South Korea « North Korean Economy Watch

Archive for the ‘South Korea’ Category

Joint Venture Firm Launched in Kaesong

Tuesday, September 26th, 2006

Korea Times:
9/26/2006

An inter-Korean joint venture firm was launched for the first time in the North Korean border town of Kaesong yesterday, the South Korean investor in the project said.

The “Arirang-Taerim joint venture stone company” was established with half of the investment provided by South Korea’s granite processing firm Taerim industrial and the other half by the North’s Kaeson General Trading, according to the Yonhap News Agency.

A ceremony to mark the completion of the new company’s factory was held with some 300 government officials and businessmen from the two Koreas in attendance.

The factory is located outside of the Kaesong industrial complex where 13 South Korean manufacturers operate under the protection of a special law ensuring their investment.

Since it agreed on the joint venture with the North in April, Taerim has invested some $2.95 million for the construction project.

Taerim said the factory will process granite and marble stones collected from North Korean mountains using cheap labor.

With a floor space of 3,300 square meters, the factory will have the capacity to produce some 80,000 tons of stone products annually, it added.

Posted in Economic reform, Foreign direct investment, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Light Industry, Manufacturing, South Korea | Comments Closed

ROK offers carrot to DPRK for talks

Friday, September 22nd, 2006

From Yonhap:
Seoul to resume aid for N. Korea as soon as six-party talks resume: minister
9/22/206

South Korea’s Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok said Friday his country would resume humanitarian assistance for North Korea as soon as it returns to international negotiations over its nuclear ambitions.

“(The government) plans to resume shipments of rice and fertilizer aid to the North if (the North) says it will return to the six-party talks,” Lee said in a special lecture for representatives of the presidential National Unification Advisory Council.

Lee had said the country could resume its humanitarian aid for the impoverished North when “signs of resumption” of the nuclear disarmament negotiations begin to emerge. But this is the first time the minister has explicitly offered to resume the assistance in return for Pyongyang’s return to the stalled talks.

Seoul suspended shipments of its regular humanitarian aid, which included rice and fertilizer, to the North shortly after the communist state test-fired seven ballistic missiles in early July.

The unification minister said he would not have suspended the government aid for North Korea, but he had no other options “to show our people’s firm stance against the North’s missile launches.”

Inter-Korean relations quickly deteriorated after Seoul refused to provide additional assistance to the North in retaliation for the missile tests. The minister said the government had no plans to revise its North Korea policy.

“It would be most ideal if we could have enough leverage on North Korea to tell it not to play with missiles and the North would listen to us. We are working to reach that day,” he said.

“I wish we could see a day when North Korea would decide not to develop nuclear weapons” due to South Korea’s opposition, he said. “But we have yet to reach that point.”

Pyongyang has been refusing to return to the nuclear talks, also attended by South Korea, Japan, China, Russia and the United States, since November, citing what it claims to be U.S. hostility toward its regime.

The nuclear impasse has also brought challenges for the South Korea-U.S. alliance as the two remain apart on how to bring Pyongyang back to the negotiations.

Washington wants to maintain or increase pressure on the communist state so the North has no other option but to return to the negotiating table, while Seoul wishes to lure it back to the talks through carrots.

The unification minister acknowledged that differences exist between the two sides, but that the alliance was strong enough to iron out any differences.

“The United States cannot feel the same about North Korea as South Korea does because South Korea faces 1.1 million North Korean troops only 40 kilometers (from its capital) while the United States is thousands of kilometers away,” Lee said.

“Coordinating different views and narrowing differences is what cooperation is about,” he said.

Posted in International Aid, South Korea | Comments Closed

ROK postpones Kaesong zone growth

Friday, September 22nd, 2006

Joong Ang Daily:
9/22/2006

South Korea has decided to postpone expansion of a joint industrial complex in Kaesong with North Korea amid heightened tension over the communist state’s nuclear ambitions, Unification Ministry officials said yesterday.

