Korea Times
Yoon Won-sup
12/25/2007
The two Koreas began four-day talks in the southern port city of Busan Tuesday to discuss ways of establishing shipbuilding areas in North Korea, according to the Unification Ministry.
A sub-committee for shipbuilding and marine cooperation, part of an agreement reached at the inter-Korean prime ministers’ meeting last month, convened for the first time to map out the details of the shipbuilding project.
Bloomberg
Lucian Kim
12/18/2007
OAO Russian Railways plans to build a $100 million container terminal in North Korea as the world’s largest rail company tries to create a land transport corridor linking Asia to Europe.
State-run Russian Railways wants to turn the North Korean port of Rajin into a hub capable of handling 320,000 containers a year for shipment across Russia to Europe, the company said in a statement distributed to reporters today.
The investment is part of a plan that originated in 2001, when North Korean leader Kim Jong Il traveled by rail from Pyongyang to Moscow to visit President Vladimir Putin. As the first step in linking the Korean peninsula to the Trans-Siberian Railway, Russian Railways is upgrading 54 kilometers (34 miles) of track from the border south of Vladivostok to Rajin.
Russian Railways will spend 1.75 billion rubles ($70 million) on improving the track, the company said. Another $100 million will be needed to turn Rajin port into a terminal capable of loading containers shipped from South Korea on to freight trains bound for Europe. The proposed terminal will be operated by a Russian-North Korean joint venture.
Delays over financing and feasibility have plagued the plan for an “Iron Silk Road.” Russian Railways Chief Executive Officer Vladimir Yakunin previously said the rail link to Rajin would be completed by the end of 2006.
The two Koreas opened regular freight train service across the demilitarized zone on Dec. 11.
Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 07-12-17-1
12/17/2007
North and South Korea are poised to allow Internet, telephone, and cellular services to be available in the Kaesong Industrial Complex (KIC) and at the Kumgang Mountain Tourist Resort beginning next year. The 7th Defense Ministerial Talks opened on December 12 at the ‘Peace House’ on the South Korean side of Panmunjum, and at the meeting, North and South Korea reached an agreement regarding communications, transportation, and customs.
According to the agreement, Pyongyang has given permission for the use of Internet landlines and cellular phones in the two largest inter-Korean cooperative projects. However, while the South Koreans pushed for the inclusion of “mobile phones” in the agreement, the North insisted on “wireless telephone communications”, suggesting that they hope to use dual-use wired telephones rather than mobile cellular phones.
In addition, under the agreement, North and South Korean rail and road traffic will be allowed to cross the border daily from 7:00am to 10pm, with the exception of Sundays and official holidays. Currently traffic in the area is limited to 7am~6pm in the summer, and 8am~5pm in the winter months.
The two sides also agreed to new procedures aimed at simplifying customs inspections and reducing delivery delays. From now on, the two sides will exchange lists of goods being moved, after which time any specific good that is flagged will be inspected. Currently, both sides are required to supply a list of goods to be pass through the area three days in advance, and every piece is individually inspected, complicating customs procedures.
The agreement was signed ROK Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo and Kim Il-chul, minister of the DPRK People’s Armed Forces, and went into effect on December 13. With this agreement, exchange and cooperation in the KIC and Kumgang Mountain resort are expected to even more actively grow.
Yonhap
12/16/2007
North Korea’s state-run airline is likely to be used to ferry South Korean tourists to the North’s Mount Paektu, a government official said Sunday.
The official, who declined to be identified, said Air Koryo planes may be used to carry tourists, owing to concerns about safety related to Samjiyeon Airport, about 30 kilometers southeast of the mountain.
He did not elaborate on the nature of safety concerns, but said it may be inappropriate for South Korean flag carriers like Korean Air and Asiana to use the airport.
Tours to the 2,744-meter-high mountain, held sacred by many Koreans, are the result of the summit meeting between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il in early October.
He added that flights would probably use Seoul’s Gimpo International Airport, fly over Gangwon Province, head out into the East Sea before turning north toward Mount Paektu, on the North Korea-Chinese border.
The official said Gimpo has been selected as it can easily handle greater numbers of people than provincial air terminals, and the high level of airport security that can be maintained.
Hyundai Asan, which is responsible for organizing tours to North Korea, said direct flights linking Gimpo and Mount Paektu should begin in May, 2008.
The company currently organizes tours to Mount Geumgang on the east coast, and the historic city of Kaesong just north of the demilitarized zone separating the two Koreas on the west coast.
The most authoritative map of North Korea on Google Earth
North Korea Uncovered v.7
Download it here
This map covers North Korea’s agriculture, aviation, cultural locations, manufacturing facilities, railroad, energy infrastructure, politics, sports venues, military establishments, religious facilities, leisure destinations, and national parks. It is continually expanding and undergoing revisions. This is the sixth version.
