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Economic reform comes slowly

Thursday, October 9th, 2003

from a great story in the Economist:

benefits of reform:

The electricity supply has slightly improved in Pyongyang, as well as on the east coast in Hamhung and Chongjin. Apartment-block lights are now on for much longer.
Second-hand bicycles, from Japan and China, are numerous, particularly in cities on the poor, industrial east coast.
Farmers are allowed their own small gardens, and farmers’ markets are now referred to simply as “markets”, because, as well as food, they sell consumer goods. Significantly, these markets have been given official approval. In June, the government appealed for help from other countries in running them. As Marcus Noland of the Institute for International Economics in Washington, DC, explains, one immediate effect of the reforms is that there are now products available for hard currency, such as video players and movies like “The Lion King” dubbed in Korean, which were previously unobtainable. The government is also encouraging foreign investment in industries such as mining, energy, agriculture and information technology
The leadership recently gave its approval for a South Korean company that assembles cars in North Korea to launch a marketing campaign.
Mobile-phone services have been started in the country’s main cities and along its motorways.
North Korea’s tourism authority claims that 2,000 Motorola and Nokia mobile handphones were sold in Pyongyang between November 2002 and August 2003. This in a country where barely a million land lines exist, out of a total population of 23m.
The Hermit Kingdom recently announced plans to develop broadband internet capabilities to improve the business environment. The plan is to link the domestic intranet, called Kwangmyong, to the internet. The North’s national domain designation, “.kp”, is still not in use, but the government has reportedly been testing e-mail addresses incorporating it. There is even an internet café in Pyongyang, though at $10 per hour it is affordable only to the few tourists, diplomats and journalists who visit the city. Currently, only Mr Kim and a few privileged others can use the optical communications lines supplied to North Korea by China’s China Telecom. Contrast this to the state of affairs in the south, which has the world’s greatest penetration of high-speed broadband connections and where more than 65% of households now have internet access.

These observations say little about how the economy as a whole is doing. The sad truth seems to be that the leadership in the North undertook its partial reforms out of necessity, not because it had understood or embraced the market. Rather, for the past 15 months, according to a Korea expert, Kongdan Oh, at the Institute for Defence Analyses in Virginia, the country has been “creatively muddling through”. While the average North Korean has more economic freedom, the economy is near collapse.

Nicholas Eberstadt of the American Enterprise Institute, in Washington, DC, estimates that, if anything, economic decline has accelerated, not reversed. Last year’s price and wage increases saw prices rise 10 to 20-fold and wages rise by 20 times or more, the idea being to bring them more into line with market rates. But the increases have not been matched by measures to boost output, so inflation has spiralled out of control. The price of staple foods, for instance, has risen by as much as 400%, and the country continues to rely on foreign handouts to feed its people.

In a recent paper, Mr Noland argues that those with access to foreign exchange, such as senior party officials, do not feel the effects of inflation as severely as salaried workers who have no access to foreign exchange. So for urban residents with access to hard currency, in some respects things are much better. But for the bulk of the population, things are quite grim. As much as 80% of an average family’s income now goes towards food.

Just how committed is the regime of Kim Jong Il to its programme of market reform? Probably not very. It shows no sign of embracing reforms that could potentially undermine the state’s control. It continues to emphasise “military-first” policies, reserving the best of everything for the army it depends on. And even if greater economic reform were undertaken, it is far from certain that it would be successful any time soon.

The economy continues to suffer from a lack of energy, transport infrastructure and basic foodstuffs. Many factories—all of which under the reforms now have to pay their own way—have been shut down, leaving people without jobs and therefore no money to buy food. And since the North admitted last year to its illicit nuclear programme, aid flows have diminished and oil deliveries by the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organisation have been suspended.

Foreign investors still stay away and the few companies that have been bold enough to invest in the North, such as Hyundai Asan, have lost millions of dollars. So, though much has changed in North Korea over the past 15 months, the probability is that more will stay the same

Posted in Automobiles, Cell phones, Economic reform, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Internet | Comments Closed

N. Korea shifts towards capitalism

Sunday, September 14th, 2003

Washington Post Foreign Service
Anthony Faiola
September 14, 2003

Notes on the DPRK’s new Fiat:

The first commercial billboards (ever) are going up in Pyongyang. Fiat is in the Hermit Kingdom. The billboards are part of what is dubbed the first corporate media blitz to hit North Korea.