At the beginning of this month, Seoul indefinitely suspended its plans to begin receiving applications from South Korean companies that wished to move into the joint industrial complex in the North’s border town of Kaesong in June. The decision came amid concerns that North Korea was planning to test-fire another missile. Pyongyang test-fired seven ballistic missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, on July 5.

The South Korean government refused to halt or suspend the inter-Korean project despite the North’s actions, which prompted a UN Security Council resolution prohibiting any missile-related dealings with North Korea.

Unification Minister Lee Jong-seok, the country’s point man on North Korea, has also defended the joint business venture, claiming inter-Korean cooperation may one day provide the key to the reunification of the divided Koreas.

The ministry again sought to receive applications from South Korean businesses this month or early next month, according to the ministry official. But it decided to postpone the schedule again due to unfavorable conditions.

“Because the most important thing is market conditions, [the government] is saying we will do it when [the market conditions] are most appropriate, but I believe there has been no specific pressure or request from the North Korean side,” Mr. Lee said in a regular press briefing yesterday.

He said it would not take too long for the planned expansion to be realized, but “it would not be appropriate for now to say when the right time would come.”

Yonhap:
9/21/2006

The South Korean government decided to postpone expansion of a joint industrial complex with North Korea amid heightened tension over the communist state’s nuclear ambitions, Unification Ministry officials said Thursday.

The decision follows an earlier delay of the planned expansion as a result of North Korea’s launching of missiles in July.

Seoul was to begin receiving applications from South Korean companies that wished to move into the joint industrial complex in the North’s border town of Kaesong in June, but the plan was suspended indefinitely due to signs of North Korean missile tests since the beginning of the month. Pyongyang test-fired seven ballistic missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2, on July 5.

A ministry official said the decision comes despite repeated requests from North Korea for an early expansion of the complex.

“North Korea has consistently asked the government, even after it launched the missiles, to move ahead with the scheduled expansion of the complex at the earliest date possible,” the official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Yonhap News Agency.

The South Korean government had refused to halt or suspend the inter-Korean project despite the North’s provocation, although it prompted a U.N. Security Council resolution prohibiting any missile-related dealings with North Korea.

The unification minister said North Korea has made no specific requests for an early expansion of the joint complex, but now was not the best time for the plan.

“Because the most important thing is the market condition, (the government) is saying we will do it when (the market condition) is most appropriate, but I believe there has been no specific pressure or request from the North Korean side,” Lee said in a regular press briefing.

He said it would not take too long for the planned expansion to be realized, but “it would not be appropriate for now to say when the right time would come.”
The second delay comes amid concerns, mainly from the United States, that an expansion of the inter-Korean industrial complex may help funnel funds to the North’s missile and weapons programs.

Washington denies asking Seoul to suspend the inter-Korean project, but a number of ranking U.S. officials, including special ambassador for North Korean human rights Jay Lefkowitz, have raised concerns that South Korean companies operating at the joint complex may be aiding the North’s missile and nuclear weapons program while exploiting the North’s cheap labor.

“The government decided to consider installing additional factories at a later time due to the unfavorable situation,” the ministry official said.

The official denied any direct links between the postponement and the apparent opposition from Washington, but said it was “one of the elements considered.”
An additional 250 South Korean companies were expected to move into the industrial complex, where 37 businesses are already operating or soon expected to do so, when the planned expansion was complete.

There were nearly 8,300 North Korean employees at the joint industrial park as of the end of August, according to Goh Gyeong-bin, the ministry official in charge of the inter-Korean development project.

But ministry officials say the amount of money paid to the North Koreans is still insignificant, even for the impoverished North.

From US$500,000 to $600,000 in wages is paid each month to the workers at the Kaesong complex, whose minimum monthly salary is set at $57, according to Goh.

