N. Korea Shows Signs of Opening Up, After Decades of Self-Imposed Isolation

November 9th, 2007

Washington Post
Blaine Harden
11/9/2007
Page A14

Choi Won-ho has made six trips to North Korea in the past two years, struggling each time to convince the reclusive government there that the time was ripe for a chicken franchise.

“I told those guys that Kentucky Fried Chicken would come sooner or later,” said Choi, president of a company that has franchised 70 chicken restaurants in South Korea. “I told them it would be better to have an indigenous Korean brand, with takeout delivery.”

To Choi’s astonishment, his pitch is now falling on receptive ears in Pyongyang. This month, he plans to open the first foreign-run restaurant in the North Korean capital in the history of the Stalinist dictatorship.

North Korea is opening up to much more than fast-food chicken.

A team of U.S. experts is in North Korea this week to start disabling three key facilities at the Yongbyon nuclear site — just 13 months after the government of Kim Jong Il stunned the world by exploding a nuclear device. The disabling process was off to “a good start,” a State Department official said Tuesday.

And as part of an extraordinary spurt of diplomacy, senior officials from Pyongyang have been touring Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Africa and Russia in recent months. In the same vein, relations with five countries have been initiated or renewed since summer.

Officials from the New York Philharmonic were welcomed this fall to Pyongyang, where they inquired about holding a concert next year, and a North Korean taekwondo team made its first visit to the United States in September. Last week, the U.S. Navy helped out a North Korean cargo ship that had been attacked by pirates off the coast of Somalia.

In the wake of a summit last month with South Korea, the North is also opening up to a new kind of tourism. It will allow nonstop flights from Seoul to a mountain resort called Mount Baekdu.

The decision — ballyhooed this week on the front page of a state-controlled North Korean newspaper — would for the first time in 62 years give travelers a direct connection from South Korea to the resort without a detour through China.

All this seems to add up to something of significance in the long effort to persuade North Korea to abandon nuclear weapons and emerge from decades of self-imposed isolation, according to Christopher R. Hill, assistant secretary of state for East Asian affairs and the principal U.S. negotiator in six-nation nuclear talks.

“In the past, North Korea often spoke of their isolation as a great benefit for their country,” Hill told reporters in Tokyo last weekend. “I think they’ve understood it now as something that is actually harming them, and that the best-case scenario for what they’re doing is to believe that perhaps it is part of an overall effort to open up.”

Hill said that not everyone in North Korea agrees that opening up is a good idea and that whatever happens is “going to be a slow process.” In Seoul, South Korean Defense Minister Kim Jang-soo told reporters that the North is continuing to buy weapons. “We cannot conclude that the threat from North Korea has been reduced,” Kim said.

But Hill sounded genuinely optimistic about the North’s recent gestures.

He said officials in China, which shares a border with North Korea and is its most important ally, have also noticed signs of economic reform in the North. “The Chinese, who probably know the DPRK best, believe that there is an effort on the part of the DPRK to open up,” Hill said, using the initials of the North’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

North Korea’s recent high-level contact with Vietnam, another communist state that has opened its economy, is “very interesting,” Hill said. North Korea’s premier, Kim Yong Il, who is in charge of economic policy, traveled last week to the Southeast Asian country, where he visited a port, a coal mine and an industrial zone.

A breakthrough in the six-party talks occurred last month, when Pyongyang agreed to disable its nuclear-processing facilities and disclose all of its nuclear programs in exchange for aid, trade and a U.S. agreement to move toward removing the country from its list of states that sponsor terrorism.

The cause of that breakthrough, in the view of many Western and Korean analysts, was a burst of intense and pragmatic U.S. diplomacy after North Korea’s nuclear detonation last year.

Since Hill’s subsequent outreach to his diplomatic counterparts in North Korea, Kim Jong Il has come to believe that he can negotiate with the Bush administration, said Koh Yu-hwan, a professor of North Korean studies at Dongguk University in Seoul.

