. According to Reuters:
Foreign investors can also set up banks in North Korea and are allowed to lend money and provide credit-based financing schemes to North Korean companies, according to a bilingual book of North Korean law available to foreign investors.
Ryugyong Commercial Bank, for instance, offers shopping discounts as well as gold or silver card options for its customers. As with the Narae card, customers are encouraged to top up their accounts with dollars.
ORIGINAL POST (2016-1-26): Tongil News reports:
Pyongyang, the capital city in North Korea, installed an ATM (automated teller machine) so that people can deposit and withdraw foreign exchange.
A foreigner staying in Pyongyang uploaded a picture of the machine to Instagram three weeks ago with the comment, “I saw an ATM inside of Changgwang Inn near Koryo Hotel for the first time in North Korea”.
The large-screen ATM is operated by the Ryugyong Commercial Bank (류경상업은행). In Chinese it is called 柳商銀行, which translates to Ryusang Bank (류상은행). Although neither name is generally known, they are appeared to be a joint (cooperative) bank with partners in North Korea and China.
According to this foreigner’s post, the machine allows people to withdrawl various foreign currencies, but not North Korean won. Most users of this ATM tend to draw from accounts abroad.
Some netizens reacted to this post with comments such as “Oh my god, I cannot believe that Pyongyang changed this much.”
“This is the first case that an ATM is found in North Korea,” Professor Im Ul-chul at Kyoungnam University’s Institute for Far Eastern Studies said. “China actually asked North Korea for some help transferring funds for those who travel in North Korea, and it has apparently been realized.”
“It must be a measure for meeting demands of tourists in the country even though it is limited, but it could be improve the quality of banking and finance services inside of North Korea if these types of projects are expanded,” Professor Im told.
“It was observed that Chinese now can use their check cards in North Korea,” a North Korean Tourism specialist pointed out, “the Chinese yuan and the U.S. dollar will grow to dominate North Korea’s society soon.”
This foreigner also introduced the Kwangbok Commercial District (광복상업지구) “loyalty card” and explained “I can get points using this card and purchase goods with those points.” Additionally he mentioned that this card is quite similar to the “Narae” cash card, but it is only used in the Kwangbok Commercial District.
He also replied to another netizen’s question, saying that North Korea sells imported goods in hard currency shops, but there is no case of selling them in its national (state) shops.
Meanwhile, a number of photos featuring North Korea’s official exchange rate and street scenes in Pyongyang on Instagram have been constantly updated. These photos change the past image of closed society.
And in the event that you don’t trust the work of my handy translator, here is the original Korean:
북한의 수도 평양에도 ATM(automated teller machine, 현금 자동 입출금기)이 설치돼 외환을 입출금할 수 있는 것으로 확인됐다.
평양에 주재하고 있는 한 외국인은 3주 전 SNS(사회관계망) ‘인스타그램’에 “고려호텔 인근 창광 숙소에서 처음으로 ATM을 보았다”며 사진을 함께 게재했다.
ATM은 한자로는 ‘류상은행(柳商銀行)’, 영자로는 ‘류경상업은행(Ryugyong Commercial Bank)’이 운용하는 것으로 돼 있으며, 큰 화면을 제공하고 있다. ‘류상은행’이나 ‘류경상업은행’은 알려져 있지 않지만, 류경이 평양의 옛이름인 점으로 미루어 보아 북중 합작은행일 가능성이 높아 보인다.
이 외국인은 북한 원화를 제외한 다양한 외화를 교환할 수 있고, 대부분 이용자들은 해외로부터 송금을 받는 용도로 사용한다고 밝혔다.
이 포스팅에는 “이럴 수가, 평양이 엄청 변하고 있네요. 믿을 수가 없군요”라는 댓글이 달리기도 했다.
임을출 경남대 극동문제연구소 교수는 “북한에 ATM이 등장했다는 것은 처음 접한다”며 “지난해부터 중국 측에서 북한 여행객들을 위한 송금 편의를 북측에 요구한 것으로 아는데, 이것이 실현된 것으로 보인다”고 말했다.
임 교수는 “제한적이기는 하지만 늘어나는 관광객 수요에 부응하기 위한 조치로 받아들여지고, 이러한 추세가 확대되면 북한 내에서의 금융 서비스의 질을 높일 계기가 될 수 있는 새로운 변화”라고 평가했다.
한 북한관광 전문가는 “중국인들이 주로 사용하는 현금(체크)카드를 북한에서도 쓸 수 있게 된 것으로 관측된다”며 “북한에서 달러화와 함께 위안화의 지배력이 커져 갈 것으로 예상된다”고 짚었다.
이 외국인은 다른 포스팅에서 ‘광복상업지구’ 회원카드(loyalty card) 사진을 게시하고 “포인트를 모을 수 있고 포인트로 구매도 가능하다”고 소개했다. 아울러 이 카드는 북한에서 통용되고 있는 ‘나래’ 현금카드와도 유사하지만 광복상업지구에서만 통용된다고 덧붙였다.
또한 다른 유저의 질문에 북한에서 상품 홍보를 위해 수입상품 등을 할인판매도 하지만 국영상점에서는 할인하는 경우가 없다고 전했다.
한편, 인스타그램 등 SNS 상에는 북한의 환율과 평양 풍경 등이 거의 실시간으로 올라오고 있어, 폐쇄된 북한의 이미지도 과거에 묻히게 됐다.