Posted in Foreign direct investment, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Labor conditions/wages, South Korea | Comments Closed

DPRK government denied banking services in Kaesong (Updated)

Tuesday, September 19th, 2006

From the Joong Ang Daily:
9/21/2006
Lee Young-jong

Contrary to its statement on Tuesday, the Unification Ministry pressured Woori Bank to consider allowing North Korea to open a bank account, government documents obtained by a Grand National Party lawmaker showed yesterday.

A Unification Ministry official who asked not to be named said it was just a discussion and not formal pressure against the bank. He said the bank made its own decision, without being pressured by the ministry.

Representative Kwon Young-se obtained a copy of correspondence that the Unification Ministry sent to Woori Bank on March 28, and provided it to the JoongAng Ilbo.

According to the letter, the ministry tried to stretch the laws governing inter-Korean projects to grant the North’s wish. The North, in September of last year, asked the bank, which operates a branch in Kaesong Industrial Complex, to open an account under the name of the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee, headed by a South Korean official. The bank informed the Unification Ministry and consulted with it.

“The committee is composed of South Korean members, thus opening the account under its name is within the scope of approved inter-Korean cooperation projects,” the ministry told the bank in the letter.

The committee, however, is a North Korean corporation established under North Korean laws. Contrary to the ministry’s claim, North Korean officials are also working there.

Minutes of a meeting on March 7, where government officials discussed the issue, were also provided to the JoongAng Ilbo, showing the Unification Ministry apparently pressured the bank despite objections from other ministries. “We urge the bank to make a wise decision,” the ministry said, according to the minutes.

The bank, however, was opposed to opening an account for North Korea, citing South Korea’s financial laws and the U.S. Treasury Department’s anti-terror law. The bank also cited expected opposition from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering in turning down the North’s request, the minutes said.

From Yonhap:
N. Korean request to open account with S. Korean bank in Kaesong rejected
Byun Duk-kun
9/19/2006

North Korea sought to open an account with a South Korean bank at an inter-Korean industrial complex in its border town of Kaesong last year, but the South Korean bank rejected the request, officials at the Unification Ministry said Tuesday.

The report comes amid U.S. financial sanctions against the communist state for its alleged involvement in illegal activities, including counterfeiting, laundering and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

Ministry officials, however, dismissed suspicions that North Korea may have tried to use the South Korean bank to evade, or find a safehouse from, the U.S. financial sanctions.

“North Korea first filed its request to open an account with the Woori Bank on Sept. 14, 2005, one day before” Washington imposed sanctions on a Macau bank suspected of aiding the North launder counterfeit U.S. dollars, ministry spokesman Yang Chang-seok told reporters.

A spokesman for the South Korean bank said the bank first heard of the North’s request in December, but did not rule out the possibility that North Korea may have filed its initial request with the South Korean government as early as September.

Goh Gyeong-bin, the ministry official in charge of the inter-Korean project to develop an industrial complex in Kaesong, said an account with the South Korean bank, if one was opened, would not have provided a safe haven for the communist state.

“The North said it wished to open an account at the Woori Bank branch in Kaesong and collect the wages of its workers at the industrial complex through the account,” Goh said.

He said the South Korean bank remained reluctant to comply with the North’s request since the beginning and notified the North Korean side in March that it decided not to approve the request. Woori Bank officials confirmed Goh’s statement.

“The North said it understood the bank’s position and that’s when the situation was concluded,” Goh said.

Nearly 8,300 North Korean laborers are currently working for 13 South Korean firms operating in the joint industrial complex, producing some US$5 million worth of goods a month, according to Goh.

A number of U.S. officials, including Jay Lefkowitz, a special envoy for North Korean human rights, have expressed concerns over possible violations of the North Korean workers’ human rights there and the diversion of their wages to help the North’s weapons program.

Seoul dismisses the concerns, saying the amount of money paid in wages is insignificant even for the impoverished North.

About $600,000, in U.S. dollars, are paid each month to North Korean workers there, whose minimum monthly wage is set at $57, according to Goh.