Pyeonghwa Motor Corps., a South Korean firm with ties to the Unification Church, coaxed the DPRK government into allowing the campaign. Pyeonghwa began assembling cars in North Korea 18 months ago using imported Fiat parts.

Creating the ad campaign was not easy, said John Kim. The government rejected many billboard proposals.

The company began publishing asd in government sponsored trade magazines showcasing the “Whistle” (The name of the car in the DPRK. Named after a famous song). Also a SUV model was launched. Commercials have also appeared on TV.

Cars cost $14,000 and it would take a north Korean 15 years of labor to save up enough money.

When Pyeonghwa opened its $20m factory about 40 miles west of Pyongyang last year, the company hoped to sell 1000 cars in 12 months, but it has unloaded only half that number in 18 months. Most have gone to government officials and diplomats.

There are only two gas stations in Pyongyang, and the company does not offer financing

Notes on Politics:

Pyongyang’s news agency recently described new markets as desigend to “dramatically improve the country’s standard of living.”

This month, the North Korean’s announced a cabinet reshuffle that raised Pak Pong Ju, a former chemical industries manager, to the loftier position of Premier. He is seen as being interested in reforms.

Kim Jong Il has been working to give the authority to fire a worker to factory managers, as opposed to Party officials.

Posted in Advertising, Automobiles, Economic reform, Foreign direct investment, Price liberalization, Pyonghwa Motors, Transportation | Comments Closed

Railway reconnects two Koreas

Saturday, June 14th, 2003

BBC
6/14/2003

North and South Korea have held a symbolic ceremony to re-link cross border railways severed by war more than 50 years ago.

Engineers from both sides tightened the screws on the railway tracks that will, it is hoped, eventually carry passenger trains between the two countries.

The event came a day before the third anniversary of an historic inter-Korean summit in which the then South Korean President Kim Dae-jung made a euphoric visit to the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.

Reconciliation has since stalled, and tension has heightened over North Korea’s nuclear weapons programmes.

“Removing barbed-wire fences and mines, the nation’s artery has been re-linked,” said South Korea’s chief delegate Cho Myong-kyun, speaking inside the four kilometre (2.5 mile) demilitarised zone that separates the two countries.

His North Korean counterpart Kim Byong-chil said: ” “If we continue moving forward, with our hands linked together, we will be able to tear down the barbed wire of division and achieve national unification.”

The ceremony was supposed to have taken place in March, but was delayed because of the war in Iraq and the standoff over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions.

Despite Saturday’s ceremony it will be some time before trains run between the two Koreas, which were divided at the end of World War II.

The last train crossed the border shortly before the 1950-53 Korean War. The two countries remain technically at war, as there was a ceasefire but no formal treaty.

Two railways links are planned, but more work is needed.

Nuclear tensions

Both sides have said they want to complete the restoration of the western line by September. This will run between Seoul and Pyongyang, and extend to North Korea’s border with China.

If work goes to schedule, a rail link along the eastern coast will be ready by the end of the year.

But despite the progress on rail links, the BBC’s Charles Scanlon in Seoul says North Korea’s nuclear weapons programme is increasingly threatening reconciliation between the two countries.

On Monday, North Korea threatened to develop a “nuclear deterrent” unless the United States ends its “hostile policy”.

It was the closest North Korea had come to publicly admitting that it was working on nuclear weapons.

Our correspondent says it has put a growing strain on South Korea’s policy of reconciliation – what used to be known as the sunshine policy.

The United States and Japan have agreed on tougher measures – meaning sanctions – if the North continues to build nuclear warheads.

South Korean officials stress that dialogue is the only solution to the confrontation.

Posted in Railways, Transportation | Comments Closed

The last trans-Korean rail journey

Friday, June 13th, 2003

BBC
6/13/2003

Woo Ik-hwan, the last train driver to leave North Korea before the border was shut as a result of the war, told the BBC of his final journey.

In 1950 the Korean War started. I was hired to drive a hospital train that would bring wounded South Korean soldiers down from North Korea.

When the Chinese troops invaded, there was a major retreat, and that was when I was ordered to bring the remaining wounded soldiers down to South Korea.

That was the last time a train came down South from North Korea.

