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Chinese tourists stay away from North Korea after nuclear test

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

By Michael Rank

Far fewer Chinese tourists are visiting North Korea from the border towns of Yanbian and Yanji due to nerves over the country’s recent nuclear and missile tests, a Chinese website reports.

This is normally the height of the tourist season, the report notes, but this year hardly any tourists taking tours to visit the nearby North Korean port city of Rajin (Najin) 라진/나진. “In previous years there have been about 300 or 400 tourists a day [crossing into North Korea] at this time, but recently there have been only about 20,” it quotes a Yanbian travel agent as saying.

Two-day trips from Yanji cost only 800 yuan ($117) per person but because the nuclear testing and rocket launch sites are nearby most tourists are keeping away, the report adds. Rajin is in fact about 250 km north of the nuclear testing site near Gilju (Kilchu) 길주 but who know what is safe…?

The report claims that things are different in the biggest border city Dandong and that tourists are crossing the frontier at normal levels there.

But this was contradicted by a surprisingly frank report in the China Daily earlier this month which quoted Li Peng, general manager of the Dandong branch of the State-owned China International Travel Service (CITS), as saying: “The revenues from four-day tours and business trips to the DPRK have plunged at least 50 percent compared to last year.”

He said about 30,000 tourists have traveled with his company to the DPRK from Dandong in the past two years, with a four-day visit costing around 2,400 yuan ($350) per person.

“But during the first seven months of this year, we have seen 2,000 make the trip. Many canceled because of safety concerns,” he said, adding that the recent capture and imprisonment of two journalists from the United States had done nothing to ease those concerns.

The journalists have since been released, but it’s unlikely this will result in a massive rebound in China-North Korea tourism.

Another China Daily report was remarkably frank about smuggling which has also been badly hit by the nuclear furore. It also quoted Dandong Federal Business Corp Chairman Shan Jie, who said: “Most of the nearly 1,000 legal enterprises involved in border trade here have stopped operations.”

Meanwhile, the latest report focuses on a North Korean waitress in Dandong who “sports a luxury Gucci watch on her left wrist – and a Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) flag pin on her chest.”

“Her restaurant is one of Dandong’s most luxurious and one of the few establishments in the Chinese city bordering the DPRK that is still seeing brisk business in the wake of Pyongyang’s nuclear test in May and subsequent missile launches.”

Posted in China, Restaurants, Tourism | 4 Comments »

DPRK restaurant in Dandong

Sunday, August 16th, 2009

China Daily reports on a North Korean restaurant in the Chinese border city of Dandong (hat tip to O.P.). According to the article:

Choe says she came to Dandong four months ago. Her restaurant is one of Dandong’s most luxurious and one of the few establishments in the Chinese city bordering the DPRK that is still seeing brisk business in the wake of Pyongyang’s nuclear test in May and subsequent missile launches.

The Korea Restaurant, is located near the only bridge linking Dandong and the DPRK, through which the Chinese army reached the DPRK and joined the Korean War in 1950. All of about 20 tables were full on the Saturday afternoon we visited recently, despite prices that are double that of common restaurants in Dandong serving the same food.

Some men from the DPRK in dark yellow or blue suits, with pins of DPRK leader on their chests, also dined there.

Choe’s colleagues, equally young and attractive, wait at tables in blue skirt suits and light makeup. They wear stylish, high-heeled shoes and watches, serving guests with smiles.

“The main reason for the restaurant’s good business is the DPRK waitresses. It’s the easiest way to meet people from that country,” said a taxi driver, surnamed Li.

“Though border trade has been slashed, more and more people are interested in the DPRK after the recent events. You can even see more Westerners here,” Li said.

Shan Jie, board chairman of the Dandong Federal Business Corp which runs cross-border trade, said the waitresses “are by no means common DPRK citizens”.

“They’re all children of DPRK cadres and graduates of Kim Il-sung University. They can speak Chinese, and are very talented in singing and dancing,” said Shan, who has conducted businesses with the DPRK for 16 years. Most of the DPRK cadres attend that university, he said.

The girls were sent to Dandong for training and will have “a promising future as civil servants” when going back home, Shan said.

“It’s a good opportunity for them to practice Chinese and meet Chinese people of all levels. Besides, they earn money for their country,” he said.