Additions to the latest version of “North Korea Uncovered” include: A Korean War folder featuring overlays of US attacks on the Sui Ho Dam, Yalu Bridge, and Nakwon Munitians Plant (before/after), plus other locations such as the Hoeryong Revolutionary Site, Ponghwa Revolutionary Site, Taechon reactor (overlay), Pyongyang Railway Museum, Kwangmyong Salt Works, Woljong Temple, Sansong Revolutionary Site, Jongbansan Fort and park, Jangsan Cape, Yongbyon House of Culture, Chongsokjong, Lake Yonpung, Nortern Limit Line (NLL), Sinuiju Old Fort Walls, Pyongyang open air market, and confirmed Pyongyang Intranet nodes.
Disclaimer: I cannot vouch for the authenticity of many locations since I have not seen or been to them, but great efforts have been made to check for authenticity. These efforts include pouring over books, maps, conducting interviews, and keeping up with other peoples’ discoveries. In many cases, I have posted sources, though not for all. This is a thorough compilation of lots of material, but I will leave it up to the reader to make up their own minds as to what they see. I cannot catch everything and I welcome contributions.
Daily NK
Jung Kwon Ho
12/12/2007
A source in North Korea informed the Daily NK on the 11th that there was a train explosion incident in Hyangsan, North Pyongan on November 12th that left 8 passengers dead.
The source said that “The train, traveling between Pyongyang and Manpo, was carrying a shipment of butane gas tanks when it suddenly burst into flames. It is speculated that the explosion resulted from a cigarette that was lit in the vicinity of a gas leak coming from the tanks, however this has yet to be confirmed.”
People use butane gas for lighters in North Korea and can refuel lighters at street stalls everywhere.
The source relayed that the Rail Safety Agents are undergoing interrogation, suspected of taking bribes in return for allowing traders to load butane gas tanks on the train. The wounded passengers were taken to the People’s Hospital of Hyangsan for treatment of their injuries.
According to the source this is the second serious explosion since last July. The first occurred at the “January 20 Munitions Factory” located in Eundeuk, North Hamkyung Province. Resulting from the ignition of large stores of gunpowder, it produced mass casualties.
The January 20 Munitions Factory manufactures trench mortars, cannon balls, anti-tank guided missiles and bombs for aircrafts.
The source reported that around 50 workers having their lunch died in the factory and around 100 workers were wounded. However, the numbers were relatively small considering that most of the workers had left the factory on their lunch hour.
Party authorities in Eundeuk considered this incident to have been the work of spies and started educating workers on anti-socialist activity. However, the explosion was later found to have been caused by an electrical fault.
Daily NK
Lee Sung Jin
12/11/2007
The number of day labor jobs offered by private parties is gradually increasing in the North. Unlike those with full time jobs at State-run factories, individuals with day labor jobs work by the day.
According to inside sources and many defectors who came to the South earlier this year, individuals looking for day labor jobs normally work as gold miners, construction workers in cities, as luggage carriers for train passengers and maids.
In North Korea, these day laborers are called “Bulbulee (which means a person sweats for labor),” “Sakbari (which means a person waiting for wages)” or “Ilkkun (workers).” It is reported that there are day labor hiring centers in big cities and around the closed mining areas.
Daily laborers’ wages vary based on the type of work. Laborers working at gold mines are provided with housing and food and get paid 1,500 North Korean won per day. In the city construction sites, skilled laborers such as plasterers earn 2,000 won daily whereas unskilled laborers make less than 1,000 won. Daily laborers are making good money compared to factory workers whose average monthly wages fall between 3,000 and 5,000 won.
Kim Yong Chul (pseudonym), a defector who used to work as a day laborer at a mine in Hoichang of South Pyongan Province said, “Since 2004, day labor hiring centers started to appear in the jangmadang (market) of Hoichang. Employers hired young men and women in good health on the spot and took them to workplaces.” He used to work at a mine well-known across the country since the Japanese colonial period. Mr. Kim said, “Day laborers not only dug for gold but were also mobilized to build or fix houses for their employers.”
In Hoichang, there are some gold mines closed by the authorities that were thought to be tapped out. In the mid 1990s, some locals dug the mines again and made a great fortune. Years later, around 2003, these locals began looking out for workers and started hiring individuals from other provinces. Now the county has a great number of day laborers from various provinces working at mines.
Good Friends, the Seoul-based relief organization dedicated to North Korea, said in a recent report, “On October 23rd at around 10 A.M., a gold mine in Hoichang of South Pyongan Province collapsed, leaving three miners dead and two wounded.” In the North, private parties are banned from trading gold and pine mushrooms by law, and only the State can make these types of transactions. However, it is well known that many officials in charge of enforcing the ban frequently take bribes and allow those who pay them to dig for gold in closed mines.