It was in the evening when I started the train. It was around 7 o’clock because it was already getting dark. Everyone was retreating and there was an air of sadness hanging about.

I can still remember how sad the telephone bell ringing sounded when I received the final order to come back home.

When people learned that the last train out of the North was about to leave, everyone started to gather around the station.

The passenger cars were full of wounded soldiers so people started to climb on to the steam locomotive.

There were people with bags and children.

Some went on to the roof and others found space where we stored the coal. Soon the locomotive was packed with people clinging on to anything they could grasp. People who couldn’t hang on had to let go of the train. It was a such a tragic sight.

It’s been 50 years since the Korean War. When the war ended and the track got disconnected, I thought to myself that the two sides would stay separated forever.

A railroad track is like the artery of a person.

Look what happens when the blood flow of the two countries come to a halt. Over the years the South received help from Western countries and we managed to develop ourselves.

But look at the North. Millions have died in hunger and their economy is about to collapse. If the track had been connected and if our resources were able to flow into the North, that wouldn’t have happened.

After 50 years of living in isolation, the North have now realised the importance of the track and they’ve finally agreed to reconnect it.

All this time, whenever I had a chance to go to the end of the track at the border, I’d hoped that the track would some day get reconnected.

When I think of my parents and my siblings in North Korea, my heart aches and tears come out. But now that I hear that the track will once again get reconnected, I can’t express how happy I am.

I really want to go North Korea. Over the years I’ve driven steam, diesel and electric trains. I’ve experienced them all.

If the track gets reconnected and if I were asked to drive the first train back to the North, even at this age I’m sure I could do it, if I were to live that long.

When I close my eyes, I still can see the tracks stretching in front of me. If I’m on that first train, that means that I could return to my home town as well. Nothing could get better than that.

Posted in Railways, Transportation | Comments Closed

N Korea ‘spy ship’ a hit with tourists

Monday, June 2nd, 2003

BBC
6/2/2003

Video of the ship’s sinking on Youtube: 1, 2

Tourists in Tokyo are flocking to visit the salvaged remains of a suspected North Korean spy ship, sunk after a gun battle with the Japanese coast guard in December 2001.

The unusual tourist attraction in the fashionable O-Daiba area attracted more than 20,000 people in its first weekend on display to the public.

Exhibits included an underwater scooter and a portable missile launcher, as well as the bullet-scarred hull.

The spy ship was put on display by the coastguard in order to raise awareness of the threat from North Korea, whose alleged nuclear programme has severely strained its foreign relations with Japan in recent months.

Some visitors said that the exhibit confirmed their view that Tokyo was too soft on Pyongyang.

“Japan is just too wimpy,” 60-year-old Goro Masuda told Reuters news agency. “We must take a stronger line.”

But others thought that the Japanese coastguard was trying to manipulate the public.

“I think the coast guard had its own reasons for wanting to show us this,” said Akihiko Nishimura.

The ship was disguised as a Chinese fishing boat when it was intercepted by the Japanese coastguard.

It was sank after a six-hour chase and fire fight with Japanese patrol ships.

The vessel, which was said to have failed to heed Japanese warning shots and an order to stop, fled in the direction of China before it sank.

After salvaging the wreckage, coastguards found a small button labelled “self-destruct” on board, which they believed was used by the crew to scupper the boat rather than be captured.

Ten bodies were recovered from the ship, although officials said that the array of equipment on the ship meant that there were probably several more North Koreans on board.

Posted in Illicit activities, Japan, Sea shipping | Comments Closed

First busses make overland treck to Kumgang

Tuesday, February 18th, 2003

from the BBC:

The BBC’s Kevin Kim joined the first overland tourist trip to North Korea, and reflects on his journey to the other side of the border.

“I was on board one of 20 buses that crossed the DMZ for the first time.

As a South Korean it felt really strange, because up to now we were strictly forbidden from getting near to the DMZ.

The mountains on the North Korean side looked totally different from the mountains on the South Korean side.

It was very barren. There were hardly any trees.

North Korea is in an energy crisis right now and every single tree is put to good use, for heating.

The South Korean guide told us that while travelling through the DMZ we must not take pictures, wave outside, or show any South Korean newspapers or magazines through the window.

I guess that is why everyone on the bus was talking in a very soft voice.

Every few hundred metres there were North Korean soldiers with their rifles just looking on as the buses went by.

