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Japan diet passes sanctions on DPRK

Friday, June 16th, 2006

Yonhap
6/16/2006

Japan’s parliament on Friday passed a bill that requires the government to impose economic sanctions on North Korea unless it improves its human rights situation and resolves the issue of its abduction of Japanese citizens in past decades.

The new law will take effect in one month after going through the due administrative process. The enactment received approval from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its coalition New Komeito Party and the major opposition Democratic Party.

The enactment is the third in a series of economic sanctions Tokyo has imposed to cause North Korea to return Japanese citizens who were abducted from the late 1970s to the early 1980s. Japan revised pertinent laws in 2004 to enable the government to ban money transfers to North Korea without U.N. approval and restrict North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports in 2004.

The new law on North Korean human rights stipulates the abduction issue as a “national duty” that the government has to take. It says if Pyongyang does not make progress on the issue, Tokyo should mobilize economic sanctions on the communist country, provide help for North Korean defectors and offer financial aid to non-governmental organizations helping the defectors. The law set a week in December as a publicity week for the government to enlighten the public on the North Korea issue and required the government to submit an annual report on its efforts to deal with it.

Earlier in the day, the European Parliament passed a resolution that called on the international community to make efforts to improve the human rights situation in North Korea. The resolution, passed in a plenary session in Strasbourg, France, particularly urged Pyongyang to release information about the whereabouts of Son Jong-nam, a 48-year-old North Korean man who was arrested for spilling tales about the situation in the North to his brother in China and sentenced to death.

From the BBC:

Japan’s parliament has passed a bill calling for economic sanctions against North Korea unless a dispute over kidnapped Japanese citizens is solved.
The North Korea Human Rights Bill calls for sanctions to be imposed if no progress is made on the abduction and other human rights issues.

It could be enacted by Friday, as both ruling and opposition parties back it.

But the bill does not specify how progress would be assessed or set a deadline for imposing sanctions.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi has been cautious on the issue of imposing sanctions against North Korea in the past, analysts say.

“The government will take into consideration international trends comprehensively,” the bill said.

The sanctions would include money transfers from North Koreans in Japan, an important source of funds for the North.

‘Worst phase’

The bill was passed just hours after North Korea warned Japan against continuing to bring up the abduction issue.

As already clarified by the DPRK more than once, the ‘abduction issue’ had been completely settled

North Korean spokesman

A spokesman from the North Korean Foreign Ministry said that relations between the two nations were at “the worst phase in history”.

The spokesman said the blame lay with Japan for its attempts to internationalise the abduction issue, state news agency KCNA reported.

Pyongyang has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 80s and used them to train its agents.

Five of the 13 abductees were allowed to return to Japan in October 2002, but North Korea said that the other 8 people had died.

It says the issue has now been resolved.

“As already clarified by the DPRK more than once, the ‘abduction issue’ had been completely settled thanks to its sincere efforts,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said.

But Japan believes North Korea is not being completely honest about whether the abductees are still alive and how many of its citizens it abducted.

The issue has sparked public anger in Japan and has dogged relations between the two countries for years.

Posted in International trade, Japan | Comments Closed

Computing facilities and cable drawing upgraded

Wednesday, May 17th, 2006

A group of 72 South Korean businessmen, government officials, academics and journalists toured a manufacturing company in the capital of communist North Korea yesterday, the second day of their visit. The delegates also visited the Korea Computer Center and the Grand People’s Study Hall ― the country’s central library ― and attended an investment promotion session conducted by the North’s Trade Ministry.

During their visit to the Pyongyang March 26 Cable Factory, the group surveyed production lines and automated manufacturing facilities as well as finished products. They were allowed to speak to the factory managers, who oversee 1,500 workers producing 10,000 cable products. With $2 million investment from pro-Pyongyang Koreans overseas, the factory upgraded its facilities recently.

“We hope to adopt the more advanced technology of the South in the future,” Kim Seok-nam, head manager of the plant, said. “I want to nurture this factory, one of the most representative plants in Pyongyang, as a global manufacturer.”

Mr. Kim said the factory is operated 24 hours a day in three shifts. “We purchased a Swedish wire drawing machine recently and that reduced our electricity consumption and increased production.”

The South Korean visitors expressed surprise that the North Korean factory was better equipped than they had expected it to be.

“There is still room for improvement, but the North’s manufacturing facilities are much more modernized than I thought,” said Hwang Eun-yeon, a manager with Posco. “With South Korea’s support and cooperation, the North will be able to make improved products.”

