NK NEWS BRIEF | July 17, 2013

Portraits of KIS and KJI on the walls of a cabin in a NKorean ship seized in the Panama Canal | Photo: Carlos Jasso/Reuters

NK INTERNAL

• KCNA: Six people have died and hundreds left homeless after flooding due to heavy rainfall on the Korean peninsula, which also caused deaths in SK. KCNA also reported that NK is being affected by global warming more than other countries. The SKorean Meteorological Administration forecasts continued heavy rainfall for NK’s central regions over the next week.

• The latest CIA estimates have the NK population at 24.72 million and life expectancy at 69.5 years, up from 69.2 years in 2012. SKorean life expectancy is ten years higher at 79.5 years.

• NFI: NKorean police officers will often stop cars and siphon off some of their gas, then barter the fuel off to other drivers for items. Source: “Since there aren’t that many cars in North Korea, there are often cases where drivers and traffic police know each other. When drivers run out of gas, they ask the traffic cop for a top-up. They usually offer not money, but some item in exchange. In that way, they get on by bartering with each other.”

• Daily NK insights from interviews with recent defectors: “There is growing criticism of the authorities for their policy of forced acquisition of rice for consumption by the military, too. Ordinary citizens are particularly angered at enhanced regulation of private corn and rice trading.”

ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY

• KCNA reported that the Cabinet held an enlarged meeting presided over by Premier Pak Pong-ju to review the fulfilment of the country’s economic plan in H1 and resolve to fulfil the economic plan for the rest of the year, including construction of the Masik Pass which has been prioritized by KJU.

• RFA: In an attempt to enact KJU’s reforms, the Workers’ Party has tightened its control of economic policy by creating a centralized department with branches throughout the nation, in order to formulate and oversee policies ranging from appointment of top economic officials to approval of companies and implementation of foreign exchange controls.

• UN FAO: “An estimated 2.8 million vulnerable people require food assistance until the next harvest in October.”

• Bank of (South) Korea report: NK’s economy expanded by 1.3% in 2012, up from a 0.8% expansion in 2011 and the fastest growth rate in four years due to growth in the manufacturing sector, and a steady increase of its cereal harvest with the help of fertilizers donated by international aid groups. NK’s per-capita income stood at 1.371 million SK won (1,222 USD), one nineteenth of SK’s level.

• Aid worker: New financial sanctions levied on N Korea after its third nuclear test this year risk pushing the country into a further humanitarian disaster by hindering relief efforts.

• NK and Mongolia are seen to be increasing exchanges and economic cooperation. As a landlocked country, Mongolia is said to be interested in the harbor at Rason.

HUMAN RIGHTS

• Call for submissions by the UN COI on NK.

REFUGEES

• Refugees featured in NKorean state media after their re-defection last year were recently caught in Yanji, China after escaping NK for the second time. A Saenuri lawmaker has called for the government and opposition to push for their release. “There is still doubt as to whether they returned to North Korea of their own accord or if they were lured by the North Korean authorities. But one thing we do know for sure is that the family of Kim Kwang Ho are citizens of South Korea wherever they are.”

• Daily NK on NK’s re-defector strategy: One man from North Hamkyung Province who spoke with his wife, who is still in NK, said, “NSA guys sometimes drop by our house to ask whether she has heard from her husband. They tell her that ‘we’ll forgive everything so tell him to come back.’ Then they leave.”

• Another re-defector Ko Kyung-hee has been sent to a prison camp, according to a SKorean lawmaker.

• SKorean activist: 64 NKoreans are being held for ransom in a rebel-controlled district in Myanmar. The refugees were caught by rebels on their way to Thailand via China, and have been held there for 1-9 years. Among them, men are shackled and exploited in forced labor on opium poppy fields, while women are forced to work at local restaurants, unlicensed liquor factories, as prostitutes for locals and Chinese.

