North Korean Economy Watch

The Survival of North Korea: Essays on Strategy, Economics and International Relations
Suk Hi Kim, Bernhard Seliger, Terence Roehrig
Order at Amazon.com

About the Book
Since the end of the Cold War, scholars and analysts have been predicting the collapse of the communist regime in North Korea. Yet, despite a deteriorating economy characterized by declining industrial output, outdated technology, and difficulty feeding its people, the country has been able to persist in spite of these daunting obstacles and continues to plod along. How has North Korea been able to survive, and how long can it last without significant change to its economic and political structures? How can we peacefully resolve the North Korean nuclear standoff through constructive dialogue? This book examines North Korea’s survival strategy and practical solutions to a fifty-year nuclear standoff through a series of essays written by thirteen of the world’s foremost scholars and leading experts on strategy, economics, and international relations. The Survival of North Korea, edited by Kim, Roehrig, and Seliger, is essential reading for anyone interested in peace in Northeast Asia. The book will be invaluable in helping policy-makers, diplomats, politicians, researchers, and other North Korea watchers to understand the three closely related issues about North Korea: (1) why North Korea will continue to survive; (2) how the United States and North Korea can build a mutual confidence; and (3) why a dialogue is the only viable way to resolve the North Korea problem peacefully.

______

U.S.-DPRK Educational Exchanges: Status and Future Prospects
38 North
Karin J. Lee and Gi-Wook Shin
June 2011

______

My First Monitoring Trip
38 North
Erich Weingartner
June 2011

______

And I am a bit behind the ball on this one, but I have added the second Panel of Expterts Report (2011) on the DPRK to my DPRK Economic Statistics Page.

Below are links to some recent publications on particular aspects of the DPRK:

Engaging North Korea: The Role of Economic Statecraft
East-West Center
Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland
Policy Studies, No. 59

KPA Journal, Vol. 2, No. 4 – April 2011
Joseph Bermudez
Topics: MiG-29 in KPAF Service, Organizaiton changes following SPA (Madden), Addendums

Exodus to North Korea Revisited: Japan, North Korea, and the ICRC in the “Repatriation” of Ethnic Koreans from Japan
Japan Focus
Tessa Morris-Suzuki

I have now been notified by four individuals about recent hacking attempts.  I have posted the emails these individuals received below.  There are four different messages.  I am happy to post these types of attacks, but if you receive one, please consult with an IT professional about obtaining the “email header”. This is what is most valuable to IT security professionals.  Please send me the “email header” to post (see below for an example).

Below are the four malicious emails of which I am aware:

Email 4: Targeted at one known individual

From: Suzan Park
Date: Fri, May 27, 2011 at 7:02 AM
Subject: interview questions
To:

Hi, this is Park of NCN News.
We are producing a documentary on “International Status of Northeast Asian Countries in Perspective of Soft Power”.
I was informed you are professional in this field.
It would be grateful if you could answer the interview questions about this documentary.

Documentary & Questions Link is here : Focusing on Current Situations of North Korea

Best regards!
Park

The phrase “Focusing on Current Situations of North Korea”  links to “ncnbroadcasting.reportinside.net/producer/2011FocusingOnDPRK.hta”.

The header for this email can be found below

Email 3: Targeted at one known individual

From: Pam Benson <[email protected]>

Date: Tue, May 17, 2011 at 8:08 AM

Subject: FW: Kim Il Sung:the Great Hero of Mankind(ask your comments)

To: [DELETED]

I am forwarding the feature column : “Kim Il Sung: the Great Hero of Mankind”.

This writing concerns his great achievements.

The column is very realistic and beautiful.

I guess everyone who reads this column is impressed with his history.

I wonder what you think about this writing.

Thanks.

Sincerely Yours.

Attached to this email is a MS Word document titled, “Great Leader Kim Il Sung.doc”.  Do not open this attachment.

Email 2: Targeted at two known individuals

From: David L <[email protected]>

To:

Date: Thu, 12 May 2011 00:58:07 -0700 (PDT)

Subject: final draft

It’s been a long time since I last corresponded with you.

How have you been? I hope everything is well with you, your family.

Finally, The final draft was complete yesterday.

It will be announced next Month after collecting more opinions from experts in the field.

The Current Situation and Future Prospects in Northeast Asia : JAPAN, NORTH KOREA, SOUTH KOREA, CHINA

I look forward to sharing my insights with you once I receive your assessment.

I hope to hear from you soon .

Sincerely Yours,

David in Japan

The title underlined above was actually a link to the following: http://reportinside.net/draft/fainaldraft_201105.htaXX ( I added the XX at the end to prevent anyone from accidentally linking to the server).

Email 1: Targeted at one known individual

From:

Date: 2011/4/13

Subject: contact list

To:

Prof.

attach contact list

교수님

학회 명단 첨부합니다.

The email contained an attached MS Word document which contained the virus.

Keep your eyes open folks.  This has happened before.

Here is the header information from Email #4:

Delivered-To: XXXXX
Received: by 10.229.245.145 with SMTP id lu17cs38890qcb;
Thu, 26 May 2011 23:02:14 -0700 (PDT)
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by mx.google.com with SMTP id c8si774389icw.1.2011.05.26.23.02.12;
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Received-SPF: pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of [email protected] designates 98.138.91.132 as permitted sender) client-ip=98.138.91.132;
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X-Mailer: YahooMailWebService/0.8.111.303096
Date: Thu, 26 May 2011 23:02:12 -0700 (PDT)
From: Suzan Park <[email protected]>
Reply-To: Suzan Park <[email protected]>
Subject: interview questions
To: XXX
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=”0-1266752663-1306476132=:55224″

–0-1266752663-1306476132=:55224
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

Hi, this is Park of NCN News.
We are producing a documentary on “International Status of Northeast Asian Countries in Perspective of Soft Power”.
I was informed you are professional in this field.
It would be grateful if you could answer the interview questions about this documentary.