Pyongyang has many restaurants in Dandong, and many DPRK ministries such as the ministries of trade and security have their own restaurants there, Shan said.

Choe said the Korea Restaurant is of the same restaurant chain as Beijing Pyongyang Begonia Flower Restaurant, a famous luxury Korean restaurant said to be run by a DPRK merchant with a military background.

When asked whether she is the daughter of DPRK officials, Choe switched to speaking in Korean with a colleague before ending the conversation.

“The girls here mostly work for one and half years I’ll stay for about three years,” Choe said.

“Dandong is pretty and people here are quite nice. But I will go back to my country, Pyongyang is the most beautiful place in the world.”

If any readers in Dandong could help identify where these restaurants are, I would appreciate it. I would like to mark them on Google Earth and Wikimapia.

Read the full article here:
DPRK waitress in China shares a day in her life
China Daily
Li Xiaokun and Wang Huazhong
8/14/2009

Posted in China, Education, International trade, Labor conditions/wages, Restaurants | 2 Comments »

Friday Fun: Nick Bonner, Kim Yong Sik, and Paul Romer

Friday, August 14th, 2009

1. Nick Bonner, founder of Koryo Tours and producer of three documentaries filmed in the DPRK has given a recent interview to World Hub. Mr. Bonner is currently working on a new film–a North Korean romantic comedy:

“We are hoping to start shooting in December. If that does not kill me then nothing will. We will keep people updated on Facebook and our newsletter and I think the making of the film will be one heck of a ride. Think revolutionary coal miner who wants to become a trapeze artist. But how does she accomplish this? With a script like that how can we go wrong!”

2. Kim Yong Sik was born in 1949. Having lived in Seoul all his life, he discovered his unique talent about 15 years ago; when others started to notice he looked like North Korea’s “Dear Leader.” Since then, Kim Yong Sik has made a living, part time, imitating Kim Jong Il in movies, television commercials, weddings and Japanese TV dramas.

3. Paul Romer’s TED talk: How can a struggling country break out of poverty if it’s trapped in a system of bad rules? Economist Paul Romer unveils a bold idea: “charter cities,” city-scale administrative zones governed by a coalition of nations. Could Guantánamo Bay become the next Hong Kong? Watch the presentation here.

Posted in Art, Economic reform, Film, Tourism | 3 Comments »

DPRK official attitudes towards sexual relations

Monday, July 27th, 2009

Although the Korea Times titles the article, “Privileged North Koreans Enjoy S. Korean Movies,” the article is about neither privileged North Koreans nor South Korean films. Rather, this interesting article by Andrei Lankov is about official attitudes towards sexual relations in the DPRK.

Quoting from the article:

When communism was a radical revolutionary movement, it was decisively in favor of sexual liberation. When communists took power in Russia in 1917, they immediately introduced one of the world’s most liberal family and marriage laws, de-criminalized adultery and abortion, and greatly simplified divorce while putting in place some safeguards for women with children.

However, in Russia this attitude began to change from the early 1930s. The worldview promulgated as Stalin’s era continued, came to view sex as largely reproductive, something that should be confined to the bedroom of a properly married couple, and not discussed in public.

So the dominant attitudes to sex in the Soviet society of the 1940s were not that much different from the America of those years. And this was the attitude that was exported to the nascent North Korean society.

In the North, this approach was soon taken to the extreme. From the late 1950s even the slightest references to sexual activity were purged from North Korean art. Only villains could be depicted as thinking about sex, while the positive heroes were always asexual. Divorce was made difficult, almost impossible.

It seems that the government control, along with the activities of the neighborhood watch groups, the infamous “inminban,” helped to maintain the officially endorsed standards of sexual behavior. The powerful few sometimes could have extra-marital affairs, but they were an exception.

I also know of some cases when women got pregnant from premarital sex ― like a female soldier who once “did it” with her boyfriend in the late 1970s.

But once she found out that she was pregnant, she knew she was in serious trouble: if discovered, a pregnancy would lead to a dishonorable discharge from the army, after which nobody would allow her to return to her family in privileged Pyongyang.

Fortunately, her boyfriend and his well-connected family stood by her, pushed all the right buttons and arranged for an immediate discharge from the army, followed by marriage (they have two children now, and live happily in Seoul).

