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NK NEWS BRIEF | June 20, 2012
POSTED June 20, 2012
NK INTERNAL
- Reports claim that new NK National ID cards contain a code to instantly identify individuals blacklisted by the regime.
- Foreign journalists tour massive hydroelectric power plant that officials hope will provide half of Pyongyang’s energy demands.
- KINU reports that public executions are becoming less common in NK.
- Chinese tours to Mt. Geumgang to restart.
- Statistics Without Borders sends instructors to NK.
- NK holds ceremony marking June 15 Joint Declaration, reports Yonhap News and NK Leadership Watch.
- Watch a NK propaganda video on the topic (only in Korean).
- NK Leadership Watch reports recent promotions and demotions of key figures in the regime.
FOOD AID & FOOD SECURITY
- The recent drought in the western regions of NK continues to cause international concern. The story has been covered by CCTV and CBS. GIEWS report on food security, FAO report on the recent drought.
- NK state media has also acknowledged the drought. The Pyongyang Times reported on June 2 that “in most parts of the country, except Ryangang and Jagang Provinces, there has been no rainfall since April 26. […] The water volume of the major irrigation reservoirs is 110 million cubic meters less than in the same period of last year. A KCNA article on June 19th warned that “rain is hardly expected for the western coastal area until June 26.”
- SK Foreign Ministry spokesman Cho Byung-jae cast doubt on the severity of the drought, saying “Our general assessment is that it is not so serious as to fall into a level of crisis […] At present, no plan is in the offing with regard to government-level food assistance to North Korea.” More from Yonhap.
- Russia has sent 670 tons of wheat to NK according to the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations.
HUMAN RIGHTS
- Robert King’s recent comments that the US government is working to break the “information blockade,” this being “the key to positive change in North Korea,” is receiving national coverage through an article by the AP. LiNK blog post.
REFUGEES
- In anticipation of increasing numbers of NK immigrants, the Canadian Senate is debating a bill that would stop North Koreans already in SK from applying for refugee status.
- SK has launched an investigation into alleged abuse of NK refugees by embassy staff in China and Southeast Asia. More from Yonhap and Korea Times.
- PSCORE is seeking additional English tutors to tutor NK refugees.
INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY
- An official delegation from NK has been touring Vietnam this past week. Events included meeting with the Vietnamese Party Secretary and touring the countryside.
- NK state media lashed out at Clinton for not showing the appropriate amount of respect to Kim Jong-Un by referring to him as “young man”, reports the New York Times, China Daily, and the Hankyoreh.
- Elements of the Indian government are questioning the appointment of a stenographer as their new ambassador to Pyongyang. The stenographer was apparently chosen because no one in the Indian Foreign Service wanted to be posted to Pyongyang.
- Sources within the Japanese government are rumored to have confirmed that a Chinese company provided military trucks to NK in violation of UN sanctions. Meanwhile China’s MFA spokesman once again denied that China has broken any international agreement.
- Responding to rumors that the US asked Japan and SK to ignore Chinese cooperation with the NK missile program, State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland commented that “what I can say on this is relatively limited, given intelligence issues involved. But I will say that we have raised our own concerns with China about allegations that Chinese entities have assisted the [NK] missile program. And we will continue to work with China and others in the international community to enforce the UN’s sanctions on North Korea’s ballistic and nuclear missile programs.” Full transcript here.
- A US aircraft carrier is scheduled to join US-ROK-Japan trilateral naval exercises on June 21-22 in Korean waters followed by a “routine carrier operation” on June 23-25. For more see articles by the Hankyoreh and Stars and Stripes. NK responded by denouncing the exercise as a violation of the 1953 armistice.
- The USG extended its sanctions on NK for another year. The Pyongyang Times reported that “the US slapped economic sanctions on the DPRK again by finding fault with its satellite launch for peaceful purposes.”
SK RELATED
- Claims by the NK media that key Saenuri Party figures made pro-North statements on a trip to Pyongyang in 2002 continue to make the news. Kim Moon-soo asserted that he has never been to Pyongyang.
- SK president LMB has once again urged NK to learn from the reforms in Myanmar.
- A task force charged with formulating the policy of the United Progressive Party (UPP) issued report on June 18 which described the party’s position as “opposed to the human rights situation, hereditary transfer of power, and nuclear program in North Korea.” Some in SK view this as an important change in the party’s views on NK. Article in the Korea Times and an editorial in the Hankyoreh.
- South Korean firms have agreed to participate in joint ventures with Chinese businesses and government agencies worth 3.9 trillion KRW (3.4b USD) in Jilin province which borders NK.
ANALYSIS & OPINION
- Steph Haggard, Luke Herman, and Jaesung Ryu examine institutional changes in NK since the succession of Kim Jong-un.
- The BBC on KJU’s media makeover.
- Scott Bruce on Russia’s apparent pivot towards East Asia.
- Scott Snyder on NK’s growing dependence on China and Strategic implications.
- The WSJ recently interviewed Moon Chung-in (Professor at Yonsei University and former advisor to SK presidents KDJ and NMH), who promotes re-instituting the sunshine policy. He argues that the Bush administration effectively ended the policy after only nine months, thus not giving the program a chance to work.
- Ambassador Robert King asserts that recognition of the recent “satellite” launch failure is evidence that the information barrier into NK is weakening.
- An Op-Ed in China Daily argues that the international community should abandon sanctions and make “full scale contact with DPRK society” and provide security assurances, in order to encourage NK reform inside the country.
- Op-Ed on the outcome of the recent Shangri-La Dialogue with regards to NK.
- Haggard and Noland on NK’s reputation as a deadbeat debtor.
- James Church on KJU’s refusal to ask the NK people to continue to “tighten their belts”, while other NK propaganda promotes further “belt tightening”.
MISC.
- Interview with Nick Bonner, a founder of Koryo Tours, one of the first organizations to send tour groups to NK.
- Noland on the North Korean economy, video Part 1 and Part 2.
- Photo apparently shows a North Korean band playing to crops.
- NK makes modest improvement in the Institute for Economics and Peace Peace Index.
- NK ice hockey jersey for sale on ebay.
- Video of Richard Engel’s recent trip to NK.
- US basketball team to visit NK.
- Philipp Meuser, a Berlin based architect, has published a guide to Pyongyang’s architecture. The guide is divided into two books; a censored and an illicit version.
- Check out this fascinating, if creepy, video showing Pyongyang at night.
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