I was really tempted to just open the window and say “hello” or “nice to see you”.

But I had been told by my South Korean guide that I could open the window but I could not say anything to them.

Like the words of the South Korean song, “Longing for Mount Kumgang”, getting to North Korea and seeing its natural beauty has been something that people in the South could only long for until now.

Unification, too, is something that Koreans have only dreamed about.

But having travelled through the most heavily fortified border in the world, I began to think that while unification in the Korean peninsula may seem impossible right away, it does not have to stay as a dream.

Who knows, in 20 years time we might actually be seeing the fences coming down.

It is wishful thinking. But Koreans are natural born optimists. ”

Also from the BBC:

The overland border between the two Koreas has opened for the first time since the Korean war ended half a century ago. The BBC’s Seoul correspondent Caroline Gluck was among the first to cross.

Fanfare, fireworks and balloons greeted us at a ceremony on the South Korean border, as we prepared to journey through the world’s most heavily fortified road border to the North.

This is the first land route for civilians since the end of the Korean war half a century ago.

The pilot journey is due to pave the way for regular overland tourist trips to the North’s scenic resort of Mount Kumgang, or Diamond Mountain – which has been developed by the South Korean company Hyundai Asan.

Hyundai Asan’s president, Kim Yoon-Kyu, described the trip as a historic moment.

“I can compare it to breaking the wall between East and West Germany,” he said.

Opening the border was also one of the ways to reduce tensions between North and South Korea, he said.

“I’m going to persuade (the North Koreans) not to have any nuclear power. We need money. Money is better than nuclear power,” he said.

At the demilitarized zone, there was a razor wire fence on either side, and signs warning that landmines were present.

When we reached the military demarcation line, I could see the first North Korean soldiers watch the convoy – around 20 buses in all.

All around me I could see the mountains covered in snow.

It is a barren landscape but quite beautiful. Many believe that if the two Koreas reunify, it should be turned into an ecological zone.

On the North Korean side, a welcoming committee with a female brass band was waiting for us, playing the North Korean song Pangap-sumnida, or Nice to Meet You.

Around 150 North Koreans took part in the ceremony to welcome their southern counterparts.

Ro Chang hyup, a North Korean tourist official, said it was an important step forward in inter-Korean exchanges.

“This is a first step towards unification. It is helping to break the ice and I really welcome our south Korean brothers.”

Ri Jong-hyok, deputy head of the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee which handles the North’s joint ventures with South Korea, said: “People are here for tourism. Why are you talking about nuclear issues? I get a headache when people talk about that”.

Bang Jong-Sam, head of the Mount Kumgang international tourism company, had a similar message.

“We don’t have nuclear weapons. Let the crazy people say whatever they want. All we have to do is to continue tourism,” he said.

Since 1988, when tours by cruise boat to Diamond Mountain began, around half a million South Koreans have travelled to the area.

For most, it is their only chance to visit the Communist North. They come to explore the peaks of the fabled mountain – immortalised in songs, paintings and poetry.

Fenced-in resort

But contacts between the two Koreans at the resort is limited.

The Hyundai-built tourism site is fenced in, and North Korean guides are on hand to monitor all movements.

You can catch glimpses of North Korean villages and people travelling on roads only allowed for locals – but most visible are the soldiers.

A group of around 40 soldiers marched by our tour group, singing the praises of their leader, Kim Jong-il.

He’s our great commander, they said.

“His love is like the sun, reaching out to every corner.”

If the project is aimed at breaking down barriers between the two Koreas, there is clearly a long way to go.

But some ventures, like a locally run restaurant open only to South Koreans, at least help to allow more contact between the two sides.

“I’m sure unification will come,” said my waitress.

“It’s really good that so many South Koreans are coming here. I’m proud to work here – and I welcome them.”

Projects like this and the opening of the cross-border road between the two Koreas are full of symbolism.

But, in practice, it is clear that there is still a long way to go before the two sides can freely mingle.

Posted in Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, Automobiles, Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, South Korea | Comments Closed

First Korean border crossing opens

Wednesday, February 5th, 2003

BBC
2/5/2003

The two Koreas have re-opened their land border for the first time in half a century, despite continuing anxiety about the North’s nuclear programme.

