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North Korea on Google Earth

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008

North Korea Uncovered: Version 12
Download it here

mayday.JPGAbout this Project: This map covers North Korea’s agriculture, aviation, cultural locations, markets, manufacturing facilities, energy infrastructure, political facilities, sports venues, military establishments, religious facilities, leisure destinations, national parks, shipping, mining, and railway infrastructure. It is continually expanding and undergoing revisions. This is the 12th version.

Additions include: Tongch’ang-dong launch facility overlay (thanks to Mr. Bermudez), Yongbyon overlay with destroyed cooling tower (thanks to Jung Min Noh), “The Barn” (where the Pueblo crew were kept), Kim Chaek Taehung Fishing Enterprise, Hamhung University of education, Haeju Zoo, Pyongyang: Kim il Sung Institute of Politics, Polish Embassy, Munsu Diplomatic Store, Munsu Gas Station, Munsu Friendship Restaurant, Mongolian Embassy, Nigerian Embassy, UN World Food Program Building, CONCERN House, Czech Republic Embassy, Rungnang Cinema, Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, Pyongyang Number 3 Hospital, Electric Machines Facotry, Bonghuajinlyoso, Second National Academy of Sciences, Central Committee Building, Party Administration Building, Central Statistics Bureau, Willow Capital Food House, Thongounjong Pleasure Ground, Onpho spa, Phipa Resort Hotel, Sunoni Chemical Complex (east coast refinery), Ponghwa Chemical complex (west coast refinery), Songbon Port Revolutionary Monument, Hoeryong People’s Library, Pyongyang Monument to the anti Japanese martyrs, tideland reclamation project on Taegye Island. Additionally the electricity grid was expanded and the thermal power plants have been better organized. Additional thanks to Ryan for his pointers.

I hope this map will increase interest in North Korea. There is still plenty more to learn, and I look forward to receiving your contributions to this project.

Version 12 available: Download it here

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Posted in Agriculture, Animation, Architecture, Art, Automobiles, Aviation, Banking, Cell phones, Coal, Communications, Computing/IT, Construction, Copper, Dams/hydro, Education, Electricity, Energy, Environmental protection, Film, Finance, Fiscal & monetary policy, Food, Football (soccer), Foreign direct investment, Forestry, Gambling, Gasoline, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Gold, Golf, Google Earth, Health care, Hoteling, Hwanggumphyong and Wihwado Economic Zones (Sinuiju), International trade, Joint Ventures, Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC), Leisure, Library, Light Industry, Lumber, Manufacturing, Mass games, Military, Mining/Minerals, Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, Music, Nuclear, Pyongyang Metro, Railways, Rason Economic and Trade Zone (Rajin-Sonbong), Real estate, Religion, Restaurants, Sea shipping, Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013), Sports, Television, Tourism, Transportation, Wind | 1 Comment »

Venerable Pomnyun at Johns Hopkins

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

UPDATE:Here is V. Pomnyun’s outline: pomnyun.pdf

NKeconWatch notes:
Agriculture: April – June are the lean months.  In July 2008 potatoes helped alleviate food shortage.  Also aid from West. Things began to get worse in August and September.

Earlier this year, the price of rice was up to 5x higher than a year ago.  In June-July it fell to 3x higher.  Now it is creeping back up.

Arduous March: In the 1990s, urban residents of North Hamgyong Province was the worst affected by famine.  Today, the worst affected are the farmers and rural residents of Hwangae (he did not specify north or south).  Shortage as bad as 1st arduous march, but fewer consumers and markets feed cities now.

Markets: protests in Chongjin.  People chanted, “Give us food or let us trade.”  None of the protests are political, just expressions of frustration.

Nukes:Nuclear weapons are a domestic propaganda weapon as well. Not just a matter of foreign policy.

Original Post:
Program details here
Wednesday, September 24
2:00 – 4:00 pm
Rome Auditorium at SAIS
1619 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20036
RSVP here

The Venerable Pomnyun Sunim, Chairman of Good Friends and The Peace Foundation, will discuss the current political and social climate in North Korea, including the spread of the black market economy and the increase in political control over North Korea’s elite. Joining his discussion, is Dr. Cho Seong-ryoul, Director of the New Security Studies Program at the Institute for National Security Strategy (INSS), who will offer his insights on current and future inter-Korean relations.