Gold miners usually stay underground between 15 to 30 days each time they begin a mining operation. The miners dig up the ore, crush it using a machine called a Maguanggi (ore-polishing machine) and apply mercury to extract gold. The whole process is done in underground tunnels, and the processed gold is sold to gold dealers in Pyongsung and Sinuiju.
Individuals who run the crushing machine are laborers from other provinces, and most of them are females. With food and housing provided by their employer, they make 1,000 won daily. If they work year-round this way, they can earn decent money.
45-year-old Park Jong Moo (pseudonym) who came to the South this year said, “I earned 2,000 won per day when I worked as a plasterer, building a house for a man who made his money from trade in Chongjin City.”
Mr. Park’s son worked as a cargo porter at the Chongjin railway station. Since there were so many “Sakbari (referring to cargo porters working for daily wages)” at the station, competition among “Sakbari” was fierce. Normally, these porters made less than 1,000 won per day.
It is becoming popular among party cadres and the new wealth to have a maid who does housework and takes care of children. These people introduce the maid to their neighbors as a ‘distant relative’ because having a maid is unthinkable in the Socialist North. While performing maid services and getting paid for the work that she does, the maid pretends to be a family member and acts as if she is merely helping out with the housework.
A source inside the North said, “There was once a party official in Chongjin who employed a girl as a maid after having paid her parents. When the official was accused of having a maid, the official said she was a ‘relative.’”
Regarding the rise in day laborers, an expert on North Korea says, “Those North Koreans who made a fortune from mining or trade privately employ laborers to further expand their businesses…However, since the regime will never allow the rich to become too powerful, it will begin to regulate the employment activities of private parties at the proper time.”
Korea Times
Jung Sung-ki
12/11/2007
The first regular freight service for over half a century began Tuesday operating across the heavily fortified border between South and North Korea.
The daily freight service is the first tangible result of an inter-Korean summit in October between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The two leaders agreed on a package of cross-border economic cooperation projects including the train operation.
The last regular rail operation was in 1951, a year after the three-year Korean War broke out.
The freight service, agreed upon at the inter-Korean prime ministers’ talks last month, will connect South Korea with the joint industrial complex in Gaeseong, in the North.
Earlier this month, the militaries of both Koreas signed a written security guarantee for the cross-border service at working-level talks in the truce village of Panmunjeom, clearing a major hurdle for the agreement.
The new service is expected to slash the cost of transporting products to and from the business complex, just north of the border, considered a major achievement of Seoul’s “sunshine” policy of engaging the North over the past decade.
Several South Korean firms are operating in the economic zone, dubbed a testing ground for mixing South Korean capitalism and technology with North Korea’s cheap labor.
Previously, trucks moved raw materials and finished goods back and forth across the border.
South Korean officials hope the cargo train service will lay the groundwork for a regular train service for passengers and the railway will be linked through North Korea to the Trans-China and Trans-Siberian railroads.
A 12-car train carrying curbstones and other construction materials left left South Korea’s Dorasan Station at 8:20 a.m. and arrived at North Korea’s Panmun Station 20 minutes later. A joint ceremony was held at the North Korean station around 11 a.m. with the attendance of some 180 officials from both Koreas.
The train returned to the South later in the day with goods including shoes, clothes and watches made at the industrial complex.
“We are reconnecting the last vein that has been severed for 56 years,” Lee Chul, president of the Korea Railroad, told reporters at Dorasan Station. “This looks like a humble start, but I hope this link will serve as a stepping stone for the inter-Korean railways to be connected to Europe through the Trans-Siberian railway.”
Lee also expressed hope that South and North Koreans could travel together vial rail to Beijing to cheer for next year’s Summer Olympics.
Trains will run daily on weekdays from Dorasan Station in Munsan to Panmun, carrying up to 10,000 tons of cargo on each run. The train service begins at 9 a.m. and returns from the North Korean station at 2 p.m. Trains are restricted to a maximum speed of 60 kilometers per hour when traversing the closely guarded frontier.
The original agreement was to connect a 25 kilometer section of track from Munsan to Bondgong in the North, next to the industrial complex, but the plan was modified because of the lack of loading facilities at Bongdong Station, according to Unification Ministry officials.
In May, two trains crossed the border on two reconnected tracks on the western and eastern sides of the peninsula in a one-off test run.
The two Koreas are technically still at war since the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce, not a peace treaty.
Yonhap
12/5/2007
South and North Korea signed a security guarantee Wednesday for daily cross-border freight train service scheduled to start next week, the first substantial measure to follow up on agreements by the two countries’ leaders at their October summit, the Defense Ministry said.