“The Bush administration is not going to be around for long, and North Korea is worried about losing momentum,” Koh said. The economy of the North desperately needs the outside investment that would come if the United States removes the terrorist listing, he noted.

If that designation is still in place when Bush leaves office in January 2009, officials in North Korea fear they will have to start all over with a new administration, costing them years, Koh said. “The North cannot wait that long,” he said. “The economy there is in too much trouble. The reason you see noticeable change in the North now is that they have an incentive to act.”

Even with that incentive, any opening up of North Korea is certain to be slow and quirky.

A case in point is Choi and his push north with fast-food chicken.

Choi received an e-mail this week from his joint-venture partners in Pyongyang demanding changes in the words and the font used in brochures for the chicken restaurant. The partners are from a government-owned company.

The e-mail said the brochures could not include any descriptions of chicken dishes derived from English. “Chicken fry-ee-doo,” a term widely used in South Korea, was unacceptable and must be changed to more authentic Korean language, the e-mail said.

The partners from Pyongyang also insisted that the chicken brochures be printed in the official North Korean national font.

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Are the Residents of Samjiyeon Subject to Forced Mass Relocation for Baekdu Mountain Trip Project?

November 9th, 2007

Daily NK
Moon Sung Hwee
11/9/2007

The conservative wing in South Korea purported that the opening of the direct Seoul-Baekdu air route would not lead to reforms and open-door policies of North Korea as proved in the case of Geumkang Mountain sightseeing. Hyundai Asan Co. and Korean Asia-Pacific Peace Committee of North Korea have just made a contract for the direct airline staring May next year.

Individuals who travel Mt. Geumkang by land will pass Yuongwoong Middle School, and Onjeong-ri and Yangji village on both sides of the road, all of which are walled off from tourists. Even in Geumkang Mountain, many places are enclosed with iron railings and armed soldiers are guarding them.

Many defectors originally from the Mt. Baekdu areas say that the locals have relatively ease access to the mountain, and so the sightseeing tour of Baekdu Mountain would bring considerable impact on the locals.

The sightseeing tour of Mt. Baekdu passes through Lake Cheonji and Yimyungsoo Waterfall, both of which are popular visiting places for many locals, and Samjiyeon ski resort is located in nearby villages.

Furthermore, every year hundreds of thousands pay a visit to many revolutionary sites in Mount Baekdu. When the tour begins in May next year, the locals and visitors would inevitably run into South Korean tourists. Many people wonder what the North Korean authorities would do about the contact before tourism begins.

According to the Hyundai Asan Co., tourists will fly a direct airline to Samjiyeon Airport and stay at either Sobacksu Visitor’s Hall or Begaebong Hotel. Then, they will visit Sobaeksu Forest, Yimyungsoo Waterfall, Mangchun Peak, Jangkoon Peak and Cheonji Lake.

Tourists must pass through the downtown of Samjiyeon in order to get to Mount Baekdu from Samjiyeon Airport. Unlike Onjong-ri located nearby Geumkang Mountain, it is difficult to close off many places in the Baekdu Mountain areas especially those densely populated villages around Yimyungsoo Waterfall and Samjiyeon ski resort.

In July, 2005, Hyundai Corporation had also once made a contract with North Korea for the development of the Baekdu Mountain areas for tourism. But it was not successful back then because North Korea had a conflict with the Hyundai over economic cooperation and so grew reluctant to cooperate with the corporation as the day for a pilot sightseeing to Mt. Baekdu approached. Moreover, It was difficult for the North Korean authorities to ignore the fact that hundreds of thousands of people make a field trip to many revolutionary sites in the Mt. Backdu areas every year.

The Mt. Baekdu areas have many national treasures such as Mt. Baekdu Billet publicized as Kim Jong Il’s birthplace, the so-called “slogan tree” (referring to those cherished trees which are inscribed with anti-Japanese slogans and the eulogy for Kim Il Sung, and supposedly carved by Kim Il Sung’s soldiers during his anti-Japanese struggle), and many other historical sites and monuments. In fact, Mr. Baekdu is considered sacred and lies at the center of “Su-Ryeong Absolutism” (the idolization of the late Kim Il Sung). The North Korean authorities use the national treasures in Mt. Baekdu to mystify Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.