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Posted in Agriculture, Arduous March, Food, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Good Friends, Uncategorized | Comments Closed

New CRS reports on North Korea available

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

I have updated the list of Congressional Research Service (CRS) reports published on North Korea and posted them here.  I have also added a hyperlink under “pages” on the menu tab to the right.

Updates include:
US Assistance to North Korea: July 31, 2008
North Korean Ballistic Missile Threat: January 24, 2008
North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons Program: January 21, 2008
North Korea’s Abduction of Japanese Citizens and the Six-Party Talks: March 19, 2008
The Kaesong North-South Industrial Complex: February 14, 2008
The North Korean Economy: Leverage and Policy Analysis: August 26, 2008

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Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture statistics, Demographics, Energy, Foreign aid statistics, GDP statistics, International trade, Manufacturing, Military, Mining/Minerals, Political economy, Statistics, Trade Statistics, USA | Comments Closed

Chosun International Development Trust Company handling overseas business for the DPRK

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 08-9-23-1
9/23/2008

North Korea’s Chosun International Development Trust Company, founded less than four years ago, is quickly emerging as the center for all of North Korea’s overseas business transactions. This was made public in an article published in the September 18 edition of the Chosun Sinbo, the newspaper of the Jochongryeon, an organization representing the North Korean diaspora in Japan.

The newspaper introduced the trust as being involved in “business and trade dealings with other countries, investment trust activities, financial services and other activities,” while “raising the credit rating of related domestic enterprises through solid business practices and broadly and continuously expanding business transactions with foreign enterprises.” This trust was founded in April 2004, and handles import-export business and investment trust services, as well as financial services and other activities for foreign enterprises. The main imports of the trust are soybean oil and other foodstuffs, fertilizer, and farm-use products such as vinyl sheeting, which are high on the list of consumer demands within North Korea. The trust has set up an exchange market in the Botong River area of Pyongyang, and is responsible for providing production materials to the North’s businesses and farming towns.

This business also focuses on trust investment and financial services. According to the Chosun Sinbo, the trust is “solidifying economic utility and connecting domestic and international firms that are promoting positive prospective plans, guaranteeing and investing capital necessary for the development of national businesses.” The paper also explained that the trust “also provides financial services, actively promoting the management of domestic enterprises.” According to the article, it appears that the Chosun International Investment Trust Company is receiving foreign capital and investing it in North Korea’s domestic businesses.

The trust seeks capital, particularly Chinese capital in Beijing and Jilin, and invests this foreign capital in the building and operating of a leaf tobacco processing plant, a hygienic products production plant, food processing facilities, automobile repair facilities, and other joint venture and cooperative venture projects.

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Posted in Agriculture, Banking, Chosun International Development Trust Company, Economic reform, Finance, Fiscal & monetary policy, Foreign direct investment, Institute for Far Eastern Studies, Joint Ventures | Comments Closed

Doing business in North Korea seminar

Sunday, September 21st, 2008

Capital Club, Beijing
Sept 29, 2008

Spearkers include: Dr. Leonid Petrov and Paul Tija
Agenda and reservation information here: dprk_seminar.pdf

The DPRK (North-Korea) is in need of many foreign products and investments, while there are also opportunities for production and outsourcing. From the end of September to 4 October 2008, a Dutch economic mission will investigate the business climate in this country, with participants from different business sectors, including agribusiness, light industry and computer software.   
 
Before leaving for Pyongyang, the trade mission will start its tour in Beijing. On 29 September, some of the participants will join the BenCham (Benelux Chamber of Commerce) event: “Doing business with North-Korea”. This dinner/seminar takes place at the famous Capital Club and will start at 18:30. The leader of the trade delegation, Paul Tjia of GPI Consultancy, will give a presentation. If you or your colleagues in China are interested, then you are welcome to join the event. Program details (including information on registration and dress code) can be found in the PDF file above.       
 
Due to the growing European interest in trading with the DPRK, we are planning to organize another trade mission to North-Korea in 2009. This trip will be open for business participants from other countries as well. If you are interested in joining a future trade mission, or wishing to cooperate, please contact us for further details.    
 
