North Korean Economy Watch

Although the Korea-watching world is focused on Tongchang-ri at the moment, I thought I would offer a mild distraction this Friday with some rarely-see-by-the-outside-world North Korean art. (A big thanks to a reader for these).

On display in the Mansudae Art Studio (the DPRK’s premier art studio) at this very minute, “The girl with the cell-phone”:

Click image for larger version

And below we have a painting from a book on the art exhibition on the 65^th birthday of the Korean Worker’s Party.  The painting is called “Sarangeui jib” (English title: “House of affection”):

Click image for larger version

I bet the painter was a man.

Blogging has been light as I try to clear a big project from my plate. I will play catch up on Tonchang-ri, SPA, KWP , and Google Earth this weekend.

For an additional smile, KCNA has an article today titled, “North Korea Launches Satellite of Love”.

The Sons of Jubal, an all-male chorus and orchestra made up entirely of Georgians, has been invited to perform during the Spring Arts Festival in Pyongyang, DPRK (North Korea). They are the largest American group ever invited to enter the country. The visit is the culmination of years of preparation. They will also perform additional concerts in Beijing, China.

Here is the press release:

All-Male Chorus and Orchestra to perform in Pyongyang, DPRK 

ATLANTA—A 150-member all-male chorus and orchestra from the Atlanta area will perform in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea during their Spring Arts Festival in April.

The chorus and orchestra, named the Sons of Jubal, will be one of the largest musical groups of Americans ever to enter the DPRK. The Sons of Jubal was founded in 1954 and consists of volunteer professional musicians, church musicians, educators, and institutional leaders from the state of Georgia.

Global Resource Services, Inc. (GRS), a non-profit, non-governmental organization based in Atlanta, is coordinating the cultural exchange. Through its “Advocacy for the Arts” program, GRS is providing opportunities to promote goodwill and reconciliation.

GRS has already sent three other groups to DPRK, including the Grammy Award Winning group, Casting Crowns. The organization has three main principles: relationships, respect, and reconciliation.

“We are excited that this opportunity has come after a decade and a half of experience in DPRK-United States musical exchanges,” said Robert Springs, GRS Chief Executive Officer and President.

The Sons of Jubal will also have performances in Beijing, China, which will include a brass choir, handbell choir, and vocal ensemble. The group has presented concerts in major halls, local churches, and communities in the United States, Germany, France, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Moldova, the Czech Republic, and Russia.

“This is a historic opportunity for the group and I am privileged to be a part of this great musical endeavor,” commented Dr. Jon Duncan, conductor of the group for the past 10 years.

The Sons of Jubal performs an extensive repertoire in the classics, Broadway show tunes, spirituals, and contemporary genres. Members of the Sons of Jubal will leave on April 10 and return to Georgia on April 23.

UPDATE: Here is a follow up article on the group (Augusta Chronicle):

Last month, amid reports of rocket launches in North Korea, a handful of Augusta pastors and musicians were quietly making history.

They were part of a men’s choir that performed in North Korea and China.

The 150-member Sons of Jubal, who are ministers from churches across the Georgia Baptist Convention, is the largest group of Americans to visit North Korea in decades, according to Global Resource Services, an Atlanta nonprofit that coordinated the trip.

“It was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. We made history,” said the Rev. Roy Kiser, an associate pastor with senior adults at First Baptist Church of North Augusta. He has sung in the choir for 14 years.

The choir performed American show tunes, Korean folk songs and a few hymns at various venues, including a Beijing Christian church; the Morang Hill Symphony Hall, the home of the North Korean National Symphony Orchestra; and a spring festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of the birth of Kim Il-Sung, the first rule or North Korea, who died in 1994.

For those two weeks, members of Sons of Jubal were celebrities everywhere they went, said the Rev. Keith Burrow, an associate minister of music and senior adults at First Baptist Church of Augusta, who has sung in the choir for five years.

“We were the first Americans a lot of them had ever met,” he said.

The performances took more than three years of planning and six months of rehearsals. The choir worked hard to learn How Great Thou Art in Chinese, and a few traditional Korean songs, Burrow said.

“Music has a way of breaking down barriers in ways other things can’t,” he said. “You could feel the two people groups coming together, all because we sang in their language.”

Between concerts, the group did a little sightseeing, stopping at both the Great Wall and Tiananmen Square. Under military escort, the group toured the north side of the demilitarized zone that separates North Korea from South Korea.

Upon returning from the tour, church members have asked Burrow whether he ever felt scared while traveling through the communist countries.