And regarding prostitution…

Prostitution, common in North Korean cities in colonial times, was eradicated in the early 1950s, and former prostitutes and gisaeng (high-class courtesans) were either exiled from the major cities or “re-educated through labor.”
…
However, the situation began to change in the early 1990s when the old system collapsed under the weight of economic difficulties. This influenced everything in North Korea, including the sexual behavior of its inhabitants.

After all, Koreans can now engage in premarital or extramarital sex without taking too many risks: the state does not care about such matters as much as it used to, and finding a suitable place and time is also much easier.

The emerging “black market capitalism” was (and still is) dominated by women who have acquired a great measure of economic freedom and independence, meaning that they are less inhibited about having affairs with men they like.

The female merchants travel a lot, they are essentially beyond the reach of the state, and they feel themselves far more confident than ever before.

In a sense, the sexual adventures of these women can be seen as a sign of their liberation. However, these lucky women are a minority. Others have fared much worse. The social disruption and famine of the late 1990s pushed many women into prostitution.

Some of them can be found in Chinese brothels, but it seems that the majority have to ply their trade within North Korea, where their situation is even worse (but never reported by the media).

Nowadays, North Korea has a number of private karaoke rooms ― a development which would have been positively unthinkable some 10 years ago. Some of those rooms serve as a cover for prostitution.

They have even devised ways to advertise this to a passerby, so a patron can know if sexual services are available in the particular outlet. The code words are “selling beds” or, more poetically, “selling flowers.”

Another cover for prostitution is provided by the private inns which proliferated some 10 years ago and operate with a disregard of the strict laws governing internal movement in North Korea.

It seems that sometimes the same inns can provide a space for lovers as well ― as long as they can pay the rather high fees.

Additional thoughts:
1. I have posted a number of stories dealing with divorce in the DPRK. You can read them here. Apparently it is common now. According to this article, divorce settlements compose the most cases in the DPRK court system.

2. Prostitution is visible in the DPRK as every guest to the Yangakdo Hotel can attest. However these workers are all foreigners (Chinese) on contract. Some tourists do claim to have successfully liaised with a local Korean, but these stories are rare.

Read the full article here:
Privileged North Koreans Enjoy S. Korean Movies
Korea Times
Andrei Lankov
7/24/2009

Posted in Civil society, Dating/Courting, Restaurants | Comments Closed

Friday fun: KCNA and the random insult generator

Friday, July 24th, 2009

Though quite familiar to veteran DPRK-watchers, the “colorful” language that fills North Korea’s official news was the subject of a humorous story in the BBC last week.

According to the article:

A government official recently claimed that North Korea’s official state media has insulted the South Korean president more than 1,700 times this year alone.

That is an average of 10 insults a day.

He is variously called “a lackey”, “a stooge”, “a dictator” and the leader of “a gang of traitors”.

The official admitted that the jibes were sometimes “downright silly”.

…

At times of extreme hostility the language turns flamboyant, even poetic.

America sank so low in 2003, according to state radio, that even the “piles of manure in the fields” were “fuming out the smoke of hatred.”

It is strong stuff, no doubt, but sometimes the outside world can be tempted to analyse too deeply.

And why do the insults sound so antiquated?

Joo Sung-ha, the defector turned South Korean journalist, says there is an easy explanation for North Korea’s use of seemingly antiquated words like “brigandish” to refer to its opponents.

“They’re using old dictionaries,” he says.

“Many were published in the 1960s with meanings that have now fallen out of use, and there are very few first-language English speakers available to make the necessary corrections.”

So, while North Korea’s rhetoric is certainly worthy of analysis, perhaps we shouldn’t be too alarmed by every outburst.

Further thoughts:

1. For those interested, I posted a copy of Let’s Learn Korean which I bought on my last trip to Pyongyang. It contains many linguistic gems. Download it here.

2. All of these colorful metaphors can be easily found using the invaluable STALIN search engine which helps readers search the KCNA for specific stories. This is especially useful for researchers who need to count the number of times someone’s name is mentioned in the North Korean media. The STALIN search engine also has a humorous Random Insult Generator and Juche/Gregorian calendar converter.

3. Joshua has also invented the KCNA drinking game.

4. And let’s not forget the entrepreneurial individual who posts KCNA headlines to Twitter.

Posted in Domestic publication, Education | 3 Comments »

Traditional Korean burial mounds

Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

When North Korea Uncovered (Google Earth) was featured in the Wall Street Journal last May, one aspect in particular generated some skepticism: the identification of thousands of burial mounds scattered across the DPRK’s mountains.