The South Koreans toured the Korea Computer Center, a state-run software developer. The North’s word processor program and a medical test program were presented to the rare South Korean visitors. A cerebral vessel measurement machine, developed by the computer center, is currently on sale in the South at the price of $20,000 per unit. Among the delegates, the businessmen showed particular interest in a Korean version of the Linux operation system that had been developed by the North.

“We have sent 200 specialists to China for training and joint development,” Kim Chol-ho, vice president of the computer center, said. “We want more active exchanges with South Korean information technology companies.”

The computer center was built in 1990 with funding from North Korean residents in Japan, and the Cabinet’s software industry bureau has been overseeing the institute since 2002. The center employs about 1,500 elite graduates of North Korea’s science schools with special funding from the government.

The delegates also attended an investment relation session hosted by the North’s Trade Ministry in the afternoon. The group is scheduled to attend the International Trade Fair and visit a glass product manufacturer today.

Posted in Chongryun, Computing/IT, Foreign direct investment, South Korea | Comments Closed

Mindan-Chongryun make up?

Wednesday, May 17th, 2006

From Yonhap:

Two rival groups for Koreans living in Japan, divided by their loyalties to capitalist South Korea and the communist North, on Wednesday reached an epochal deal to end half a century of animosity.

The agreement came at a 40-minute meeting in Tokyo between the leaders of the pro-Seoul Korean Residents Union in Japan, known as Mindan, and the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, or Chongryon. It was the first time for the two groups’ leaders to ever have such a meeting.

Mindan and Chongryon are the two largest groups representing more than 600,000 ethnic Koreans in Japan, mostly descendants of Koreans who moved here voluntarily or were forced to during Japan’s 1910-45 colonization of the Korean Peninsula.

Mindan, which claims about 500,000 members, sides with South Korea and has been at loggerheads with Chongryon, composed of some 150,000 people who have supported the North for decades.

But the two groups agreed to make joint efforts for reconciliation, according to a joint statement by Mindan’s head, Ha Byung-ok, and his Chongryon counterpart, Seo Man-sul.

The two sides will also jointly organize or participate in events to commemorate the landmark inter-Korean summit in 2000 and Korea’s liberation from Japanese colonial rule in 1945.

Mindan and Chongryon will “make joint efforts to promote education and Korean culture, as well as work together for the welfare and the rights of the Korean community,” according to the statement.

For ethnic Koreans here, experts said, the meeting between the two groups’ leaders is tantamount to the 2000 inter-Korean summit that laid the groundwork for economic exchanges and various other reconciliatory efforts.

It reflects the two Koreas’ continued efforts for reconciliation and cooperation despite the North Korean nuclear arms crisis, they added.

From Joong Ang:

Half a century of animosity based on competing loyalties to either capitalist South Korea or communist North Korea came to a symbolic halt yesterday as the two leaders of Mindan, the Seoul Korean Residents Union in Japan, and Chongryon, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, announced their reconciliation here.

It was the first time that leaders representing the two organizations officially met since the founding of the two groups. Mindan was founded in 1946; Chongryon in 1955.

Ha Byung-ok, the head of Mindan’s central headquarters, visited yesterday a Chongryon office in Tokyo and held talks with So Man-sul, chairman of the pro-North Korean group. In the meeting, both sides agreed to cooperate on reconciliation efforts between the two groups.

An emotional Mr. Ha told his counterpart he had tears in his eyes while Mr. So said the moment was historically important and that both sides needed to build upon it.

Both sides will send representatives to an inter-Korean event in Gwangju, South Korea, to commemorate the June 15, 2000, summit meeting between then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung and the North’s leader Kim Jong-il. The two sides also agreed to co-host an event in Japan on Aug. 15 to commemorate Korea’s 1945 liberation from Japanese colonial rule.

In addition, the groups agreed to jointly promote ethnic education and culture to maintain their ethnic Korean roots and to work together to promote the status of ethnic Koreans in Japan.

Experts say the reconciliation between the two organizations is due to the improving ties between Seoul and Pyongyang and the recent election of Mr. Ha, who has been preaching reconciliation.

Nevertheless, since the move has been largely driven by Mr. Ha, there is some opposition inside the organization. In addition, the decreasing membership of Chongryon, from a peak of 200,000 members to about 50,000, along with recent pressure from the Japanese government on the organization through tax investigations, has also led to the cooperation, analysts say. Chongryon is a major source of foreign currency for North Korea. Mindan claims a membership of 500,000.

The shrinking population of ethnic Koreans in Japan and the marriage of ethnic Koreans to Japanese citizens has raised the sense of urgency by the groups to maintain their foothold in Japanese society.