The itinerary of North Korean people who make a field trip to Mt. Baekdu for two nights and three days is planned as follows. First, they arrive to Samjiyeon Pond by train, and visit Kim Jong Il’s birthplace and Samjiyeon Monument. Next day, they go to Lake Cheonji. On the last day, they pay a visit to the first slogan tree at Gunchang Billet and Begaebong Billet, and Yimyongsoo Waterfall. The problem is that the itinerary of North Korean field trippers is the same as that of South Korean tourists.

Therefore, it is not clear yet whether the North Korean authorities would really open the tourist route in the Mt. Baekdu areas for South Koreas as scheduled in May next year.

It seems that the North Korean authorities allowed the development of Mt. Baekdu because they now have the knowledge and skill to manage tourism business from years of experience of operating Geumkang Mountain tourism business. In addition, the North Korean authorities might have figured out that tourism business normally does not directly lead to reforms and open-door policies.

It is impossible for the North Korean authorities to relocate all residents in the Mt. Baekdu areas. Therefore, they will likely relocate those who have “bad family background” among the residents. (North Korea is highly stratified by class based on family background.) Moreover, the authorities will likely build a block wall designed to keep the residents from encountering South Korean tourists, and construct a new road for tourists.

However, if the itinerary of North Koreans overlaps with that of South Korean tourists, two groups will inevitably have an encounter with each other. Even if North Korean field trippers go on foot and South Koreans travel by bus, two groups will confront each other at tourist attractions such as Samjiyeon Pond, Samjiyeon Monument, Begaebong Peek, Gunchang, and Lake Cheonji.

The North Korean authorities may have North Koreans make a field trip to Mt. Baekdu between November and April during which Samjiyeon Airport has to be closed due to ice on the runaways, and therefore the sightseeing trip is unavailable.

In other words, Mt. Baekdu will be available for half a year for North Korean field trippers and for the rest half for South Korean tourists. However, that is not likely to be a solution since it is difficult to make a trip to Mt. Baekdu during winter due to bad weather conditions. Indeed, the authorities have been restricting the field trip to Mr. Baekdu during the winter period.

A defector from Yangkang Province said, “The authorities may build a new road for tourists or change the tourism schedule.” The defector added, “Once the tour begins, North Korean field trippers will take more interest in South Korean tourists than the legendary struggle for revolution by Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il.”

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North Korea opens up its mountain

November 9th, 2007

Asia Times
11/9/2007

[excerpt]
North Korea said this week it will allow a South Korean business group to start sightseeing tours of a scenic mountain on its border with China next year, as agreed at a recent inter-Korean summit of leaders.

Pyongyang’s contract with the Hyundai Group will enable South Koreans to visit the 2,744-meter-high Mt Paektu by direct flight. Currently, South Koreans can only visit the Chinese side of the mountain.

“Both sides agreed to start the tour of noted places on Mt Paektu from May of 2008,” the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA)said of the contract signed between Hyundai Group chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun and Choe Sung-chol, vice chairman of the Asia-Pacific Peace Committee, a North Korean state organization handling inter-Korean affairs.

Hyun, back from a five-day trip to North Korea, met reporters in Seoul and confirmed the contract. “Under the agreement, Hyundai Group will have exclusive rights to operate the tourism business to Mt Paektu for 50 years,” Hyun said, disclosing that she also met with the North’s top leader, Kim Jong-il, during her stay in the communist country.

The sightseeing tour of the tallest mountain on the Korean Peninsula expands Hyundai’s business with North Korea, which currently includes a cross-border tour of Mt Kumgang on the North’s east coast. More than 1 million South Koreans have visited the mountain since the tours started in 1998.