“Not once,” he said. “Because of the (political) relations between us and them, we really didn’t know what to expect. We saw over and over again that people are people no matter where they are.”

Kiser agreed.

“They rolled out the red carpet for us,” he said. “Everyone was friendly, personable. They made quite the positive impression.”

So did one translator in particular, Burrow said.

“Our guide told us, ‘I will never look at Americans the same way again.’ She said, ‘I hope you never look at Koreans the same way again either.’ ”

Pictured above (Google Earth): (L) Kumsong Youth Publishers (금성청년출판사), (R) Pyongyang General Printing Factory (평양종합인쇄공장). According to the Daily NK article below, both factories print calendars in the DPRK.

UPDATE 1 (2012-3-23): The Daily NK updates us on the DPRK’s 2012 calendars:

The slogan on the cover of the calendar has been edited from “The Great Leader President Kim Il-sung will always be with us” to “The Great President Kim Il-sung and the Great Leader Kim Jong-il Will always be with us”

The new calendar marks February 16th (Kim Jong-il’s official birthday) as “The Day of the Shining Star”. This same day is also celebrated as the day Kim Jong-il received the title “generalissimo”.

“The Day of the Sun” (April 15th–Kim Il-sung’s birthday) was always there, however, revised text about other dates has been added.

The May picture comes from the DPRK film Petition. The June image comes from The Blessed Land.

July – October calendar pages

December 17th 2012 commemorates “Juche 100”. December 17th is the day Kim Jong Il passed away.

ORIGINAL POST (2012-1-10): According to the Daily NK:

North Korea has recalled all 2012 calendars because they do not specify the date of Kim Jong Il’s death (December 17th), and is producing new ones.

A Shinuiju source confirmed for Daily NK on the 5th, “Pyongyang Combined [General] Printing and other printers are creating new calendars marking Kim Jong Il’s death.”

“An order was handed down through Party organs, enterprises and people’s units calling for the return of those calendars which had been distributed. Calendars stored by traders who were planning to go and distribute them outside of North Korea are also being recalled,” the source added.

However, most of those calendars which have already been exported, such as the one obtained by Daily NK [see picture here], will continue to circulate.

The absence of the date of death is not the only problem with the new calendar. There are also problematic messages such as ‘We hope for great leader comrade Kim Jong Il’s good health.’ As such, the new calendar will reportedly both include Kim Jong Il’s official date of death and the latest slogan, ‘Great leader comrade Kim Jong Il is with us forever.’

Official North Korean calendars are designed and published by a number of publishing houses including Keumsung Youth Publishing House and Agricultural Publishing Company on the authority of the Party Propaganda and Agitation Department. They are still distributed to all Party organs, enterprises and military bases, although due to economic and production limitations the paper quality has dropped in recent years, and even this measure has not been enough to stop distribution to households breaking down.

On this, one defector from North Hamkyung Province commented, “There are 28 households in a people’s unit, but only 10 calendars were given to us once.”

Other than the official calendar published for distribution, each of the authorized publishers produces a higher quality 7-page calendar for sale in places like the jangmadang. Some high-quality scroll calendars are also produced by People’s Army Publishing House, People’s Safety Ministry, and National Security Agency etc.

An additional point of interest for the reproduced calendars is whether Kim Jong Eun’s birthday (January 8th) will be made prominent. January 8th, 2012 is a Sunday and as such would typically be marked in red anyway, but usually to emphasize special days the numbers are printed in a bigger font.

Read the full story here:
North Korea in Mass Calendar Recall
Daily NK
Park Jun Hyeong
2012-01-10

According to the Daily NK:

There is widespread displeasure not only at mobilization for various events planned for April but also the growing funding burden being placed on households, sources have reported.

One source from Musan in North Hamkyung Province told Daily NK on the 20th, “In all areas of North Korea including Pyongyang, everyone has been rushing around preparing for the upcoming birthday celebrations since the 15th. The authorities are collecting 20,000 won per household for the purpose of decorating streets and open spaces and to fund artistic performances.”

People in Hamheung in South Hamkyung Province have received orders to prepare eight flower pots per family for the streets and verandas of each home, a source from the city said; those without flowers are apparently purchasing them from traders. “We are so busy trying to get ready for the April celebrations right now that we don’t even have time to breathe,” the source said. “Difficult times during Kim Jong Il’s regime were nothing compared to now.”

A source from Wonsan in Gangwon Province agreed, saying, “It is tough for us to even make 2,000 won per day from trading, but the authorities are asking for 20,000 won from us to buy paint to do the exterior walls of apartments! I thought a new man would make the situation better but it has gotten worse.”