The joint industrial complex is expected to house some 2,000 South Korean firms, employing as many as half a million North Koreans, when it is in full swing in 2012, according to the Unification Ministry.

From the Korea Herald
9/20/2006

A bank spokesman said Woori serves South Korean companies and their employees from the South producing goods there.

“We rejected the request because we are not regulated to handle transactions with North Korea,” said Cho Seong-kwon.

The request was made last December, Cho said. It came after the U.S. strengthened its crackdown on firms it suspected of aiding Pyongyang in illicit activities such as counterfeiting.

Washington imposed sanctions on a Macau bank in September, accusing it of helping North Korea launder counterfeit U.S. dollars.

A month later, the United States also froze U.S.-based assets of eight North Korean firms on suspicions of illegal activities, including counterfeiting, laundering and proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.

The Unification Ministry, however, said the North’s request had nothing to do with the U.S. sanctions, saying an account with Woori Bank, if one were opened, would not have been used for such illegal financial activities.

“The North said it wished to open an account at the Woori Bank branch in Gaeseong and collect the wages of its workers at the industrial complex through the account,” Goh Gyeong-bin, ministry official in charge of the joint industrial complex project, said.

Goh said the South Korean bank was reluctant to comply with the North’s request since the beginning and notified the North Korean side in March that it decided not to approve the request.

The complex is run by an affiliate of the South’s Hyundai Group. The South sees the park as a model of economic integration that can serve as an example of the path for future unification of the peninsula.

From the Joong Ang Daily:
Ministry says North sought bank account with Woori
Ser Myo-ja, Shin Eun-jin
9/20/2006

North Korea attempted last year to open an account with a South Korean commercial bank at the Kaesong Industrial Complex, but the request was rejected, the Ministry of Unification said yesterday.

In response to a report by the Dong-A Ilbo newspaper, the ministry said a North Korean agency made a verbal inquiry to the Kaesong Industrial District Management Committee on Sept. 14, 2005 about opening an account with Woori Bank. In December, the agency submitted a written request.

Seoul held about four meetings to talk about the issue, the ministry said, but the matter was basically up to Woori Bank.

The North Koreans were quoted by the ministry as saying they wanted to collect income taxes from South Korean workers at the inter-Korean industrial complex.

The North also said it wanted the convenience of collecting salary payments for North Korean workers from their South Korean employers.

North Korean officials must visit the office of each South Korean factory in Kaesong every month for all financial transactions.

Woori Bank has continued to reject the North’s requests. Under Korean law, the bank said, the scope of its operations was limited to South Korean companies that operate factories in Kaesong and their South Korean employees.

The bank has not sought permission from the South Korean government to extend operations to North Koreans in order to meet Pyongyang’s request, the Unification Ministry said.

North Korea threatened Woori Bank that it would shut down the branch, but gave up in March, the ministry said.

Posted in Banking, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), South Korea, USA | Comments Closed

Asan plans flights to near Kumgang

Monday, September 18th, 2006

From Joong Ang Daily:
9/18/2006
Seo Ji-eun

Hyundai Asan Corp., a Hyundai Group affiliate with the exclusive right to the North Korean tourism business, plans to take advantage of air routes to ratchet up its tourism operation at Mount Kumgang.

The company signed a memorandum of understanding with Jeju Air Co. yesterday to develop tour packages to Mount Kumgang using an air route between two South Korean cities ― Gimpo in Gyeonggi province and Yangyang in Gangwon province, near the border with North Korea. Buses will ferry travelers to Mount Kumgang from Yangyan.

Flying between the two cities will shorten the travel period by almost three hours, from the six hours needed to reach Mount Kumgang by road.

The flights will run twice daily and may increase to three times a day within this year, said Yoon Man-joon, chief executive officer of Hyundai Asan, in a meeting with reporters.

The chief executive forecast that easier access to the North Korean tourist attraction will boost the number of tourists.

“Mount Kumgang travelers using the Yangyang Airport will be given discounts on air fees and travel package expenses,” he added.

