NK NEWS BRIEF | Dec 03, 2014

The scarcity of fuel exacerbates the harsh winter months for ordinary North Koreans | Photo: Adam Dean/Reuters

NK INTERNAL

• NYT: ROKG officials reported that the regime has banned parents from naming their children Jong-un, and those who already have the name have been ordered to register a name change.
• RFA: American Medical NGO ‘Christian Friends of Korea’ has begun providing solar energy lighting for NKorean TB patients. The goal is to install 60 solar energy lighting facilities by 2015.
• Daily NK: Despite electricity shortages, residents are provided with enough electricity around 8pm to watch the KCTV evening news broadcast. Yangkang Province source: “Up until the middle of last month, there was no power supply because of rice threshing operations, so it was rare to see any lights on, but just recently we’ve been seeing lights running in the evening again… During inminban [people’s unit] meetings, we’ve been told it’s so that people can watch the news.”
• Joongang Ilbo: The NIS’ Institute for National Security Strategy claimed that the 2nd round of purges began after the collapse of the apartment building in May, when KJU allegedly blamed the accident on the remnants of Jang Song-taek’s group. The report claims that 20 officials were either executed by firing squad or exiled from PY; in September, around 20 members of the Propaganda and Agitation Department and Organization & Guidance Department of the KWP were executed; and in October, around 10 KWP members were executed for their relationship with Jang Song-taek.
• Guardian: PY’s new tourist website, dprktoday.com, was launched despite the Ebola quarantine. The website details flight schedules into PY, features Juche tower and Masikyrong ski resort, and contains video tours of accommodations. However most of the content is in Korean.
• Xinhua: Drinking tea is becoming more popular in PY, where the number of teahouses are increasing. The most popular cafe in PY is known by the residents as “Silver Bell” and sells green and black tea at 150 KPW (cited as 0.02 USD) a cup. At a famous coffee shop in PY known as Pyolmuri, a variety of other choices are available, such as espresso, latte, cappuccino, macchiato, and mocha, each sold at 5 USD a cup.

ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY

• Daily NK: The price of fish increased in N Hamkyung province, due to the high cost of fuel and fishing supplies such as nets and ropes. Source: “The cost of one pollack, which went for around 5,000 KPW [cited as 0.60 USD] in the summer, fetches up to 8,000 KPW [cited as 0.96 USD] in the market currently, so the average person can’t afford to purchase any… Only a select few among the fishing companies associated with the military, and one or two out of Pyongyang channeling supplies back to the capital, can get out on the ocean.”

HUMAN RIGHTS

• Guardian: NK’s foreign ministry spokesman on the protests in Ferguson, Missouri: “This is clear proof of the real picture of the US as a tundra of human rights, where extreme racial discrimination acts are openly practised.”
• Washington Post, Shin Dong-hyuk: “In Camp 14, there was no concept of family. I did not know a child’s heart. We were starving animals competing against each other — betraying each other — for scraps of food. The feelings I have now for my father were learned only after I escaped the hell of that prison.”
• Yonhap: PGH at a reunification preparation committee meeting: “The issue of North Korea’s human rights must be improved to not only protect the universal values of mankind but for the future of a unified Korea.”

REFUGEES & BORDER SECURITY

• RFA: The Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada screened 497 NKorean refugee status applicants this year, but granted zero refugee status. The reinforced screening process weeded out applicants who were already granted resettlement rights and resources in SK, bringing the acceptance rate down from 70% in 2012 and 8% in 2013 (Korean).
• RFA: The USG granted refugee status to five more NKorean refugees in November, bringing the total number of resettled NKorean refugees in the US to 176 (Korean).
• RFA: Two defectors sang and celebrated Thanksgiving at a nursing home in LA. Defector Choi Han-na: “The defectors want to do something, rather than just receiving help. When we thought about the nursing home, we wanted to sing for the elders because they reminded us of our parents.” (Korean).

