NK NEWS BRIEF | Oct 30, 2014

Children help fix potholes in a rural road in North Hamgyong province | Photo: David Guttenfelder/AP

NK INTERNAL

• Daily NK: Cell phones are the new popular choice for engagement gifts among young urbanites in NK. Standard Orascom models cost 200-300 USD, while an ‘Arirang touchphone’ supposedly produced in NK, costs 400 USD.
• Daily NK: The Ebola scare is restricting even domestic travel in NK. PY also requested medical aid from the SKorean Red Cross. Source: “They aren’t issuing travel permits to Pyongyang for those on personal business, such as for family events… For state officials who have access to Pyongyang, they now have to go through the cumbersome process of receiving an epidemiological certificate from the provincial quarantine office.” KCTV report on efforts to keep Ebola out of NK (Korean).
• Bloomberg: SK’s NIS briefed lawmakers on continuing purges in PY, including the executions of senior officials on charges including corruption and watching SKorean dramas.
• Daily NK: Water shortages affecting even central PY households are being exacerbated by the diversion of water to the Munsu Waterpark and other leisure facilities. Source: “The cadres that tried so hard to move into these new buildings have been taken aback since they can’t get water. Some have even said they would rather move to the outskirts of Pyongyang instead of live in the apartments, where it’s hard to even get your own water.”
• Daily NK: Solar panels are not only used by the elites in NK but are now available to the general public for use during power cuts. The costs vary from 80 RMB (13 USD) for a 10W panel to 800 RMB (130 USD) for a 100W panel. Source: “Traders and some donju, unlike the average household, use 700W solar panels and large TV screens, and they usually run two to three panels to power air conditioners and refrigerators as well.”
• Daily NK: Soldiers in North Pyongan province are being discharged temporarily to head home and return with military supplies. Source: “Winter is fast approaching, so a commanding officer and three soldiers from each battalion are heading to their hometowns for ‘business trips’… Each unit is required to come up with 200 large power saws to cut logs, 200 shovels, 100 pickaxes, and 100kg worth of nails… When your child comes home the effects last a while, so it’s only natural the parents would want to go so far as to borrow money to help their kids out.”

ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY

• Hyundai Research Institute: The average worth of goods and services produced by a NK worker in 2012 is 2.7 million KRW / 2,552 USD, similar to SK’s productivity in 1980. The research concluded that with economic, educational, and human resources support, NK has high potential for fast growth, as evident in the achievements at the KIC.
• RFA: Major military bases in PY are trying to overcome the shortage of materials by creating market stalls and taking a share of the profits. Source: “The stall owner has to present 1 ton of corn to the military base per year, one lunch for each officer everyday, and meat and alcohol during special holidays.” (Korean).
• Daily NK: Some NKoreans are traveling to China with the aim of opening a business and broaden their understanding of market economics. Source:  “They believe learning the skills to make money is more important than just earning money… Travelers who have paid the 1,000 USD fee and come to China run their own businesses and set the goal of earning 10,000 USD each… A five or six person group puts together a business and distributes manufactured goods such as clothes through North Korea-China customs.”
• Yonhap: 139,800 NKoreans traveled to China in the first 9 months of this year, down 6.5% on the same period last year. Employment accounted for 47%, followed by conferences and business with 19%. 113,000 were men, compared with just 26,800 women.
• Daily NK: Potato rations in Yangkang province have dropped compared to last year. The market price of potatoes is 1,200 KPW/1.33 USD per kg (2 lbs), whereas the state price is 550 KPW per kg. Source: “Last year, going out for a follow-up sweep in the fields produced roughly 100 kg in a day, but this year, even after a full day of work, it’s hard to gather 30 kg… Since the harvest is not very good, there aren’t many hidden in the ground either, so few have managed to salvage missed potatoes.”
• Chosun Ilbo: ROK Ministry of Trade, Industry & Energy is conducting a research project on NK’s economic changes, including marketization, PY’s policies towards marketization, and comparisons to other cases of marketization including China etc., set to be completed by April next year.  