(Click on image for larger version)

IHS Jane’s Senior Image Analyst Allison Puccioni, in a blog post for CNN’s Anderson Cooper, confimrmed that this unusual looking landscape is composed of burial mounds.

“It’s sadly ironic that in a time where people can no longer sustain themselves the North Koreans still manage to bury their dead with the painstaking tradition of their culture. The burial mounds are unusually close together probably to save land for agriculture” (Allison Puccioni).

Also, here is a photo of these types of burial mounds in the DPRK from ground level:

(Click on image for larger verison)

The Korean tradition of burying the dead in burial mounds up on mountain tops and slopes goes back many years. Here is a brief history in wikipedia.

Posted in Civil society, Google Earth, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

DPRK Olympic Committee

Friday, July 10th, 2009

While doing some research, I stumbled on this old document on the DPRK’s Olympic Committee. PDF here.

According to the document:

On 30th May 1952, a few weeks before the celebration of the XVth Olympiad in Helsinki (FIN), the organisers were contacted by the physical culture and sports committee of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea who expressed their desire to become part of the Olympic family. As a preliminary step the IOC called for the creation of an NOC. This requirement was duly complied with in September of the following year. A formal request for recognition arrived at the headquarters of the IOC in March 1956. Provisional recognition was accorded by a session of the IOC convened in Sofia (BUL) in 1957.

At that time the NOC comprised 16 sports federations of which 6, governing respectively basketball, boxing, association football, ice skating, volleyball and table tennis, were already affiliated to an international federation. Right up to 1963, negotiations took place with a view to participation at the Olympic Games of a single, united team made up of North and South Koreans. The solution envisaged was on the lines of that adopted by the two German nations but, despite meetings in Lausanne in January 1963 and in Hong Kong on 17th May and 1st June 1963 the project eventually had to be abandoned. Finally authority was given, by the members of the IOC in session at Baden-Baden, for the two NOCs to be represented by separate teams.

Also, It seems that Kim il Sung Stadium used to be called “Moranbong Stadium” as late as 1980.

Read about the history of the DPRK Olympic Committee here (PDF)

Posted in Civil society, Sports | 1 Comment »

GPI organizaing DPRK business delegation

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

From GPI Consulting:

In the current financial and economic situation, companies face many challenges. They must cut costs, develop new products and find new markets. In these fields, North-Korea might be an interesting option. Inspired by the economic successes of its neighbouring country China, North-Korea has since a few years opened its doors to foreign enterprises. It established several free trade zones to attract foreign investors and there are several sectors, including textile industry, shipbuilding, agro business, logistics, renewable energy, mining and Information Technology, that can be considered for trade and investment.

North-Korea is competing with other Asian countries by offering skilled labor for very low monthly wages and by offering tax incentives. Last year, North-Korea’s exports rose with 23 percent and its imports with 32 percent. Do you want to explore new business opportunities for your company? Then join us from 19 – 26 September 2009 on our trade & investment mission to North-Korea. The program includes individual matchmaking, company visits, network receptions and dinners. Furthermore, we will visit the annual Autumn International Trade Fair in Pyongyang (see photo). We will also meet European business people who are working and living in North-Korea.

The mission is meant for entrepreneurs from various business sectors; tailormade meetings will be arranged by our local partner, the DPRK Chamber of Commerce. The program of this unique mission has been attached and we can be contacted for further details. In case you want to participate: please register as soon as possible, so we can start the visa-application procedure.

With best regards,
Paul Tjia (sr. consultant ‘global sourcing’)
GPI Consultancy, P.O. Box 26151, 3002 ED Rotterdam, The Netherlands
E-mail: [email protected] tel: +31-10-4254172 fax: +31-10-4254317 Website: www.gpic.nl

N.B. some examples of investment opportunities in North-Korea:
http://www.gpic.nl/invest(hungsong).pdf and http://www.gpic.nl/invest(clock).pdf

GPI’s marketing flyer is here.

Posted in Animation, Art, Chamber of Commerce (DPRK), Computing/IT, GPI Consultancy | Comments Closed

Religionists “spam faxing” DPRK

Sunday, July 5th, 2009

UPDATE: A detail oriented reader has pointed out that there is no DPRK embassy in Helsinki. It was closed, and DPRK-Finnish relations have been handled from the DPRK’s embassy in Stockholm. See the comments below for more.

