North Korean Economy Watch

Live television broadcasts in the DPRK

October 10th, 2010

It was widely reported this weekend that Kim Jong-un attended a May Day Stadium rally, the Mass Games, a dance performace in in Kim Il-sung square, and military parade in Pyongyang—his first live public appearances in front of “ordinary” North Koreans. See videos of these events here: Mass Games, dance performance, military parade. The military parade was broadcast live on North Korean television. Communist countries rarely allow live television broadcasts (because things like this might happen).

So how rare is a live television broadcasts in the DPRK? The Daily NK published a short list :

The only previous events the North Korean media is known to have broadcast live are the performance of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in Pyongyang in February, 2008 and two games in this year’s World Cup.

I was only aware of one World Cup 2010 game being shown live on North Korean television (the Portugal grudge match). What was the other game? Are you aware of any other live television broadcasts in the DPRK?

UPDATE: The two live football matches were DPRK v. Portugal (June 2010) and a qualifier between the DPRK and Iran (June 2009). Hat tip to a reader.

Posted in Television | 2 Comments »

Sinchon Street Market

October 7th, 2010

Even when the official marketplace is closed, there is still plenty of street trading.

Click image for larger version
38°21’32.50″N, 125°29’1.18″E
Sept 9, 2009
Google Earth/GeoEye

Sinchon also appears to be getting some 2012 construction support. The city is building a new stadium and park with open air theater and pavilion:

Click images for larger versions
38°21’16.36″N, 125°28’48.94″E
October 2, 2006 (L), Sept 9, 2010 (R)
Google Earth/GeoEye

Posted in 2012 Strong and Prosperous Nation (Kangsong Taeguk), Black markets, Construction, General markets (FMR: Farmers Market), Google Earth, Sports | Comments Closed

DPRK seeks Japanese luxury goods

October 7th, 2010

According to KBS:

A Japanese daily says North Korean officials have regularly bribed Japanese traders since Tokyo banned the export of luxury goods to North Korea in June of last year.

The Sankei Shimbun says North Korean officials in charge of importing luxury goods invited Japanese businesspeople to posh restaurants in places such as Dalian, China, several times and induced them into making illegal shipments.

Sankei said the North would first wire a lump sum of money in the several 100-million-won range to Japanese traders and then place orders for specific products afterwards.

In Japan, six smuggling cases of luxury goods to North Korea via China have been uncovered since June of last year.

Read the full story here:
Sankei: NK Bribes Japanese Firms to Import Luxury Goods
KBS
10/7/2010

Posted in International trade, Japan | Comments Closed

KPA units 851 and 681 in Wonsan?

October 6th, 2010

Two days ago, Kim Jong-un attended a live fire drill with Kim Jong-il. The drill was carried out by KPA Unit 851. The pictures released by the North Koreans seem to indicate that the drill was carried out at the Wonsan AFB (satellite image here):

Click image for larger version (KCNA).

In February 2009 Kim Jong-il attended a live-fire exercise in this same location, except the drill was carried out by KPA Unit 681. See a previous post about this here. It could be that they are the same unit and the name is changed, or it could be that the units have changed location, or it could be that two (or more) units are stationed at this base, or it could be that this is simply a test facility and all units come here to practice. I am not a military expert, so I am not going to spend much time trying to figure it out.

Hat tip to a reader.

Posted in Google Earth, Military | 3 Comments »

Inter-Korean trade up 51.3% in first half of 2010

October 6th, 2010

Institute for Far East Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 10-10-4-1
10/4/2010

Trade between the two Koreas in the first half of 2010 totaled 980 million USD, 51.3 percent more than the 650 million dollars-worth of trade last year. North Korea’s trade with China was also up, by 16.4 percent, to 1.28 billion USD. Kim Jong Il has made two trips to China and the North has taken other steps to boost cross-border trade with the Chinese.

According to a recent report comparing inter-Korean trade to that between North Korea and China, North-South trade in 2007 equaled 91 percent of Pyongyang’s trade with Beijing, but as inter-Korean relations chilled, that number fell to 65 percent in 2008. This year, that number climbed back up to 77 percent, largely because the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which has avoided political entanglement, has grown 96 percent since last year. Textiles and home electronics top the list of goods in inter-Korean trade, while minerals are the top item traded across the DPRK-PRC border.

North Korea’s import of South Korean goods increased by 63 percent to 430 million USD, while the North’s Chinese imports rose a mere 25 percent, but still totaled 930 million USD. 36 percent of South Korean exports to the North are raw materials for North Korean textile production, while 120 million USD-worth of electronics make up the second-largest export industry. Making up the largest sector, 27 percent (250 million USD) of North Korea’s imports from China are made up of minerals and crude oil, while textiles make up 12 percent and base metal resources make up 8 percent. South Korean imports have also grown 43 percent, to 550 million USD, since last year. In comparison, Chinese imports from North Korea shrunk one percent to 340 million USD. Clothing and other ready-for-market textiles made up 44 percent of North Korean exports to the South, while electrical and electronic goods made up 17 percent. Coal, iron, and other key resources made up 51 percent of DPRK exports to China, while zinc and other base metals make up approximately 20 percent.

Posted in China, Institute for Far Eastern Studies, International trade, South Korea, Statistics, Trade Statistics | Comments Closed

ROK lawmaker seeks to cut off PUST funding

October 6th, 2010

According to the Choson Ilbo:

A university in North Korea set up with South Korean funding has opened a research center devoted to studying former North Korean leader Kim Il-sung’s “Juche” or self-sufficiency ideology.