Documentary & Questions Link is here :Focusing on Current Situations of North Korea

Best regards!
Park
–0-1266752663-1306476132=:55224
Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii

<html><body><div style=”color:#000; background-color:#fff; font-family:times new roman, new york, times, serif;font-size:12pt”><div>Hi, this is Park of NCN News.<BR>We are producing a documentary on “International Status of Northeast Asian Countries in Perspective of Soft Power”. <BR>I was informed you are professional in this field. <BR>It would be grateful if you could answer the interview questions about this documentary. <BR><BR>Documentary &amp; Questions Link is here :<A href=htXtp://ncnbroadcasting.reportinside.net/producer/2011FocusingOnDPRK.hta> Focusing on Current Situations of North Korea</A> <BR><BR>Best regards! <BR>Park <IMG src=”hXttp://ncnbroadcasting.reportinside.net/producer/pga/page.php?no=010″ width=1 height=1> </div></div></body></html>
–0-1266752663-1306476132=:55224–

And here is some header information from Email #3:

Delivered-To: [DELETED]

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Tue, 17 May 2011 00:08:45 -0700 (PDT)

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Return-Path:

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Received-SPF: pass (google.com: best guess record for domain of [email protected] designates 98.138.90.250 as permitted sender) client-ip=98.138.90.250;

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Date: Tue, 17 May 2011 00:08:43 -0700 (PDT)

From: Pam Benson

Reply-To: Pam Benson

Subject: FW:Kim Il Sung:the Great Hero of Mankind(ask your comments)

To: “[DELETED]

MIME-Version: 1.0

Content-Type: multipart/mixed; boundary=”0-1151318799-1305616123=:82736″

–0-1151318799-1305616123=:82736

Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary=”0-1420268040-1305616123=:82736”

–0-1420268040-1305616123=:82736

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I am forwarding the feature column : “Kim Il Sung: the Great Hero of Mankind”.

This writing concerns his great achievements.

The column is very realistic and beautiful.

I guess everyone who reads this column is impressed with his history.

I wonder what you think about this writing.

Thanks.

Sincerely Yours.

–0-1420268040-1305616123=:82736

Content-Type: text/html; charset=us-ascii

1. Kim Commercials: Kim Jong-il has now been parodied in two commercials (of which I am aware). Here is the most recent from Sprite:

Click the image link to see the Chinese advert. It is on Youtube, so readers in China are out of luck…but you can see it on TV.

Here is a story about the video in the Korea Herald.

The advert spoofs a particularly interesting moment for Kim Jong-il: the only time his voice was broadcast on North Korean television. According to Wikipedia:

In 1992, Kim Jong-il’s voice was broadcast within North Korea for the first time during a military parade for the KPA’s 60th year anniversary in Pyongyang’s then Central Square (Kim Il-sung Square at present), in which Kim Il-sung attended with Kim Jong-il by his side. After Kim Il-sung’s speech, his son approached the microphone at the grandstand and simply said: “Glory to the heroic soldiers of the Korean People’s Army!” Everyone in the audience clapped and the parade participants at the square grounds (which included veteran soldiers and officers of the KPA) shouted “ten thousand years” three times after that.

Kim Jong-il’s voice has been broadcast in the western media more often than at home: here and here are just two examples.

And in case you have forgotten (or never seen it), there is an older (and funnier) parody commercial here. It still makes me laugh.

2. The DPRK’s Anti-radiation Tonic: The DPRK has apparently gone on the lookout for signs of radiation blowing into the country. But they don’t seem to be aware of their own “Anti-Radiation Tonic in Honey”:

Hat tip to the Kim Jong-un Blog.

Of course there would not be any of these problems if the DPRK would just license that fusion technology they developed!

3. Before it was legos, now: toy cars.

4. Viceland Today: The Third Korea (Lots of great pics from Yanbian)

1. Lots of artistic depictions of the DPRK’s traffic girls.

2. A North Korean defector runs a restaurant in the DC area.  I will have to check it out soon.

3. Hollywood is out of ideas.  Red Dawn, which I will confess to enjoying in my youth, is being remade.  This time the North Koreans are invading.  Really.

4. James Gandolfini (AKA Tony Soprano) will be portraying New Jersey’s Bar-B-Q ambassador to the DPRK. Non-fiction. Really.

5. DPRK advises people to use pets as earthquake early warning system.

6. Pyongyang goes pop: Jarvis Cocker unites the divided.

7. Aidan Foster-Carter really dislikes Homefront.

8. Protips for increased dictator longevity.

Images vis KCNA and the Daily NK:

Click images for larger versions

According to the Daily NK, the poster on the left states, “Let’s have a bumper crop this spring!”, and poster on the right shows people heading for the fields alongside trucks of fertilizer and rolls of vinyl plastic, and proclaims on the big sheaf of wheat that farming is the people’s “lifeline”.

According t KCNA:

A poster titled “Bring about a Great Innovation in Agricultural Production This Year!” (right) depicts an agricultural worker determined to bring a rich harvest, helpers rushing to a socialist cooperative field and vehicles carrying farm materials, etc. It makes a successful ideological and artistic representation of the firm will of the Korean people to thoroughly implement the WPK′s policy of agricultural revolution.

A poster entitled “Bring about a Rich Harvest of First Crop!” (left) calls for attaining the target of grain production without fail. It encourages the agricultural workers in their drive to achieve signal successes in the immediate spring farm work.