From Korea times:

It is uplifting to hear that the leaders of pro-Seoul and pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan got together Wednesday and agreed to end decades of confrontation between their groups. The hugging and hand-shaking between Ha Byong-ok, leader of the pro-Seoul Korean Residents Union in Japan (Mindan) and So Man-sol, chairman of the pro-Pyongyang General Association of Korean Residents in Japan (Chongnyon) at the latter’s headquarters signified the end of the division of Korean residents in Japan.
The Korean residents groups have been at odds over the last 50 years, symbolizing the territorial division of their fatherland. The invisible barriers between the people of the two organizations in Japanese society were said to have been stronger than the DMZ dividing South and North Korea. The animosity was so intense that the members of the different groups were reluctant to talk to each other even when they lived in nearby neighborhoods.

The ideological confrontations among the Koreans were actually nothing but a waste of energy for Japan’s largest ethnic group. The division hindered their efforts to enhance their rights and interests in Japanese society. The host government exploited the division of Korean society.

The move of the two groups to break the stalemate was greatly influenced by the intentions of their home states. The conciliatory agreement is largely based on the South-North Joint Declaration issued on June 15, 2000, on the heels of summit talks between President Kim Dae-jung and the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il. It is hoped that the historic meeting between the leaders of the two groups will help turn their long-standing enmity and confrontation into reconciliation and harmonization for Korean residents of Japan.

However, some analysts say that the pro-Pyongyang group has been faced with a lot of difficulties politically and financially lately because of the revelations that North Korean agents abducted some Japanese citizens to North Korea. They say that Chongnyon would have no choice but to rely on Mindan to remain alive in Japanese society. That’s why the conciliatory move by Chongnyon is seen as a mere strategic decision to survive their current difficulties.

However, we judge the historic meeting to be significant. Whether the meeting was purely motivated or not will soon be known. The Korean residents in Japan are hoping to achieve ethnic solidarity in Japan through reconciliation while promoting education and Korean culture to protect their ethnic characteristics.

Posted in Chongryun, Japan | Comments Closed

South Korean, Japanese aiding DPRK smuggling

Monday, May 15th, 2006

From the Japanese Asahi:

A South Korean man with alleged connections to a sunken North Korean spy ship is suspected of masterminding the smuggling of nearly 1 ton of illegal drugs from North Korea, police said over the weekend.

The man, Woo Si Yun, 59, was arrested Friday and sent to prosecutors Sunday, along with gangster Katsuhiko Miyata, 58. Police also raided a North Korean freighter at Sakaiminato port in Tottori Prefecture.

Police suspect the two men smuggled hundreds of kilograms of stimulants in October 2002 by having plastic bags filled with drugs tossed from the freighter into waters off Matsue, Shimane Prefecture. The two prefectures are on the Sea of Japan coast, across from the Korean Peninsula.

The 54-year-old captain of a Japanese fishing vessel that allegedly picked up floating bundles of drugs was also sent to prosecutors Sunday on suspected violations of the Stimulant Drug Control Law.

Police suspect Woo carried out similar operations on two other occasions in 2002, for a total of almost 1 ton in smuggled drugs. The drugs, worth 60 billion yen on the streets, were most likely sold to gangs.

The total volume is 2.3 times more than the total stimulants confiscated in Japan in all of 2002. It amounts to about 33 million individual doses.

Woo’s bank accounts showed payments from known gangs dating back to 1998.

Similar smuggling attempts from North Korea, involving large quantities of drugs tossed into the sea to be picked up by accomplices, have grown since the 1990s, police said.

Friday’s arrests also confirmed a North Korean spy ship that sank off Kagoshima Prefecture on Dec. 22, 2001, after a gunbattle with the Japan Coast Guard, had ties to drug smugglers, police added.

A cellphone recovered from the salvaged ship had records of calls to Miyata’s gang office in Tokyo’s Itabashi Ward, they said. The prepaid phone also showed Woo was one of at least 10 contacts the crew had in Japan. Police suspect Miyata arranged the smuggling and sale of the drugs to underworld groups in Japan.

Before it sank, the ship’s crew were seen tossing sacks and drums overboard that police suspect contained drugs.

The spy ship is also believed to be the one used in a separate smuggling case in 1998, according to the coast guard.

Woo is believed to have traveled to Beijing and elsewhere about 40 times between 2001 and 2004.

Police suspect he may have entered North Korea via Beijing to arrange drug deals.

Besides three allegedly successful smuggling operations in 2002, Woo is also suspected of playing a role in another botched attempt. About 240 kilograms of stimulant drugs were found floating off Tottori Prefecture from November to December 2002.

Smugglers apparently failed to pick up the floating packs.