With best regards,
Paul Tjia (sr. consultant ‘offshore 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

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Posted in Agriculture, Computing/IT, Economic reform, Foreign direct investment, GPI Consultancy, Joint Ventures, Light Industry, Manufacturing | Comments Closed

DPRK journal stresses food provision reform

Thursday, September 18th, 2008

Institute for Far Eastern Studies  (IFES)
(NK Brief No. 08-9-18-1)
2008-09-18

The latest issue of the North Korean academic journal “Institute for Social Science Bulletin” (no.3, 2008) stressed that in order to resolve the North’s food shortage problems as quickly as possible, “it is necessary to take a good assessment of future food consumption [needs].”

In this issue, recently obtained in South Korea, an article reads, “the project for resolving the food issue cannot be pushed forward into the future, and while taking into consideration what steps can be taken now, the country’s food problems cannot ultimately be relieved by relying only on short-term benefits. On the contrary, [this] can adversely affect the future resolution of the food issue.”

The journal also added, “The task of restructuring food production must start with an assessment of future food consumption and start off with a view of long term interests rather than from starting from a standpoint of short-term interests in order to completely relieve food supply problems.” It stressed, “These days, resolving the country’s food supply problem is the most urgent and important task…solving food issues is an urgent problem that cannot be delayed a single moment,” but warned, “while the food issue must be solved without a day’s delay, recklessly pushing forward without scientific calculation or goals could result in insufficient and disorganized future results.”

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Posted in Agriculture, Domestic publication, Food, Institute for Far Eastern Studies | Comments Closed

Chinese official confirms DPRK grain smuggling

Wednesday, September 17th, 2008

Markets work because price increases send entrepreners strong signals of relative scarcity and potential profit opporunities (unless these price increases are caused by inflation).  Entrepreneurs who pick up on these signals, then, have a strong incentive to move the desired resources from where they are valued less to where they are valued more.

A Chinese official in Jilin claims entrepreneurs in his province hear these signals loud and clear—and they respond the way humans have for thousands of years–they arbitrage:

The head of the grains bureau of Jilin, the Chinese province bordering North Korea, Zhu Yehui, says a drought in North Korea is very serious, and there is a lot of corn smuggling from China into North Korea.

He says the price in North Korea is more than 10 times the domestic price in China.

I am going to go out on a limb to suggest that these Chinese smugglers (entrepreneurs) are also delivering food more cheaply (on average) than the World Food Program, and I also am willing to wager that they have better access to “sensitive areas.” 

Addendum: According to Yonhap North Korea’s grain crop last year reportedly amounted to 4 million tons. The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization told U.S.-based Radio Free Asia last month that the North will harvest a half million tons less than last year.

Read the full article here:
China reports grain smuggling business active into North Korea
Australian Broadacsting Corporation
9/17/2008

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Posted in Agriculture, Agriculture statistics, Food, Price liberalization, Statistics | 1 Comment »

DPRK markets: What’s selling and for how much?

Saturday, September 6th, 2008

According to the Daily NK:

The new issue of NK In and Out (NKeconWatch is unable to find this publication on line) includes information about North Korea’s recent jangmadang (markets) developments, stating that “memory cards for digital cameras and even USB flash drive sticks can be bought easily in the jangmadang of major cities these days.”

The journal explained that most of the memory cards are under 1GB and although there are various types of memory cards, they are sold for ten to fifty thousand North Korean Won on average (approx. 3,400 to 17,200 South Korean Won, 3 to 16 USD). Demand for memory cards has been increasing due to the popularity of digital cameras and computers.

Recently there have been individuals that operate photo businesses at photo studios or state-operated shops in the downtown areas of cities. It is known that most of these individuals use digital cameras imported from China rather than film cameras.

The journal clarified that digital pictures can also be easily printed because certain trade organizations, broadcasting companies, convenience stores, or provincial computer centers have set up technology shops providing services to print pictures or produce music CDs.

Notably, a third of middle school students in large border cities own MP3 players and two to three students per class have personal computers at home. It is presumed that many more people own MP3 players or computers in major cities such as Pyongyang.