In previous years, the preparation period for April events was called the ‘big cleanup’. The stairs and hallway of apartments and the doors and fences of homes had to be painted with lime, which in recent years came to cost around 5,000 won. Thereafter, students would gather leftover paint and do the walls of their classrooms. However, the cost this year is much higher.

According to the source, “This year it is called the ‘total mobilization period,’ and they have told us that those who do not participate with sincerity will be evaluated politically.”

The period has begun fifteen days earlier than normal, too, which appears to be an effort to heighten the atmosphere for this year in particular.

The Musan source explained, “All organs, enterprises and schools are practicing songs and instruments during the afternoon, and women are using parks and public spaces to practice songs and dances until 7pm. Party cadres, to create a mood for celebration, ordered people to wear their outfits for the day, but the women all look disgruntled by the fact that they have to shiver in skirts all day in the cold.”

“There are lots of fights because local offices have exempted the Union of Democratic Women from paying festival costs, instead putting that portion on other families,” the Wonsan source added, commenting that the measure has been taken because practice hours are in the afternoon when most women ordinarily go to the jangmadang to work.

Read the full story here:
April Feeling Tiresome Already
Daily NK
Choi Song Min
2012-3-22

1. A valued reader sends in these photos taken in the DPRK:

The photo on the left was taken in an elevator. Read all of the regulations–they get better and better.

The photo on the right is an advert for the Pugang Pharmaceutical Factory’s “Kumdang-2 Injection”.  It is your best choice for “Radioactive Damages”.

2. Xinhua (the Chinese state media) reports “Girls dress fashionably in DPRK”. Judge for yourself here: Part 1 and Part 2. Apologies to the female readers that there has yet to be published a “Men dress fashionably in DPRK”.  If such a story is published, I promise to link to it.

Ray Cunningham has a DPRK women’s fashion photo set as well. See it here.

Choson Exchange has some DPRK fashion photos here and here.

3. YouTube user “Tyrlop” has provided English subtitles to many North Korean songs. So far, my favorite is the very catchy “The General Uses Wharp!”

4. Norway launches their first mass games.  Not nearly as impressive as the DPRK version.

5. The Onion reports on the ways that US-DPRK relations are improving [satire].

6. Earlier I posted information on the Unhasu Orchestra’s performace in Paris this week. Listen to the performance here. Watch it here.  It is beautiful.

Pictured above (Google Earth): (L) Unnhasu Theater in Pyongyang where the Unhasu Orchestra normally performs.  (R) The Salle Pleyel in Paris where the Unhasu played their first overseas concert.

You can listen to the performance here.

You can watch the performance here.

Here is KCTV coverage of the performance.

Media on the performance below.

(more…)

Pictured above: (L) The location of the new Haedonghwa Center under construction in Pyongyang (Google Earth), and (R) a representation of the building’s exterior

The Korea Pyongyang Haedanghwa Foodstuff Company (조선평양해당화식품회사는)  has launched a new web page  on the Naenara portal providing content in English, Korean, and Chinese.

This new web site hosts pages of information not just on the company, its subsidiaries, its employees, and its products, but also on Korean food, culture and health. Among the more interesting claims made on the page:

Our service workers come from normal families, and they are not ones grown in the special environment or conditions.

The web page also provides addresses and maps of the subsidiary restaurants and factories in China and the DPRK.

Using information from the web page I was able to locate the position of the Haedanghwa Center (pictured at the top of this post).  It is obviously still under construction.  The lot on which the center is being built has been empty for the last dozen years and lies directly across the Taedong River from the new construction on Mansudae Street.

A friend of mine visited the DPRK and returned with a bottle of hand moisturizing lotion (pictured above). In English it is called “Kaesong Koryo Insam Moisture Milk Cream”. The Korean name is “개성고려인삼 물크림”, and it is manufactured by a company called Pomhyanggi (봄향기). According to Kwang On Yoo, the name translates to mean “Spring Fragrance”.

Popmhyanggi is a product line of the Sinuiju Cosmetics Factory (satellite image here). Sales are promoted through a Joint Venture company–the partner(s) are unknown at this time–called the Korea Pomhyanggi Joint Venture Company. The JV apparently operates out of an exhibition hall in Moranbong-guyok, Pyongyang, which was opened in 2007. Here is a link to an additional KCNA story on the cosmetics line.

This weekend the DPRK changed the appearance and style of its evening news broadcast:

You can see the first news broadcast in this style on Youtube here.