The same North Korean freighter Woo used reportedly was sighted in waters off Matsue around the same time, police said.

According to joint investigations by Tokyo and Tottori police, Woo received several bank transfers from gangs, thought to be payments for drugs.

In one case, a Fukuoka Prefecture-based gang paid Woo 8 million yen in December 1998, while a Saitama Prefecture group paid 10 million yen in August 2003, police said.

Woo was convicted of smuggling stolen cars in 2004 and served a prison term. He was recently released.(IHT/Asahi: May 15,2006)

Posted in Drug smuggling, Japan, South Korea | Comments Closed

South publishes 2005 DPRK trade figures

Monday, May 8th, 2006

From the Associated Press and Yonhap:

North Korea’s trade volume with foreign countries, excluding South Korea, rose marginally last year to reach its highest figure since 1991. Trade is up 5% to $3 billion. The figure doesn’t include inter-Korean trade, which is considered “exchanges between the same ethnic group,” KOTRA said.

The [southern] Bank of Korea claims the DPRK’s economy has grown for six straight years. Modest economic reforms since 2002 have encouraged some private enterprise, allowing the limited emergence of an entrepreneurial class with money to spend on imported goods.

North Korea recorded a trade deficit of $1 billion last year, up 23%. Imports increased 9.1 percent to $2 billion, but exports fell 2.1 percent to $998 million, the agency said.

The trade agency attributed the drop in exports to plummeting overseas shipments of fisheries goods, one of the North’s key exports, and a 20% annual decrease in shipments to Japan.

The North’s imports grew on rising inbound shipments of energy-related natural resources as well as food from China. The neighboring nation’s increasing investments in the North also triggered a rise in machinery imports into the country, the agency said.

The rankings of the DPRKs trading partners remains unchanged: 1. China, 2. Thailand, 3. Japan and 4. Russia

CHINA: Trade with China is up 14% from 2004 at $1.58 billion, 52.6% of North Korea’s total exports and imports last year. Two-thirds of that trade was made up of North Korean imports, which grew 35.2% to $1.08 billion, much of it food and energy.

“North Korea has to depend on China for most of its food and energy resources,” KOTRA said. “China has also been rapidly increasing its investment in North Korea in recent years, which leads to an additional boost to the amount of trade between the two countries.”

JAPAN: Imports and exports between North Korea and Japan fell 23% to $194 million in 2005–the fourth straight year of decline since Pyongyang acknowledged abducting Japanese citizens in the 1970s and 1980s.

South Korea: Trade between the two Koreas reached an all-time high of $1.05 billion in 2005, boosted by commercial activity at a joint industrial complex in North Korea, KOTRA said. Including trade with South Korea, the North’s trade volume stood at $4.06 billion last year, with trade between the two Koreas accounting for 26% of the total, it said.

Posted in China, International trade, Japan, South Korea | Comments Closed

Asian Development Bank avoids DPRK

Thursday, May 4th, 2006

From the Korea Herald:

The 39th annual meeting of the board of governors of the Asian Development Bank will be held at Hyderabad International Convention Center in Hyderabad, India’s fastest growing high-tech corridor, for four days ending on Saturday.

The meeting this week will bring together more than 2,500 delegates from around the world to discuss issues including governance, poverty reduction, development finance, international finance architecture as well as economic and social development.

The ADB, which is dedicated to fighting Asian poverty, does not make any investments in North Korea, which could benefit from various education and training projects. The prospect of membership would also encourage the nation prepare for it by reforming their economy.

Strong U.S. and Japan led-opposition has kept North Korea from becoming an ADB member nation so far, the insiders said.

Posted in Asian Development Bank, Foreign direct investment, International Organizaitons, Japan, USA | Comments Closed

Japanese government raises stakes on DPRK

Friday, April 28th, 2006

From the BBC:

The Japanese government is stepping up pressure on the DPRK by introducing legislation to impose formal economic sanctions.

North Korea has admitted kidnapping 13 Japanese citizens in the 1970s and ’80s to train its spies. Five have been allowed to return. Japan has demanded proof of what happened to the others. It is sceptical about North Korea’s insistence that they are dead. It also believes more of its citizens may still be held by the government there.

Pyongyang and Tokyo have no diplomatic ties, but there is some trade between the two countries. (Chongryun)

This new bill would require the government to impose sanctions on North Korea unless it gets the answers it wants. The punishments would include a ban on the docking of North Korean ships at Japanese ports, and stopping private individuals in Japan from sending money to Pyongyang.