He also revealed that Hyundai Asan and North Korea are in discussions to allow tourists to fly directly from Gimpo to Wonsan, a North Korean port city on the East Coast, about 110 kilometers from Mount Kumgang. That route would reduce the travel time to North Korea even further.

“We’ve had a large number of potential customers who gave up on the Kumgang tour because of the long land trip,” Mr. Yoon said.

He stressed that having tourists be able to take airplanes to North Korea has been a long-held dream of the company. He added that the realization of that dream would help the Mount Kumgang tourism business firmly establish itself as a cash cow for Hyundai Asan.

Posted in Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, South Korea, Tourism | Comments Closed

ROK vows economic cooperation with DPRK despite prob. nuclear test

Thursday, September 14th, 2006

From Yonhap:
9/14/2006

South Korea’s vice unification minister on Thursday said his country would continue its economic cooperation with North Korea, adding that increased cooperation between the divided Koreas is the key to peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

“Economic cooperation between the North and the South is playing a key role in various ways to manage the situation on the Korean Peninsula stably,” Vice Unification Minister Shin Un-sang said.

The remarks came as part of a congratulatory speech at the opening of a symposium here on inter-Korean economic cooperation, co-hosted by the Citizens’ Coalition for Economic Justice and the National Unification Advisory Council.

Shin said inter-Korean economic cooperation has significantly reduced tension on the Korean Peninsula by replacing, or removing, the North’s heavy artillery unit in the border town of Kaesong with a joint industrial complex for South Korean firms.

He also claimed the North would now have to think twice before performing any acts that could heighten or cause tension on the Korean Peninsula as increased economic cooperation gives it a greater interest in pursuing peace and stability.

“Inter-Korean economic cooperation is playing a role in preventing additional tension (on the Korean Peninsula). Various forms of economic cooperation between the two, including the Kaesong industrial complex, are helping the North and South Korea to move toward (promoting their) mutual interests,” Shin said.

Relations between the Koreas improved significantly after their leaders met in an historic summit in Pyongyang in 2000. The amount of inter-Korean trade increased to over US$1 billion last year from $290 million in 1995, according to Kim Chun-sig, director of the ministry’s inter-Korean economic cooperation bureau, who also joined Thursday’s symposium.

The government believes that economic cooperation with the North also helps open the reclusive state to the outside world by offering chances for its people to meet with South Korean officials and businesspeole, as well as being an opportunity to witness the South’s advanced economy.

Posted in International trade, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, South Korea, Trade Statistics | Comments Closed

‘Hallyu’ and Political Change

Sunday, September 10th, 2006

From the Korea Times:
Andrei Lankov
9/10/2006

Recently I was talking to a Westerner who has been working in Pyongyang for quite a long time. Describing the recent changes, he said: “Once upon a time, one had to come back from an overseas trip with a truckload of cigarettes. Now my North Korean colleagues want me to bring movies, especially tapes of South Korean TV dramas.’’

Indeed, North Korea is in the middle of a video revolution which is likely to have a deep impact on its future.

What killed Soviet-style socialism? In the final analysis, it was its innate economic inefficiency. The state is a bad entrepreneur, and the entire history of the 20th century testifies to this. The capitalist West outproduced and outperformed the communist East, whose countries were lagging behind in many regards, including living standards.

Thus, the communist governments had to enforce the strict control of information flows from overseas. There were manifold reasons to do so, but largely this was done exactly because the rulers did not want commoners to learn how vastly more prosperous were people of similar social standing in the supposedly “exploited’’ West.

But people learned about it eventually, and once it happened, the fate of state socialism was sealed.

In the USSR and other countries of once communist Eastern Europe, uncensored information was largely provided by a short-wave radio broadcast. The BBC, the Voice of America and Freedom Radio were especially popular. The USSR was a more liberal place than North Korea, so Soviet citizens could easily buy radio sets in shops.