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY

• INTER-KOREAN: ROK special committee for development of inter-Korean relations chaired by NPAD Rep submitted a resolution to the National Assembly to resume inter-Korean talks without preconditions, such as family reunions, POW repatriation, and NK HR issues and food aid.
• Yonhap: Rodong Sinmun criticized SK’s National Security Law as a hindrance to inter-Korean relations: “Without abolishing the malicious national security law that hampers the democratization and unification, there could not be democracy and human rights in the South Korean society as well as improvement of inter-Korean ties.”
• RFA: Only 6 UN members (Australia, Denmark, Jordan, Mongolia, Philippines, and the UK) have submitted reports on executing the sanctions on NK to the UNSC Sanctions Committee this year. The sanctions include arms embargo, assets freeze, and travel restrictions (Korean).
• Daily NK: ROK MOU spokesman: “Our government believes the trial shipment of coal is the first step in cooperation between three countries–South and North Korea, and Russia–and that it carries significance as a project to realize the possibility of building the foundation for economic innovation in the South, peace in Northeast Asia, and the Eurasia Initiative… The government will provide the necessary support to ensure operations such as the Rajin-Khasan distribution project succeed in order to realize the Eurasia Initiative.”
• Yonhap: ROK MOD spokesman on the Aegibong Christmas tower reconstruction: “The CCK (Christian Council of Korea) sought (the government’s approval) to set up a Christmas tree temporarily and hold a lighting ceremony… The ministry accepted the request as their move was for inter-Korean peace and to guarantee their religious freedom.” The Christmas tree-shaped tower was dismantled in October, and will be brought down after two weeks of prayer from December 23.
• Yonhap: NPAD Rep quoted Chinese Amb to SK: “The THAAD would have a range of around 2,000 kilometers, which goes beyond the goal of countering missiles from North Korea… The deployment of the THAAD will badly influence the relations between South Korea and China … It would harm China’s security system.”
• Yonhap: SK’s chief nuclear envoy will visit Russia next month to meet with Russian minister Igor Morgulov. ROK MOFA official: “Under the situation where North Korea appears to be closer to Russia than its long-time ally of China, Hwang’s visit is expected to let us learn the most recent information on what Pyongyang has on its mind.”
• UNITED STATES: Adm. Harris, nominee for next commander of US Pacific Command: “Our most volatile and dangerous threat is North Korea, with its quest for nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them intercontinentally… I believe that North Korea is seeking asymmetrical advantages over us and our allies in the Pacific, and cyber is just one of those…”

ANALYSIS & OPINION

• Lankov on the May 30 measures: “According to these measures, from 2015, North Korean farming households (for ideological purposes still branded “production teams”) will be allocated not 30 percent but 60 percent of the total harvest. Additionally, farming households will be given large plots of land – some 3,300sq m – to act as their kitchen gardens… Of course, these are just plans and they have not yet been implemented. Nevertheless, recent changes in agriculture seemingly demonstrate that Kim Jong Un means business.”
• Center for Research on Epidemiology of Disasters via RFA: 1,400 NKoreans lost lives to natural disasters since 2005, and 7 out of 10 natural disasters in the past 10 years in NK were floods. The center pointed to extreme deforestation for procurement of farmlands as the cause of frequent flooding (Korean).
• Wang Hongguang, former Chinese General: “For instance, the DPRK’s possession of nuclear weapon and China’s request for it to give it up are based on different national interests. When it comes to major issues of principle, it’s unnecessary for China to sacrifice its own interests for those of the DPRK… That China has adhered to its stance on a series of issues of principle and opposed the DPRK’s actions detrimental to China’s national interests cannot be interpreted as “giving up the DPRK”… As a matter of fact, the DPRK has long abandoned Marxism and Leninism as the guiding thought for its party building. It has nothing in common with China ideologically, and it’s neither a proletarian party nor a socialist country in the real sense.”

MISC.

• VOA: Sony Pictures, the company behind the movie ‘The Interview’, was hacked by an unknown source. NK’s UN mission: “The hostile forces are relating everything to the DPRK. I kindly advise you to just wait and see.” Some experts remain skeptical of the notion that NK was behind the attack.
• NK News: The Pyongyang Times ran claims that the Ebola virus was a biological weapon designed by the United States.
• AFP: NK’s Asian Football Confederation official talked to reporters in Manila of Messi’s popularity in NK and said, “I want to invite him, because our children love him.”
• Defector Kim Yeong-mi on staying warm in the winter: “To get by, some Pyongyang residents have been secretly installing wood-burning stoves, so they use coal to heat the place. Some even use plastic sheets indoors just like a vinyl greenhouse. I’ve heard that recently a lot of electric heating mats are coming in from China. In other cases, some light up one 100W light bulb. But all of this is of no use if no power is running. More homes these days are using solar energy to run electricity. It’s not a surprise that people say things like ‘if you trust state power, you’ll freeze to death.’”

NK News Brief acronyms.

Sign up to receive the NK News Brief by email here.

Donate

Your generous donation will rescue and support North Korean refugees.

Donate

100% funds programs.