• The ROKG is pushing to more than double next year’s budget from 2.04 billion won to 4.84 billion won (4.3 million USD) for aid projects in Laos as part of efforts to boost bilateral cooperation in dealing with NKorean defectors.

• SK’s Foreign Ministry also reportedly plans to set up a team dedicated to looking after the interests of NKorean refugees who have not yet reached SK.

• The number of resettled NKorean refugees in the US is now at 159.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY

• N-S talks failed to resolve differences in resuming operations at the KIC again, with each blaming the other. The ROKG wants to internationalize the complex and prevent similar future suspensions. SKorean workers were able to visit their factories to retrieve finished products and raw materials.

• NK has deferred talks over reopening the Mt. Keumgang resort and potential family reunions.

• NK replaced its 77-year-old head of the DPRK Red Cross with a 61-year-old. The change is seen as part of a series of changes of heads of institutions that deal with SK.

• SKorean Foreign Minister Yun: “Reunification issues have been taboo in bilateral relations, but [PRC] leaders this time spoke about them openly,” which indicates “how much bilateral ties have improved”. “The idea of some academics that North Korea is becoming a strategic burden to China rather than a buffer state is now shared by the Chinese leadership.”

• Panama stopped a NKorean vessel trying to illegally sneak ‘sophisticated missile material’ through the Panama Canal. President Martinelli: “We had suspected this ship, which was coming from Cuba and headed to NK, might have drugs aboard so it was brought into port for search and inspection. When we started to unload the shipment of sugar we located containers that we believe to be sophisticated missile equipment, and that is not allowed.” The NKorean captain reportedly tried to commit suicide before his arrest. Cuba claimed that the weapons were obsolete defensive weapons that were to be repaired in NK and returned to Cuba.

• SKorean investigators blamed NK for the June 25th cyberattack on dozens of SKorean media and government websites.

• SK’s defense minister confirmed that he had asked the USG to reconsider the 2015 date set for OPCON (wartime operational control) transfer.  

• The new NK sanctions bill is building support in the US House of Representatives, with 95 cosponsors.

ANALYSIS AND OPINION

• Mansourov: “Current negotiations over the fate of Kaesong are just a gambit in the complex game Pyongyang is playing with Seoul. The North’s objective seems to be to transform the inter-Korean relationship in such a way that the perceived military threat from the South and its allies is reduced, the ROK’s economic and financial resources are mobilized for the DPRK’s economic development, and the legitimacy of Kim Jong Un and his regime are enhanced by demonstrating that he is the national leader who truly cares about unification. At the same time, Pyongyang seeks to undermine the ROK-US military alliance and curtail its own overwhelming dependence on China by exploiting the South Korean alternative.”

• Korea Times: Experts point out three differences between SK’s and China’s policies and goals concerning NK expressed during PGH’s recent summit with China. PGH, Xi, and Chinese Premier Li strongly emphasized ‘denuclearization’ during the summit, but Xi and Li emphasized denuclearization of the ‘Korean Peninsula,’ whereas Park emphasized denuclearization of NK. Xi stresses dialogue but focusing on a resumption of the Six Party, SK-NK and US-NK talks while PGH tends to interpret dialogue as strategic discussion between the US China and SK. Lastly, unlike China Park welcomes the so-called ‘pivot to Asia-Pacific’ by U.S.

MISC

• WSJ on the trend of SKorean films portraying NKorean spies in a more ‘personal’ way.

• WashPo on the reported hundreds of SKorean POWs still stuck in NK, and the few who have escaped.

• Chosun Ilbo: KJU is reportedly demanding 1m USD for his first foreign interview on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the Korean War armistice.

• Global Times on ethnic Chinese living in NK, of which it says there are 5,000 living mostly in PY and Sinuiju. They are treated as foreigners and therefore excluded from posts in the govt, however they can make money from cross-border trade. They also face challenges in gaining Chinese citizenship if they want to, and 500 have even reportedly become stateless by staying in China too long so that their NKorean citizenship is revoked but without being able to gain Chinese citizenship.

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