Pyongyang University of Science and Technology, which was established with South Korean funding, opened the research center after erecting a monument honoring Kim Il-sung, Grand National Party lawmaker Yoon Sang-hyun of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs, Trade and Unification Committee said Tuesday.

He showed a photograph as proof and added, “We must immediately halt further aid for the university, which has turned into a school that propagates the personality cult surrounding the Kim dynasty.”

The university was established with donations gathered by South Korea’s Northeast Asia Foundation for Education and Culture in order to help North Korea to train experts in information and technology, agriculture and biosciences and international trade. North Korea provided the land and labor while South Korea handled the hiring of faculty and management.

The university was scheduled to open in April this year but has apparently yet to begin operations. “North Korea rejected our offer to open an MBA school while demanding that the Juche ideology be included as a prerequisite for graduation,” Yoon said. He added Seoul must make sure to transfer no technology through the university, “since North Korea may use it to develop weapons of mass destruction.”

Satellite imagery of the Pyongyang University of Science and Technology (PUST) can be seen here.

Previous PUST posts can be seen here.

Read the full story here:
S.Korea-Funded University in Pyongyang ‘to Preach Stalinist Ideology’
Choson Ilbo
10/6/2010

Posted in Education, South Korea | Comments Closed

ROK preparing for psyops…

October 6th, 2010

According to the Choson Ilbo:

The Defense Ministry is preparing to enlarge the range of propaganda broadcasts and float radios to North Korea, which is refusing to admit responsibility for the sinking of the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan in March.

During a National Assembly audit of the Defense Ministry and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on Tuesday, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said the ministry is preparing to switch the format of propaganda broadcasts from FM to AM and float balloons carrying AM radios to the North so that North Koreans can listen to the broadcasts.

The South has in the past sent many radios to the North, Kim said. He added the balloons will also carry propaganda leaflets.

“We’ve already put psychological pressure on the North merely by installing loudspeakers for propaganda broadcasts at 11 locations” along the military demarcation line, the minister claimed. But he added that the government will not start the broadcasts and send the leaflets, which are ready, until the North launches a fresh provocation and there is therefore an urgent need to put pressure on the North.

The New York Times offers some good supplemental information:

After six years of quiet along the border, South Korea has reinstalled 11 sets of psychological warfare loudspeakers, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young said Tuesday in Seoul. He said his ministry had switched its transmitters to the easier-to-receive AM band and was ready to send thousands of AM radios and propaganda leaflets across the border using helium balloons.

A continuing balloon and leaflet campaign by South Korean civilians has angered the North Korean government, which suggests that it has been effective. The leaflets ridicule the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, and call for people in the North to rise up. North Korea insisted that the leaflet issue be put on the agenda of recent bilateral military talks.

…

North and South Korea agreed in 2000 to dismantle the loudspeaker systems along the border and to stop radio transmissions. There have been no loudspeaker blasts since 2004, although South Korea made a show of putting some speakers in place in May, after the sinking of a South Korean naval vessel, the Cheonan, in March. Forty-six sailors were killed. The North has denied any involvement.

Read the full story here
Gov’t in Drive to Send Radios to N.Korea
Choson Ilbo
10/7/2010

Posted in Radio, South Korea | 2 Comments »

Rumored pressure on FOREX

October 6th, 2010

According to Bloomberg:

The North Korean government has asked its people to sign a written promise saying they won’t use foreign currency, Radio Free Asia reported on its website, citing Chinese businessmen living near the border with North Korea.

Read the full story here:
North Korea Restricts Use of Foreign Currency Among Citizens, RFA Reports
Bloomberg
Seyoon Kim

Posted in Fiscal & monetary policy, International trade | Comments Closed

ROK believes DPRK disrupting GPS receivers

October 5th, 2010

According to the Choson Ilbo:

A mysterious intermittent failure of Global Positioning System receivers on naval and civilian craft in some parts of the west coastal region from Aug. 23-25 was “partly” caused by North Korea, Defense Minister Kim Tae-young claimed Monday.

During a parliamentary audit of the Defense Ministry, Grand National Party lawmaker Chung Mi-kyung asked the minster whether he thinks the GPS failure along the west coast in August was caused by North Korea.

“We believe that North Korea is capable of disrupting GPS reception within the distance of 50 to 100 km,” Kim said. “However, the detention of South Korean fishing boat Daeseung on Sept. 8 on the East Sea is irrelevant to this issue as it was too far away from North Korea.”

Since the late 1990s, North Korea imported from Russia equipment that disrupts GPS reception, modified it, and made its own version. It has also been trying to export the equipment to the Middle East, he said.

North Korea’s GPS interrupter is believed to be effective in preventing the South Korean and U.S. military’s GPS-guided bombs and missiles such as Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) from hitting their target accurately.

Back in 2008 the Choson Ilbo reported that the DPRK was selling GPS jamming equipment to the Middle East.

Read the full story here:
N.Korea ‘Partly’ Behind GPS Interruptions in East Sea
Choson Ilbo
10/5/2010

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

Bermudez publishes KPA Journal No. 1, Vol. 9

October 5th, 2010

Joseph Bermudez, military analyst for Jane’s Intelligence Review and author of The Armed Forces of North Korea, has published the ninth issue of his very fascinating KPA Journal.