Most Koreans regard Mt Paektu as a holy area where their mythical leader, Tangun, descended from heaven and established a kingdom. North Korea claims that its current leader, Kim Jong-il, was also born there 65 years ago, an event heralded by the appearance of a double rainbow over the mountain and a new star in the heavens. (However, former Soviet Union records show he was born in Siberia, in 1941, where his father, Kim Il-sung, commanded the 1st Battalion of the Soviet 88th Brigade, made up of Chinese and Korean exiles.)

North Korea also claims that the mountain was a base for the independence movement against Japan’s colonial rule of Korea led by the communist nation’s founder, Kim Il-sung, in the early part of the 20th century.

Hyundai has been at the vanguard of business with North Korea since its founder, Chung Ju-yung, crossed the heavily armed demilitarized zone with truckloads of cattle in 1997. Hyundai’s business in North Korea also includes the Kaesong industrial complex, where about two dozen garment and other labor-intensive South Korean firms operate with the labor of more than 15,000 North Korean workers. The project started as a result of the first-ever inter-Korean summit in 2000.

Establishing tourism to Mt Paektu was a lifelong dream of Chung Ju-yung, who died in 2001. Chung handed over the group’s North Korean business arm to his fifth son, Mong-hun, who committed suicide in 2003 amid suspicions that the group was involved in the government’s secret transmittance of huge sums of money to Pyongyang in return for the 2000 summit. His wife, Hyun, immediately took charge of the business.

“My trip to the North was very productive,” Hyun said. “Details of the Mt Paektu business will be discussed at the working level.”

Speaking about her meeting with the North Korean leader, she said “I met him for the first time in two years. He asked about my daughter and we talked a lot about personal things.” Hyun said she is happy to realize her father-in-law’s dream.

In addition, the North’s Asia-Pacific Peace Committee decided to grant Hyundai Group the right to conduct tours of the Kaesong area. “Both sides agreed to start the tour of historic sites and scenic places in the Kaesong area from early December 2007,” the KCNA reported.

Meanwhile, the South Korean government, together with the Hyundai Group, plans to survey Mt Paektu this month to prepare for the start of tours next year, industry sources said. “The preliminary survey by government officials and Hyundai will thoroughly check Mt. Paektu,” said an official from Hyundai.

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DPRK Workers’ party focuses on building economic powerhouse

November 8th, 2007

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 07-11-8-1
11/8/2007

According to the November 6th issue of the Chosun Shinbo, a newspaper published by the General Association of (North) Koreans in Japan, North Korea has taken an opportunity at the “National Meeting of Secretaries of Cells of the Workers” Party” (Pyongyang, October 26~27), the first held in the last 13 years, to shift the focus of the Workers’ Party to “building a great economic nation”. North Korea also specifically reported the policy goal of building the North into an economic powerhouse by issuing reports through each of its media outlets. In the October 23rd edition of the Workers’ Party newspaper, Rodong Shinmun, Party officials called for a “struggle to create a great economic nation.”

According to the Chosun Shinbo, “By tasking the highest organs of the Party with focusing on the realization of economic policy, we are effectuating a shift in operations to cope with a new era,” and, “at this conference, the construction of the Party’s great economic nation was organized, and the project and plans for increasing the role of Party cells were discussed.”

Party cells are the smallest units of the Workers’ Party, and these cell secretaries are responsible for the front line of Party policy implementation. The Workers’ Party Central Committee’s congratulatory address at the conference stressed the need for a “united march to construct a great economic nation and improve the lives of the people,” and stated that the Party understood that economic issues were at the heart of Party cell concerns.

In the conference report, it was stressed that it was Kim Jong Il’s firm determination and will that “through Military-First politics, not only are the country and military number one in our ideology, but that we make economics number one as well, in order to live well without feeling envious of others.” According to the newspaper, “As the political environment surrounding North Korea is changing, when this conference’s decision to stress the goal of building a great economic nation is carried out by the highest organs of the Party, it will be an important shift in all Party undertakings.”