About 100 South Korean tourism officials passed through the heavily fortified frontier by bus on Wednesday, travelling to the scenic Mount Kumgang tourist resort, some 30 kilometres (18 miles) to the north.

The opening of the first of a set of planned overland links came as the US made its strongest pledge yet to hold direct talks with the North to resolve the nuclear crisis.

North Korea says that the only way forward is for face-to-face talks with Washington, without pre-conditions.

Historic crossing

Buses carrying around 100 officials from the South Korean company Hyundai and invited guests snaked from Kosung on the South’s east coast for a 50-minute journey along a dirt road towards Mount Kumgang.

The 10 buses were escorted by a South Korea military jeep as far as the border.

The jeep then pulled over to allow the buses to make the historic crossing, and a military official from the US-led United Nations Command, which enforces the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War, followed their progress on the other side of the border through binoculars.

If the pilot visit is a success, tours will officially begin next week.

The road is the first of four planned overland routes between the two sides to be completed. A parallel rail link on the east, and a rail and road link on the west are still under construction.

Diplomacy

The links are a key part of South Korean President Kim Dae-jung’s “sunshine policy” of economic co-operation with the Stalinist state.

Seoul has been urging the US to pursue diplomacy rather than sanctions over the current nuclear crisis.

US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on Tuesday gave a strong assurance that direct talks with Pyongyang would take place.

“Of course we’re going to have direct talks with North Korea. There’s no question about it,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

But Mr Armitage said that the consultations would only take place when Washington was confident that it had built a “strong international platform” from which to end North Korea’s nuclear programme.

He also warned that North Korea’s reported moves toward restarting a plutonium reprocessing facility could enable it to build four to six nuclear weapons within months.

Despite Washington’s assurances that it has no plans to invade North Korea, it has announced that is considering strengthening its military forces in the Pacific Ocean as a deterrent against Pyongyang.

US officials said the reinforcements would help signal that a possible war with Iraq was not distracting the US.

But the commander of the 37,000 US forces in South Korea, General Leon LaPorte, stressed on Tuesday that any deployment would be made in conjunction with Seoul.

Economic co-operation

Some analysts believe the nuclear stand-off is simply a blackmailing tactic by the North to obtain more aid for the impoverished nation.

In easing the North’s economic plight, Hyundai has played a key role. It has hitherto organised cruises to the North by boat, but they have lost the company money.

Hyundai hopes the cheaper overland trip will attract more tourists.

But its role in inter-Korean co-operation has not been without controversy.

The company became embroiled in a scandal last week when government auditors revealed that a Hyundai affiliate had sent nearly $200 million to North Korea just before the 2000 inter-Korean summit.

The company said the money was used to finance its business projects in the North; opposition lawmakers allege the money was a pay-off for the summit.

Members of the ruling Millennium Democratic Party have called on President Kim Dae-jung to make a public statement, while opposition politicians are calling for an independent counsel to investigate the fund transfers.

Posted in Automobiles, Foreign direct investment, Mt. Kumgang Tourist Special Zone, Railways, Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013), Tourism, Transportation | Comments Closed

Koreas progress on border links

Monday, January 27th, 2003

BBC
1/27/2003

North Korea has made a key concession on cross-border road and rail links with South Korea, South Korean officials have said.

The move means that tourists and businessmen from the South could be able to cross over to the North Korea within weeks.

The apparent breakthrough in the long-running negotiations came as South Korea’s top national security adviser, Lim Dong-wan, arrived in Pyongyang seeking to resolve tension over the Stalinist state’s nuclear programme.

Mr Lim, a former unification minister, said he hoped to avert war, but warned he did not have a quick solution.

“My visit to Pyongyang is designed to lay the ground for dialogue on the peaceful settlement of the North Korean nuclear issue that will help avoid war,” Mr Lim said before leaving Seoul on Monday.

The BBC’s Caroline Gluck in Seoul says North Korea’s decision to allow the visit indicates it is now willing to accept mediation from its neighbours. Before, it had said it would only discuss the nuclear issue with Washington.

North Korea’s concession in the separate, cross-border talks ends months of wrangling over who should control the so-called Demilitarised Zone (DMZ) that separates the two Koreas.

Analysts said North Korea might be pushing for progress with the South as a way to undermine South Korea’s alliance with the United States, which favours a much harder line policy on engaging with the North.