According to the Voice of the Martyrs web page:

An anonymous fax believed to have been sent from the North Korean embassy for Finland promises workers affiliated with The Voice of the Martyrs (USA) that “something very bad will happen to you” if VOM continues a special project to share the Gospel via weekly fax transmissions to government and business representatives of the restricted Asian nation.

During the past year VOM has made an effort to collect as many fax numbers as possible inside North Korea, one of the world’s most isolated nations. VOM sends weekly faxes containing Christian messages and Scripture passages on love and forgiveness to each of the fax numbers.

Apparently, the project has touched a nerve at the highest levels of North Korea’s repressive government.

“We know who you are,” begins a fax, written in Korean but without a signature. “We warn you that if you send this kind of dirty fax again something very bad will happen to you. Don’t do something you will regret.”

The threatening fax came to a VOM-affiliated office just days before two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were sentenced to 12 years hard labor for allegedly crossing the border into North Korea. It came just one day after the latest round of faxes sent by VOM to North Korean fax numbers.

“This fax is good news,” said Todd Nettleton, VOM’s director of Media Development and the author of a book on the history of Christianity in North Korea. “This means that the faxes are getting through, and they are being read. It is highly unlikely that this type of response would have been made from an embassy without some approval from Pyongyang.”

The Voice of the Martyrs exists to serve persecuted Christians living in restricted nations, and to help spread the gospel in those nations. The ministry has been active in North Korea for decades, including launching tens of thousands of “Scripture Balloons,” helium filled balloons that are printed with Scripture passages and other gospel messages.

The most recent fax sent to North Korean businesses and government offices included stories of Christians loving Communists — even the Communists who abused or tortured them. It was taken from the writings of Richard Wurmbrand, VOM’s founder who was held for 14 years in communist prisons in Romania.

“North Korea presents some great challenges, but the Good News of Jesus’ love cannot be stopped,” said Nettleton. “We simply have to find more creative ways to deliver that message, and The Voice of the Martyrs is committed to doing that.”

A PDF of the fax can be seen here.

Here is an English translation of the faxes the religious group is sending.

Coverage of the story in Chairstian Today.

Josh suggests some non-religious messages.

Posted in Religion | 4 Comments »

North Korea on Google Earth v.18

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

North Korea Uncovered version 18 is available. This Google Earth overlay maps North Korea’s agriculture, aviation, cultural locations, markets, manufacturing facilities, railroad, energy infrastructure, politics, sports venues, military establishments, religious facilities, leisure destinations, and national parks.

This project has now been downloaded over 140,000 times since launching in April 2007 and received much media attention last month following a Wall Street Journal article highlighting the work.

Note: Kimchaek City is now in high resolution for the first time. Information on this city is pretty scarce. Contributions welcome.

Additions to this version include: New image overlays in Nampo (infrastructure update), Haeju (infrastructure update, apricot trees), Kanggye (infrastructure update, wood processing factory), Kimchaek (infrastructure update). Also, river dredges (h/t Christopher Del Riesgo), the Handure Plain, Musudan update, Nuclear Test Site revamp (h/t Ogle Earth), The International School of Berne (Kim Jong un school), Ongjin Shallow Sea Farms, Monument to “Horizon of the Handure Plain”, Unhung Youth Power Station, Hwangnyong Fortress Wall, Kim Ung so House, Tomb of Kim Ung so, Chungnyol Shrine, Onchon Public Library, Onchon Public bathhouse, Anbyon Youth Power Stations.

Posted in Agriculture, Alcohol, Architecture, Art, Automobiles, Aviation, Banking, Coal, Communications, Construction, Dams/hydro, Education, Electricity, Energy, Environmental protection, Film, Football (soccer), Forestry, Gambling, Gasoline, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Golf, Google Earth, Health care, Hoteling, Hwanggumphyong and Wihwado Economic Zones (Sinuiju), Intranet, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Mass games, Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, Nuclear, Oil, Pyongyang Metro, Railways, Rason Economic and Trade Zone (Rajin-Sonbong), Religion, Restaurants, Sea shipping, Sports, Tourism, Transportation, Wind | 4 Comments »

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