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Trade between divided Koreas rises 23 percent in first 10 months

November 7th, 2007

Yonhap
11/7/2007

Bilateral trade between the two Koreas increased by 23 percent in the first 10 months of the year due mainly to an increase in shipments of goods produced at the South Korea-built industrial complex in the communist North, the Unification Ministry said Wednesday.

The two-way trade volume jumped to nearly US$1.44 billion in the January-October period, up from $1.16 billion from a year earlier, according to the ministry.

“The rise mainly comes from a 48 percent increase in the amount of goods shipped from Kaesong,” a ministry official said, adding trade in some other areas, such as minerals and fisheries, increased by nearly 50 percent year-on-year.

Exchanges in non-commercial areas, however, dropped by 18 percent, according to the ministry official.

Seoul hopes cross-border trade will continue to increase over the coming years as the sides are about to launch a second development plan to expand the Kaesong industrial complex, where about two dozen South Korean companies are currently employing some 10,000 North Korean workers.

The joint industrial complex is expected to house over 2,000 South Koreans businesses and employ as many as 500,000 North Koreans when it is fully developed by a target year of 2012.

President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have also agreed to develop the North’s western Haeju area as a special economic district in the second-ever inter-Korean summit held in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang early last month.

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North Korean Economy Does Not Have a Basis for Development

November 7th, 2007

Daily NK
Yang Jung A
11/7/2007

Although the North Korean economy has been growing since late 1990s, it is hard to say that the economy has growth on its own.

A senior researcher at the Korea Institute for National Unification, Choi Su Young, released a paper titled “the Latest Tendency of the North Korean Economy” in the October “Finance,” which is issued by Korea Federation of Banks. He pointed out in the paper that “North Korea’s economic reliance on China is getting serious and cited the state’s 1.7 billion dollars in trade with China.”

He explained “On one hand, North Korea exports to China in 2006 increased to 72.7% compared with exports in 2002; on the other hand, imports from China increased to 163.8%. This resulted in a recorded deficit of 760 million dollars. The rate of North Korean trade reliance on China was 48.5% in 2004, and it reached 60% last year.”

He relayed that “In the production industry, North Korea has to rely systematically on China’s raw materials, energy, facilities and parts. North Korea is importing its entire amount of petroleum for transportation and production. Chinese influence on the North Korean economy is so absolute that 70-80% of consumer products are made in China.

Mr. Choi insists that “Although foreign aid and South-North economic cooperation were expanding and its reliance on the influx of foreign currency was great, North Korea was staying in low-growth status, which means North Korea does not have the economic foundation for development.

According to the report, the scale of exchange between the South and the North was rapidly increasing through the annual provision of South Korean rice and free fertilizer supporting and South Korean enterprises’ activities at the Kaesung Industrial Complex.

With the exception of South Korea and China, there are no countries willing to invest in North Korea. Most developed countries turn away from North Korea because the standard and environment related to North Korean investment are significantly inferior to the norm.

He explained that “The North Korean investment environment is inconvenient for foreign investors due to obsolete infra-structures, high distribution costs and limited markets. It is unnecessary to mention the international policies related to North Korea.”

Mr. Choi added that “The scale of North Korean foreign trade was 2 billion dollars in 2000 and reached 3 billion dollars in 2006. Exports amounted to 950 million dollars and imports came to a total of 2.05 billion dollars.”

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American Tourists in the DPRK 2008

November 7th, 2007

According to the Koryo Tours website, the DPRK will once again be performing Arirang in 2008.  This time around, American tours have been extended by a full day.  Where as previous tours ran from Saturday to Tuesday, now they will run from Tuesday to Saturday (matching the days that Air Koryo flies to Beijing).

I saw the Mass Games in 2005 with Kim Jong Il himself (official coverage, Simon’s coverage).  It was quite an experience.  You will never see anything like it.

Traditionally the Mass Games have only been held on big holidays (typically on notable anniversaries: 10,15, 20, etc.)  This is now the fourth year in a row that Arirang will be performed (2005, 2006, 2007, 2008), a show that was first performed in 2003 (I think).