The move came at a one-day meeting at the truce village of Panmunjom, which coincided with a separate meeting of deputy prime ministers of the divided nations here on boosting economic cooperation in line with the deal between South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and his North Korean counterpart Kim Jong-il.
The cargo train will carry raw materials and manufactured goods between South Korea and the North Korean border city of Kaesong, where South Korea operates an industrial park for a number of its small labor-intensive plants.
The agreement calls for guaranteeing safe passage of the cargo rail service linking Munsan Station in the South to Bongdong Station, which serves as a gateway to the Kaesong industrial park, as agreed at the second inter-Korean defense ministerial talks.
“It will take effect at midnight on Dec. 11,” the ministry said at a briefing on the results of the talks. “The train will be allowed to run at a speed of 20-60km per hour. Train drivers and other crew will be banned from taking photos in the other side’s area.”
But the talks did not address the date for the next round of general-grade talks between the two sides or how to improve the operation of the Kaesong industrial complex, including ways to facilitate transportation, customs clearance and telecommunication services, according to the ministry.
The defense chiefs of the two Koreas agreed to support inter-Korean economic cooperation projects in their rare meeting last week in Pyongyang.
The two Koreas plan to run a cargo train every day on the reconnected rail line between Munsan and Bongdong starting on Tuesday. The 19.8-km route between the two border towns was severed during the 1950-53 Korean War.
The cargo service is expected to facilitate the movement of goods to and from the Kaesong industrial complex, a joint venture between the technology-savvy South and the labor-abundant North.
International Crisis Group
Asia Briefing N°71
4 December 2007
North Korea’s relations with Russia have been marked by unrealistic expectations and frequent disappointments but common interests have prevented a rupture. The neighbours’ history as dissatisfied allies goes back to the founding of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) with Soviet support and the Red Army’s installation of Kim Il-sung as leader. However, the Soviets were soon written out of the North’s official ideology. The Sino-Soviet split established a pattern of Kim playing Russian and Chinese leaders off against each other to extract concessions, including the nuclear equipment and technology at the heart of the current crisis. Since Vladimir Putin visited Pyongyang in 2000, diplomatic initiatives have come undone and grandiose economic projects have faltered. Russia is arguably the least effective participant in the six-party nuclear talks.
The relationship between Putin’s Russia and Kim Jong-il’s North Korea has disappointed both sides. Putin has mostly been unable to assert himself as a prominent player in North East Asia, and North Korea has received neither the unalloyed political support nor the economic backing it seeks. Russia has more influence in the region than it did in the 1990s but not enough to change the equation on the Korean peninsula. Opportunities for economic cooperation have been limited, mostly by Pyongyang’s refusal to open its economy but also by Russia’s fixation on overly ambitious schemes that at best may take decades to realise. China’s more nimble investors have moved in much faster than Russia’s state-owned behemoths.
Moscow has been conservative in its political dealings with Pyongyang, playing a minor but thus far positive role at the six-party talks consistent with its concerns about proliferation and the risks of DPRK collapse. It regards the denuclearisation of the peninsula as in its interests, has relatively few commercial opportunities in the North and considers its relations with the other nations in the exercise more important in every way than its ties to Pyongyang.
While Russia has shown interest in building energy and transport links through the North, little progress has been made. Rebuilding railways on the peninsula will cost enormous sums, and overcoming the many obstacles will require years of negotiation. Investments have been hindered by the North’s unreliability and history of default on loans. Russia may eventually have to forgive billions of dollars of debt the North cannot repay. Energy is a major mutual interest but pipelines across the North are unlikely to be built soon; Japan and China are expected to be the main markets for Russian energy, while South Korea is reluctant to become dependent on the North for its supply.
Pyongyang wants Russia to balance China’s growing influence but appears to recognise that Moscow will never provide the level of support it once did. The North has been keen to discuss economic cooperation but has lacked the political will to reform its economy sufficiently for foreign investment, even from a country as inured to corruption and government interference as Russia. It is equally interested in technical and scientific aid. Russian technology, equipment, and “know-how” have featured prominently in the history of both Koreas, and Pyongyang still seeks to resolve its economic problems by scientific and technical solutions. But there is unlikely to be much growth in bilateral cooperation unless the nuclear crisis is resolved peacefully, and the North opens its economy.
This briefing completes Crisis Group’s series on the relationships between North Korea and those of its neighbours – China, South Korea, Japan and Russia – involved in the six-party nuclear talks. It examines Russia’s aims and ambitions in the region, as well as the responses from North Korea and is based on both interviews in Russia, Central Asia and South Korea and analysis of Russian and North Korean statements.