Up until 2006 (I believe) the North Korean news broadcasters presented  in front of a plain blue screen:

In 2006 KCTV adopted a news format which placed the anchor persons in front of a background panel which was distinct and consistent for separate news items:

Martyn Williams offers some additional information here.

UPDATE (2012-3-15): Ironically, we have coverage of the photo exhibit from the Associated Press:

“Daily life is really what I try to focus on when I’m there. … It’s unscripted, it’s candid,” said AP Chief Asia Photographer David Guttenfelder, who took some of the photographs in the show, and who has made who has made many reporting trips to North Korea since 2010.

“For people to see their own life in other people’s lives, I think it has a lot of power to break down barriers.”

“Windows on North Korea: Photographs From the DPRK,” is a joint exhibition by The Associated Press and the state-run Korean Central News Agency, and features a mix of archival and contemporary images.

The show was timed to open before the 100th anniversary of the birth of the nation’s founder, Kim Il Sung, on April 15, and comes two months after the AP expanded its operations in Pyongyang to include writers and photojournalists. The AP became the first international news organization to have a full-time presence in the secretive communist country when it opened a video bureau in 2006.

The photographs “give us rare views of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, a nation of great interest to the world, though little known,” said Kathleen Carroll, executive editor of the AP.

North Korea and the United States have never had formal diplomatic relations, and the two nations have experienced tensions over the years, particularly over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions. North Korea has tested two atomic devices in the past six years.

Tensions had recently eased somewhat. Late last month, the United States and North Korea announced an agreement that calls for Pyongyang to freeze its nuclear activities in exchange for food aid. But a surprise announcement by the North Koreans on Friday that they plan to blast a satellite into space on the back of a long-range rocket could jeopardize that agreement.

The exhibit’s organizers said they hoped the show would help foster better understanding between the two countries.

“My expectation is that this will be the first step in some peaceful reconciliation, and in a few years there will be trade, cultural exchange and tourists from each country coming to (the) other,” said Donald Rubin, who co-founded The 8th Floor gallery hosting the exhibit.

Images on display included a 1953 KCNA photograph showing residents helping to rebuild Pyongyang’s central district after the Korean War, AP photos documenting visits by such prominent foreigners as Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright, as well as everyday scenes ranging from sunbathers at the beach to shoppers inside a modern department store.

“It is our hope that this exhibition would give exhibition-goers visual understanding of the people, customs, culture and history of the DPRK, thereby helping to deepen mutual understanding and improve the bilateral relations,” Kim Chang Gwang, KCNA’s senior vice president, said in an address at the show’s opening.

“In this exhibit, we are offered two perspectives of the DPRK — as viewed by her native daughters and sons from KCNA and by AP journalists visiting to chronicle news and daily life there. We can appreciate the different styles and techniques and points of view,” Carroll said. “These photographs also show us that different people can find common ground.”

The show also includes images taken by KCNA journalists who participated in a joint workshop in October led by AP instructors. It runs from March 15 to April 13 at The 8th Floor gallery, which was established to promote cultural and philanthropic initiatives.

The AP, an independent news cooperative founded in New York and owned by its U.S. newspaper membership, has operations in more than 100 countries and employs nearly 2,500 journalists across the world in 300 locations.

ORIGINAL POST (2012-3-10): According to Yonhap:

A group of North Korean journalists left for the United States Saturday to attend a photo exhibition set to open next week, marking the centenary of the birth of the North’s late founding leader, Kim Il-sung, the country’s media said.

The North’s delegation, led by Kim Chang-gwang, vice director of the Korean Central News Agency, will attend the opening ceremony of the photo exhibition scheduled for March 15, the news agency said in a report.

The photo exhibition, to be jointly organized with The Associated Press, is scheduled to run until April 13, two days before the late leader’s 100th birthday, the American news agency said in its Web site.

…

The photo exhibition is part of joint programs being pushed by the KCNA to promote its nascent relations with the U.S. news agency. The AP opened a bureau in Pyongyang in January, the first international news agency with a full-time presence in the reclusive country to dispatch texts, photos and video.

The KCNA said the New York exhibition will showcase photos archived by two news agencies, including the North’s late founding leader and his deceased son Kim Jong-il who died of heart failure in December last year, as well as people and life in the communist state.

Additional information:

1. Here is the coverage of the KCNA delegation’s departure from Pyongyang reported by KCNA.

2. Here is the web page of the exhibit.

3. Extensive comments and additional information at OFK.

4. Foreign Policy writes about the conditions under which the aP operated in the DPRK.

5. How the AP selected its North Korea reporter