Two years ago Japan passed a law setting out a range of similar measures that could be imposed. The new legislation is designed to strengthen that policy. Japan has up to now stopped short of imposing sanctions, preferring instead to pursue the matter through occasional talks, but there has been little progress.

Pyongyang has always said any imposition of economic sanctions would be regarded as an act of war.

Posted in Chongryun, International trade, Japan | Comments Closed

Mangyongbong-92 traveling agian

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

According to the Associated Press, the Chongryun have once again begun shipping service between their homes in Japan and Wonsan, DPRK.

I remember seeing this very ship when I visited Wonsan in August 2004. I did not get to walk aboard or anything, I just got a glance as my bus zoomed by….unfortunately too fast to take a picture.

Shipping from North Korea was severly curtailed by the Japanes Authorities in response to public outcry over the kidnapping issue. Although Japan was coy enough to avoid an outright trade embargo, leaving the door open to future talks, they did place insurance and safety requirements on ships in their ports…requirements very few North Korean ships can meet.

From the article:

The Mangyongbong-92 was inspected by Japanese authorities as nearly 500 police guarded the area. Officials found six minor problems with the vessel, including ones related to fire prevention and communications, but issued no corrective orders, according to the Transport Ministry.

The ferry from Wonsan to Niigata has been a catalyst for Japanese protests. As the only regular passenger service between the two countries, its visits provide the isolated North with a crucial link to the outside world.

The vessel, which was to depart from Niigata on Wednesday, is scheduled to make 18 more visits through October, according to Transport Ministry official Hajime Nakamura.

In late March, police raided the Osaka office of a chamber of commerce for North Korea on suspicion that its top officials were involved in one kidnapping.

In March, Japan passed a law requiring all foreign ships over 100 tons entering Japan to be insured against oil spills, losses and other damage.

Few North Korean ships were believed able to meet the requirement, and officials acknowledged the measure was intended to increase pressure on the North.

Posted in Chongryun, International trade, Japan | Comments Closed

Japanese Language on Decline in DPRK

Tuesday, April 25th, 2006

Well, if you thought the Japanese were unpopular in South Korea, you should see the propoganda in the North. Still, there are strong ties between North Korea and Japanese of Korean descent. The Chongryun in North Korea send lots of hard currency, investment, and students through Wonsan. This support, however, seems to be on the decline. The Japanese government has restriced the number of North Korean ships that can dock in their ports (Under insurance requirements….a way of imposing an economic embargo without calling it so). Also, becuase of the unknown fate of the Japanese citizens in North Korea, the popularity of the pro-North Korean is at an all time low.

According to the Japanese press, here are some interesting statistics on foreign language learning in the DPRK:

At the elite Pyongyang University of Foreign Studies, the number of Japanese majors has fallen to a quarter of what it was a decade ago as the outlook for the two countries normalizing diplomatic ties becomes murkier, according to language professors at the institution.

“There were about 200 students of Japanese in the mid-1990s, after talks on normalizing diplomatic relations began,” a young professor at the foreign studies university said. “Now, there are only about 50 students for the entire four years.”

The most popular language for North Korean students now is English, with about 1,000 of the 2,000 students at Pyongyang University majoring in it. Chinese has become the second-most popular language, as trade ties between China and North Korea grow. Russian, the leading language to study in the days of the Soviet Union, when it had extensive political and economic ties with the North, comes in third place, and Japanese is the fourth-largest group.

“For business, English and Chinese are obviously the most important languages now. This is a phenomenon that reflects the change of the times,” said Noriyuki Suzuki, a senior analyst at Radiopress in Tokyo, a Foreign Ministry-backed foundation that monitors the North Korean media.

Posted in Japan | Comments Closed

Rainbow Trading Company Selling DPRK currency

Sunday, March 5th, 2006

Well, I dont know how, but my personal email address has been on the distribution list of the Rainbow Trading Company…a Tokyo based shop that specializes in North Korean art and books. The owner, Jun Miyagawa, does not seem to be Korean, and I have never spent more time in Tokyo than to pass through several times on my way to the countryside.

Still, I just thought I would let you know that he is selling a complete set of North Korean Currency (1,5,10,50,100,200,500,1,000,5000W) for $66.50.

If you add up all of the denominations, you get 6866Won. Using the market exchange rate of 3,000W=$1USD, the sum value of these notes is $2.28. This is a markup of 2816% (not including postage).

Remember this when you purchase North Korean currency from ebay. Also, When I was visiting, I was told that they have trouble with counterfiters in China. It is likely the money you are buying has never been to the DPRK, unless it is from an actual visitor that you can verify.

Posted in Banking, Counterfeiting, Finance, International trade, Japan | Comments Closed

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