Below is some recent price information.  Click on the image below to view full size.

prices1.JPG

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Posted in Agriculture, Computing/IT, Food, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Price liberalization, Private property | Comments Closed

UN World Food Program launches DPRK emergency relief – solicits support

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

The UN World Food Program has announced a new emergency relief measure in the DPRK.  The WFP claims to need more than 1.5 million tons food for North Korea and $503 million to maintain adequate operations until November 2009—$60 million of it now.  Below are highlights from the UNWFP and various media outlets:

According to the WFP:

The immediate negative impact on food security was confirmed by a comprehensive “Rapid Food Security Assessment” conducted jointly by WFP and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in June. More than three quarters of all households had reduced their food intake, over half were eating only two meals per day and more malnourished and ill children were being admitted to hospitals and institutions.

“All in all, operations are progressing well and we have been able to expand assistance to reach over 4 million hungry and vulnerable North Koreans.”

WFP is deploying 59 international staff members to support the new programme. More than 20 of them will be working in six newly-established field offices to monitor and track food distributions – and for the first time ever, the international staff will include Korean-speakers, in accordance with the new agreement between WFP and the DPRK government.

WFP monitors have already visited county warehouses and beneficiary institutions in 125 of the 131 targeted counties and have accounted for all WFP food assistance distributed so far.

As an aside, “two meals a day” is a scientifically meaningless measure.  At the bare minimum, it would be far more helpful to detail the number of calories the mean/median North Korean consumes per day along with the total necessary calories needed to maintain health.

The Christian Science Monitor printed a few more details: 

Citizens eligible for food rations have seen their allocation cut from 500 grams a day to 150 grams, Banbury reported. Few North Koreans eat meat except on major national holidays when the government distributes it, he added.

What are the roles of South Korea, USA and China in all this?

South Korea
South Korea, which provided more than half the North’s food aid last year, has suspended shipments of food and fertiliser this year in a tougher policy towards Pyongyang from new President Lee Myung-bak.(Financial Times)

On Tuesday, [South Korean] Unification Ministry spokesman Kim Ho-nyeon said Seoul is still considering the appeal and will make a decision based on its assessment of the North’s food situation while monitoring “various situations.” He did not elaborate.(AP via the Herald Tribue)

US
The US promised in May to donate 400,000 tonnes of food aid to North Korea through the WFP and a further 100,000 tonnes through private US organisations. That would nearly double the amount donated last year by China, which has in past said its relationship with Pyongyang was as close as “lips and teeth”. (Financial Times)

China
China is North Korea’s leading source of food and fuel aid. But difficulties in obtaining food export licenses from China have hampered the WFP’s efforts to procure food to be sent to North Korea as well as to Myanmar, the agency said, adding it was in talks with Chinese officials. It has asked the Chinese government to allow the agency to buy 50,000 tons of cereals and export it to their operations in either country. (AP via the Herald Tribune)

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Posted in Agriculture, Food, UN World Food Program | Comments Closed

DPRK defections to South likely to reach all time high this year

Tuesday, September 2nd, 2008

According to the Choson Ilbo:

The number of North Korean refugees to the South is expected to exceed 3,000 for the first time in history this year. The Unification Ministry on Monday said 1,748 North Korean defectors made their way south in the first half of this year, up 42.1 percent from 1,230 a year ago. At this rate, the figure is expected to exceed 3,000 by the end of this year.

A mere 71 North Korean defectors came to the South in 1998, but numbers had broken the 1,000 mark by 2002 and exceeded 2,000 in 2006. The total as of the end of June stood at 13,996.

According to Yonhap, there were 2,544 DPRK defectors admitted to the South in 2007.

The news that defections are up is interesting in its own light, however, the demographic composition of these defectors could tell us much more about what is happening inside the DPRK.  If these numbers come from poor or remote provinces, they are likely a predictable result of increasing economic hardship, and their departure is inconsequential to regime stability.  If these populations represent a “brain drain” of educated or politically connected cadres, then this could be a signal of expected political turmoil.  Of course after last week’s discovery that DPRK intelligence agents have infiltrated the South’s DPRK defector community, information of this type will become scarcer than ever, at least for the general public. 

According to the CIA World Fact Book, North Korea’s population stands at 23,479,089 (as of July 2008).  I think this is an overstatement, however, this means that at a minimum, .012% of the population emigrated this year alone.

Read the full article here:
More Than 3,000 N.Koreans to Defect South This Year
Choson Ilbo
9/2/2008

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Posted in Agriculture, Emigration, Political economy | Comments Closed

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