To the Americans out there: it is not illegal and will not put you on any kind of watch list.

Warning: flooding in October has interrupted trips the last two years!

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No More Old-fashioned Chinese Stuff. We like South Korean Culture

November 7th, 2007

Daily NK
Moon Sung Hwee
11/7/2007

A source inside North Korea reported on November 5th that the North Korean Ministry of Education lately directed every school to stress the importance of the Korean language education and to encourage the use of the mother tongue.

In a phone interview with DailyNK, the source said, “At workplace, there are those who read out to the workers a handbook titled ‘Let’s maintain our superior morals and actively promote the use of our mother tongue!’”

In the March 2007 edition of “Learning Culture & Language,” Jong Soon Ki, the most well-known linguist in North Korea and a professor at the Institute of Linguistics of Social Science Center, urged the public to stop admiring English and Chinese language, saying, “The difference of our mother tongue between North and South Korea has been getting larger since the division of Korean.”

The source said that the North Korean authorities started to place high importance on the native tongue in an attempt to stop the surge in the use of the Chinese and foreign languages which have been spread to the country through the circulation of South Korean soap operas since 2000.

After the food crisis in the mid-1990s, the number of defectors, border traders, and Chinese businessmen investing in North Korea have increased, which helped the Chinese culture spread into the country. Many young North Korean began to display interest in Chinese movies, Chinese products and the Chinese language. It became popular among them to read out the brand names of Chinese products in Chinese.

In North Korea, people use the Chinese words “yaoyunji (搖運機)” or “yaoyun (搖運)” for a remote control. They do not use its Korean name “wonkyuk-jojonggi,” translated and adopted by the North Korean authorities.

As for a cell phone, people use its Chinese name “Dakeda (大可大)” or “Souji (手機)” rather than its North Korean name “Sonjeonhwa (literally meaning a handphone).” Blue jeans are called “Niuzaiku,” in the border areas, a refrigerator is called its Chinese name “Bingxiang (冰箱)” and VCD “Woicidie.” Indeed, many products or medical supplies are called their Chinese names such as “Kouhong” for a lipstick.

The use of foreign languages has become more prevalent across the country especially since 2003 when the frenzy over Chinese culture was replaced by its South Korean counterpart. It is particularly noticeable that North Korean people no longer call South Korea “South Chosun” as they used to but call it “Hankuk (meaning the Republic of Korea).” In these days, the young people in Pyongyang look down on those who still use the old name, “South Chosun.”

The source said, “South Korean culture is taking over the Chinese one, and the demand for the South Korean films and products is increasing. People learn new words from South Korean soap operas and these words are becoming popular.”
The source added, “I guess this is because South Korea is better off than China, and people have a sense of homogeneity towards South Korean people.”

“Nowadays, when people go to restaurants, they do not use the words “siksa annae” or “siksa pyo,” a Korean name for a menu. Instead, many people just call it “menu” as it is pronounced in English and widely called so in South Korea,” said the source.

The source continued, “We can see how rapidly the South Korean culture has spread into the country by the fact that many people no longer use the Chinese name for a cell phone, Shouji (手機) and instead use the name ‘Hyudaephone’ as it is called in South Korea.” The source said, “At Jangmadang (markets), people casually say the names of South Korean products as they are such as “Cuckoo (rice cooker)” or “Color TV.”

When asked about the popular words adopted from South Korean culture, he listed following words: “diet,” “wellbeing,” “music video,” “sausage,” “single,” “wife,” “dress,” “pop song,” and “fast food.” (See that all of them are English words. In South Korea, people use many English words like the one listed here in everyday life)

32-year old Kim Kyung Wuk (pseudonym), who defected from Kyungsung county of North Hamkyung Province and recently came to South, also confirmed this phenomenon.

Kim said, “In the past when people feel distressed, they expressed their feeling using the word, ‘uljukhada’. But now many young people use the words ‘jajeong’ or ‘stress’ as South Korean people do.” Kim added, “The North Korean people did not know the word ‘stress’ when they first heard it from South Korean movies they watched only three years ago. But now even the old people know the new word.”