‘Cat’s paw’

The South Korean delegation includes Lee Jong-suk, an advisor to President-elect Roh Moo-hyun, who takes office next month.

Its visit comes a day after the US said it had no intention of attacking North Korea but warned the nuclear standoff was a danger to Asia.

Mr Lim is expected to meet North Korean leaders and other top officials during his visit.

North Korea on Monday hit out at the United Nations nuclear watchdog, describing the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) as the “cat’s paw” of the United States.

“It is… an objective reality that the secretariat of the IAEA is not in a position to discuss the DPRK’s (North Korea) issue and the days are gone, never to return, when it could unreasonably handle it,” reported the official Korean Central News Agency.

The Vienna-based IAEA has said it will hold an emergency session on 3 February to decide whether to refer the nuclear issue to the UN Security Council.

The crisis started last October, when the US said North Korea had admitted it was working on a banned nuclear weapons programme.

The US stopped fuel aid to North Korea in protest, and that led to North Korea expelling United Nations weapons inspections and announcing it was reactivating a previous nuclear programme.

Earlier this month North Korea announced it was pulling out of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Posted in Railways, Tourism, Transportation | Comments Closed

US berates N Korea over Scud exports

Wednesday, December 11th, 2002

BBC
12/11/2002

US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has condemned North Korea over its apparent attempt to deliver a shipment of Scud missiles to Yemen.

Acting on American intelligence, the Spanish Navy intercepted and boarded the freighter So San in the Arabian Sea on Monday.

US naval forces then conducted a search of the vessel and discovered 15 Scud missiles and warheads hidden under a cargo of cement, along with a quantity of chemicals.

Yemen has now confirmed that it ordered the missiles, and has protested to the US and Spain over the ships’s seizure.

While the Yemeni Government is not regarded as an enemy by the US, there are fears that such military hardware could fall into the hands of radical Islamic groups operating in the country.

Mr Rumsfeld said: “North Korea doesn’t like to hear me say it, but they continue to be the largest proliferator of missiles and ballistic missile technology on the face of the Earth.

“They are putting in the hands of many countries technology and capabilities which have the potential for destroying hundreds of thousands of people.”

Legal questions

Mr Rumsfeld declined to comment on whether the missile shipment constituted a violation of international law, but said there were legal issues surrounding efforts to conceal the weapons.

Questions about the legality of the seizure have already been raised.

US naval forces have taken charge of the ship and are escorting it to Diego Garcia island.

The current US administration has branded North Korea part of an “axis of evil”, along with Iraq and Iran.

Posted in Arms shipment, Illicit activities, Sea shipping, Yemen | Comments Closed

The Nautilus Institute primer on the DPRK

Tuesday, November 26th, 2002

Here is the main page

The Nautilus Institute has created the DPRK Briefing Book to enrich debate and rectify the deficiencies in public knowledge. Our goal is that the DPRK Briefing Book becomes your reference of choice on the security dilemmas posed by North Korea and its relations with the United States. The DPRK Briefing Book is part of the Nautilus Institute’s “US-DPRK Next Steps: Avoiding Nuclear Proliferation and Nuclear War in Korea” project.

The completed DPRK Briefing Book will cover approximately two-dozen “Policy Areas,” each containing issue briefs, critical analyses from diverse perspectives, and key reference materials, some of which are available as PDFs. (To view the PDFs, you will need to download and install the free Adobe Acrobat Reader). We will post additional Policy Areas over the coming months. If you would like to be notified as they are completed, please sign up for NAPSnet, if you haven’t already.

The Nautilus Institute seeks a diversity of views and opinions on controversial topics in order to identify common ground. Views expressed in the Briefing Book are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Nautilus Institute. The information contained in these pages may be downloaded, reproduced and redistributed as long as it has not been altered and is properly attributed. Permission to use Nautilus Institute materials for publications may be attained by contacting us.

Here are sections of interest:

About DPRK, Agriculture, China, Economy, Energy, Transition

Posted in Agriculture, Banking, China, Coal, Communications, Dams/hydro, DPRK Policies, Economic reform, Electricity, Energy, Finance, Fiscal & monetary policy, Foreign direct investment, Insurance, Intellectual Property, International Aid, International trade, Natural Gas, Nautilus Institute, Nuclear, Oil, Price liberalization, Railways, South Korea, Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013), Wind | Comments Closed

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