NK NEWS BRIEF | November 13, 2013

NKorean girls hide their faces as they enter the NK embassy with flowers to attend a ceremony commemorating the 69th anniversary of the end of the Korean War in Beijing on July 26, 2013 | Photo: UPI/Stephen Shaver

NK INTERNAL

• Next February, 40 years after KJI announced his thesis on Juche, the KWP is expected to introduce a thesis on KJU’s ruling ideology. According to sources, the thesis will legitimize the rule of the Kim family and its power succession, as well as justify the partial acceptance of a market economy in NK.

• NKoreans working abroad to earn foreign currency “work really hard because they also have to regularly get together bribes for cadres in order to continue operating.” SKorean rice cookers, makeup, and Japanese tables remain the most popular.

• Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) has become a serious threat in NK, according to the head of the Eugene Bell Foundation. MDR-TB is resistant to conventional drug treatment and is a major public health concern because it can be transmitted person to person.

ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY

• According to recent papers from a NKorean research journal, NK is focusing more on diversified development of its economy and urging regional industries to play a greater role in bringing in foreign capital.

• NK/SKorean working-level officials met on Wednesday to discuss better ways to protect investment and promote internationalization at the KIC. The two sides will have another meeting to discuss SKoreans’ workers’ rights on Thursday. Even with these meetings, businesses at the KIC are struggling.

• NK wants to build beaches, golf courses, and hotels near the NLL in an effort to attract foreign investors. The NLL project is not considered to be one of the 14 SEZs.

• NK labeled China’s investments in the Rason SEZ a “remarkable success.”

• According to recent UN data,  NK’s rice production is expected to dip 5.6 percent on-year to 1.7 million tons in the 2013-14 harvest year.

REFUGEES

• WSJ: As of September this year, SK has paid a total of 1.9 billion KRW (1.8m USD) to NKorean defectors for intelligence on NK; however, the payments have decreased substantially over the last several years, with 773 million won paid in 2009 and only 135 million won this year. The highest payments are awarded for intelligence on war plans, shifts in the regime, and economic reforms.

HUMAN RIGHTS

• Joongang Daily: Some 80 people were publicly executed earlier this month in seven cities in NK, excluding PY. It is the first reported large-scale public executions by KJU’s regime. The executions come at a time when Jiro Ishimaru (ASIAPRESS) reports that anti-KJU video content is on the rise.

• The USG reiterated its willingness to send a special envoy to NK to secure Kenneth Bae’s release.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY

• NK claims to have arrested a SKorean spy in PY. According to the KCNA, “an initial investigation indicates that he was engaged in anti-DPRK espionage and plot-breeding activities in a third country bordering the DPRK for nearly six years, while disguising himself as a religionist.” Meanwhile, Seoul has demanded NK disclose the personal information of the alleged spy.

• PY threatened those in the NIS plotting to conspire against the North. NK specifically named Nam Jae-joon, head of the NIS, with its threats. In response to some of the recent media slander, the ROKG has urged the regime to stop threatening those aiding defectors.

• NK sanctions will continue despite potential investment by SKorean firms in a railway project connecting cities in NK and Russia.

• The ROKG recently announced its five-year NK policy. The plan aims to increase economic deals with NK (if relations get better); remove PY’s nuclear program;  eventually make the DMZ into a peace park; etc.

• NK accused Japan of trying to plot another invasion of Korea because it claims sovereignty over the Liancourt Rocks.

• Last week in Washington, chief delegates from SK, US, and Japan agreed that NK must first demonstrate a genuine commitment to denuclearize before the resumption of Six Party Talks. In response, a senior NKorean official warned the three nations of a “nuclear catastrophe.”

• Yonhap: Ambassador Sin Son-ho, NK’s top envoy to the UN, thinks “the six-way talks will fare well.”

• Putin: Russia will only support unification through “peaceful means.”

ANALYSIS & OPINION

• Noland: “The North Korean experience with SEZs has not been particularly successful… Nevertheless, North Korea is so far down— having the world’s worst economic policy, if World Bank data is to be believed—that nearly any kind of movement on economic policy has to be regarded as a positive signal. But we should not overhype this latest development.”

• Daily NK: If foreign investment cannot be attracted and export markets do not materialize then the current wage system will prove unsustainable over the long-term. Equally, an export-oriented industry is naturally subject to exchange rate and commodity price fluctuations, which, particularly given that North Korea has a limited international market for its goods, is a dangerous state of affairs.

MISC.

• Buddhists from both Koreas held joint religious services in Kaesong to commemorate the eighth anniversary of the restoration of the Yeongtong Temple.

• Pacman and Peso, two young Washington DC-based rappers, will travel to NK this Saturday to shoot a music video. The duo’s plans were funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign that raised 10,400 USD.

• Stanford University School of Medicine recently announced it will send a team of doctors and healthcare providers to NK this month to help diagnose and treat TB in the country.

• NKorean university students are struggling to buy their foreign language textbooks.

• NK’s tablet PC is up for bid on ebay.

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