As far as I know, Moscow never considered a ban on short-wave radio sets in peacetime-perhaps, because in a vast country such a measure would prevent a large part of population hearing the news. The government occasionally resorted to jamming, but it was not always efficient as it could only work around major cities.

In North Korea, where the radio sets are sold with pre-fixed tuning, their role is less prominent even if some North Koreans do listen to foreign broadcasts.

However, North Koreans found another way to access foreign media. If the Soviet Union was brought down by the short-wave radio, in North Korea the corresponding role is likely to be played by videotape.

As with many other great social changes, this one began with a minor technological revolution. DVD players have been around for quite a while, but around 2001 their prices went down dramatically. Northeast China was no exception. Local Chinese households began to purchase DVD players, and this made their old VCRs obsolete. The Chinese market was instantly flooded with very cheap used VCRs that could be had for $10 or $20.

Many of these machines were bought by smugglers who transported the goods across the porous border between North Korea and China. They were re-sold at a huge premium, but still cost but some $30 to $40.

This made VCRs affordable to a large number of North Korean households. In the 1990s, they would have to pay some $200 for a VCR-a prohibitive sum with the average monthly salary hovering around $5. A $35 VCR is within reach of many (perhaps, most) North Korean households, even if they have to save a lot to afford one.

Against the dull background of the official arts, the VCRs were a vehicle for accessing good entertainment. Needless to say, people do not buy these expensive machines to watch the “Star of Korea,’’ a lengthy biopic about the youth of the Great Leader! Since the only major producer of Korean language shows is South Korea, it is only natural that most programs come from Seoul via China. The South Korean soaps are a major hit.

In a sense, the much-talked “Hallyu’’ or “Korean Wave,’’ a craze for all things Korean across East Asia, is a part of North Korean life as well. Young North Koreans enthusiastically imitate the fashions and parrot the idioms they see in South Korean movies. And this does not bode well for the regime’s future.

Of course, the moviemakers did not deliberately pursue any political goals, and their plots involve the usual melodramatic stories of love, family relations and escapist adventure. They are not even produced with a North Korean audience in mind. But the movies reflect the life of South Korea, and this image is vastly different from what the official North Korean media say.

I do not think that the North Koreans take what they see in the movies at face value. They know that their own movies grossly exaggerate the living standards in their county, so they expect moviemakers from other countries, including South Korea, to do the same.

Thus, they hardly believe that in the South everybody can eat meat daily or that every Seoul household has a car. Such an improbable affluence is beyond their wildest dreams.

But there are things that cannot be faked _ like, say, the Seoul cityscape dotted with high-rise buildings and impressive bridges. It is gradually dawning on the North Koreans that the South is not exactly the land of hunger and destitution depicted in their propaganda.

It became cool to look Southern and behave like Southerners do. This is yet another sign of coming change, and I do not think that these changes are likely to be as smooth as many people in Seoul would like them to be.

Posted in Civil society, Film, South Korea, Television | Comments Closed

DPRK-made Baduk Game

Thursday, September 7th, 2006

From the Korea Liberator and Sunday Morning Herald:

You can download the game here.

9/7/2006

South Koreans will be able to enjoy one of their favorite games on computer using a program written in communist North Korea released here Thursday.

“Silver Star 2006” –a North Korean-made computer program of the chesslike board game called Baduk in South Korea and more widely known as GO–was launched in South Korea as part of an agreement reached with the North in July, said ForOneBiz, the South Korean distributor.

The program can be downloaded for 33,000 won (US$35; euro27), part of which will be paid to the North as royalties, ForOneBiz said.

The company said it also plans to share its technology know-how with the North to improve the software.

The level of technology development in the impoverished North is a far cry from the neighboring capitalist South, which boasts the world’s highest per capita broadband connections.

As part of North Korean government controls on outside information reaching its people, outside Internet access is provided only to high-ranking officials and elite.