Many defectors say that many new words adopted from South Korean TV dramas are being spread into the country especially among the young people such as “miss-Korea (a beautiful woman),” “show (fake),” “ssonda (I will treat you),” “hwakeun (passionate),” “single” and “wife.”

Kim said, “Those who watch South Korean dramas and listen to its music take a great interest in everyday language of the South, and try to adopt it as long as they could escape the state’s regulation.”

Defectors said that the current phenomenon illustrates that North Korean people admire the South Korea and greatly hope for reforms and open-door policy.

Lee Chul Min, the operating manager at the Association of the North Korean defectors said, “For those who live in a closed society, exposure to foreign cultures can be a really fresh experience. It is natural of them to admire more advanced societies and cultures.” Lee added, “The current frenzy over South Korean culture will help bring a change into North Korea and overcome the differences between two Koreas.”

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Mt. Geumgang peak to be opened to visitors

November 7th, 2007

Korea Herald
11/7/2007

Beginning in April next year, South Korean tourists will be able to climb Birobong, the highest peak of Mount Geumgang in North Korea, Hyundai Asan officials said yesterday.

According to the South Korean tour operator in North Korea, Hyundai Asan officials will meet North Korean officials later this month to discuss the specifics.

Company officials said that the Birobong course will be an extension of the current Naegeumgang course, which allows tourists to go hiking on the inner part of the mountain. This course opened in June of this year.

The popularity of this course has shot up since Hyundai Asan lifted the number of maximum visitors from 150 per week to 150 per day, company officials said.

Birobong is 1,638 meters high; the mountain itself is 40 kilometers wide, east to west, and 60 kilometers long, north to south.

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DPRK Economic Revival Campaign Redefined

November 6th, 2007

Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES)
NK Brief No. 07-11-6-1
11/6/2007

Following the economic turmoil of the early 1990’s, the North Korean Workers’ Party adopted the slogan of ‘salvation through our own efforts’ for its economic revival campaign. Recently, signs of change in that campaign have been apparent.

On October 30, the Rodong Sinmun, the DPRK socialist party’s newspaper, printed an editorial headlined, “Let’s hold the ‘salvation through our own efforts’ banner even higher and go forward,” in which it explained, “Our strengthening of the [campaign] in no way means building the economy while ignoring the relationship with the international economy.”

In the past, the economic campaign encouraged the mobilization of outdated technology and methods in areas that were seen as lacking, but without fail, to do so independently. Now, the campaign has shifted toward being based on ‘modern science and technology’ and ‘utility’.

The article emphasized, ‘turning our back to science and technology and not relying on science is tantamount to not revolutionizing,” and “if you make world-wide vanguard technology your own and actively use it, that is ‘salvation through our own efforts.”

The newspaper highlighted childrearing, excavation, and mobilization as the three most important areas in which science and technology would play a role as the foundation the newly defined economic revival campaign. The latest twist came when the article purported that utility would be the new foundation for the campaign. “The future [campaign] for the 21st century is a [campaign] based on utility,” and, “economic projects in which the people can see no virtue, and which can give no benefits to the nation are absolutely meaningless.”

In particular, “It is easy to rely on capitalist elements in the economic sector,” and, “if we do not have the will to overcome obstacles and move forward, strange, non-socialist factors will enter [our society] and shake the physical foundation of socialism.”

The article portrays the idea that even if, through inter-Korean economic exchange and transactions with the international community, capitalist elements of the outside world enter the North, ultimately they would not get in the way of bracing up the socialist system, and the current regime could be maintained by adopting a utilitarian economic revival campaign.

It would be difficult to interpret this Rodong Sinmun editorial as a green light for opening up North Korea. However, it does appear to indicate a decision to redefine the campaign to reach ‘salvation through our own efforts’ due to the recognition that the North cannot survive in isolation, and that outside assistance is necessary in order to revive the economy.

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