The game released this week isn’t the first time for a North Korean computer program to go on sale in the South. In March, North Korean software was launched here for the first time to help with input of repetitive words and provide various symbols and sound effects when people use word processors or send e-mail.

The two Koreas remain divided since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a cease-fire, not a peace treaty. However, relations have warmed in recent years since a 2000 summit between leaders of the North and South, and the two sides are involved in a number of joint projects.

Posted in Computing/IT, International trade, South Korea | Comments Closed

NK Baduk Software to Hit Seoul

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

Korea Times
9/6/2006
Kim Tae-gyu

Starting today, a South Korean venture start-up will market a North Korean paduk computer game, Silver Star 2006, here that is arguably the most advanced program for paduk, also known as go.

ForOneBiz yesterday announced the scheme to launch Silver Star 2006 that has won the FOST Cup, the annual computer paduk championship participated in by global contenders, for the past three consecutive years.

“In June, we reached an agreement with the North’s Samcholli General Corp. to debut Silver Star 2006 here,” ForOneBiz chief executive officer Kim Byung-su said.

“We inked a commission-based deal, not the conventional lump sum-based ones. We will take roughly 90 percent of sales income while the remaining 10 percent will go to Samcholli,” he added.

The price of the program, which can be downloaded at the Web site of ForOneBiz (www.i-silverstar.com) or ordered by calling (02) 2115-6035, is 33,000 won ($34.5).

The Silver Star series, called Unbyol in Korean, was developed by the North’s state-run Korea Computer Center in the 1990s. Experts say it has the most outstanding algorithm for baduk.

“We plan to improve Silver Star 2006 further by cooperating with North Korea. It will work because the North has a competitive edge in software while the South today leads the world in offline baduk techniques,” Kim said.

This is not the first time for North Korean software to go on sale in the South.

Earlier in March, the Seoul-headquartered BH Partners began selling the Speed-K4.0, a computer program developed by the North Korean agency, at its Web site (www.bhpartners.co.kr).

People can download the input software, which helps them easily type in sentences from a word processor or e-mail, at 5,500 won.

Posted in Computing/IT, International trade, Samcholli General Corp., South Korea | 1 Comment »

Film shows DPRK military moving rice aid

Wednesday, September 6th, 2006

From the Donga:

Is S. Korean Rice Feeding Kim’s Army?
9/6/2006

A film was found featuring a scene in which the North Korea military handled 400,000 to 500,000 tons of rice, originally supplied by the South Korea government every year since 2000.

The film, which was made on May 24, might bring about some arguments as it intimates that the rice supplied to support North Koreans who are suffering from famine may be used for other purposes by the North Korean military.

The 3-hour long film broadcasted in Weekly Donga which was published on September 5 shows that rice with the seal of the Republic of Korea was loaded by North Korean soldiers into trucks from freight cars parked in Danchon station, Hamgyongnam-do.

Moreover, it also shows North Korean soldiers conducting guard duty on freight cars filled with rice and lying down in the cars while on duty, but no evidence was found as to the destination of the rice shipment. The film was made by a North Korean defector who sneaked back into North Korea again, and is known to be currently staying in a third country.

There is a possibility that North Korea has used military vehicles due to its inferior transportation system, but nonetheless, the intervention of the military in moving provisions violates the agreement between South Korea and North Korea. The agreement indicates that the organization which supplies rice to the people is limited to designated “Sumae-yangjeong-seong” under the DPRK administration.

The Ministry of Unification delivered 500,000 tons of rice from July of last year to this past February for the 2005 supply and has monitored the situation on 20 occasions. “The monitoring is conducted by four delivery personnel, but there’s a limitation of inspection since they do not reside in North Korea,” an official of the Ministry of Unification said.

“Only 30 percent of the ration supplied from South Korea is distributed to North Koreans, while the rest is going to military sites as soon as it is delivered,” Ho Hye-il, one of the North Korean defectors who worked as security guard at the inter-Korean summit in 2000, announced in his book published in June.