HUMAN RIGHTS

• UN News Centre: UN SR Darusman called on the UNGA 3rd Committee to push for an ICC referral and said that the UN system as a whole should follow up the COI report in a “coordinated and unified way… This would send an unequivocal signal that the international community is determined to take the follow up to the work of the Commission of inquiry on the DPRK to a new level.”
• AP: Darusman met NKorean diplomats twice to discuss a potential investigatory visit to NK and PY’s demand for the removal of language in the UNGA resolution calling for an ICC referral.
• FP: EU diplomat: “The Cubans came forward with a proposal to drop the ICC referral from our text. In exchange, they would accept a visit from the high commissioner for human rights. The reaction was very negative to such a deal. We don’t trust them — that’s for sure. But even if we trusted them, we wouldn’t trade a referral to the ICC for a visit to the country. It’s a little late for that.”
• John Sifton, HRW: “It would be a terrible geopolitical bargain to trade away a major and historic U.N. resolution in exchange for a single visit by a U.N. rapporteur… It is the diplomatic equivalent to giving away a valuable house in exchange for a sandwich.”
• Chosun Ilbo: Political prisoners from Yodok Camp 15 are allegedly being moved out at night in apparent preparation for a PR exercise where the camp will be shown to foreigners as little more than a collective farm.

REFUGEES

• BBC: Yeonmi Park shared experiences in NK, including witnessing public executions and the difficulties in living in China as a NKorean woman. Yeonmi was interviewed as part of the 100 Women series.
• Reuters: Shin Dong-hyuk’s father appeared in a propaganda video urging Shin to “come to [his] senses and return to the embrace of the Party.” Shin: “I had thought my father had died. But this is definitely my father… I’d never thought I’d be grateful to North Korea… for showing me that he is alive… I think it’s probably because of everything that’s going on at the United Nations.” Shin’s Facebook page: “I love my father. Through this I seek my father’s forgiveness. The dictator is holding my father hostage. No matter what the dictator does to my father, they cannot cover my eyes; no matter what the dictator does, they can not cover up my mouth.”
• NYT: Two agents of SK’s National Intelligence Service were found to have faked documents to accuse defector Yu Woo-sung of being a spy.  

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY

• INTER-KOREAN: PY state media criticized Seoul for hosting the ‘Northeast Asia Peace Cooperation Initiative’ forum, to which they were invited. Meanwhile, SK activists flew propaganda leaflets into NK despite PY’s threats and SK residents’ opposition. An 81-year-old resident, Choi: “The damage is big. We can’t work when the military launches an emergency situation due to the leaflet launches. If they try to launch leaflets, we will block them.”
• VOA: PY rejected Seoul’s offer to resume high-level talks this Thursday, citing the ROKG’s refusal to prevent the launching of leaflet balloons by activists.
• Yonhap: 28 members from the Joint Board of South and North Korea for the Compilation of Gyeoremal-keunsajeon (dictionary for the two Koreas) will be in PY from 30 Oct–8 Nov. The dictionary is set to be completed by 2019.
• JAPAN: Junichi Ihara, after the two-day PY meeting on the abduction investigations ended: “We emphasized again that the abduction issue should get the highest priority… We strongly requested that the investigation be conducted promptly, and that they inform us of the results as soon as possible.”  
• CHINA: Chinese FM Wang Yi: “We are firmly committed to denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula and maintaining peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.”
• Yonhap: SK nuclear envoy Hwang Joon-kook before meeting his counterpart Wu Da-wei in Beijing: “[We] plan to assess North Korea’s nuclear issues and will discuss extensively how to respond to problems down the road, including the North’s advancement of its nuke capabilities.”
• US: A NKorean professor suggested an official apology from the US might free the detained Americans. Kerry: “We have made it clear that no apology or other statement is in the offing… Our hope is they will recognize the goodwill that could be built and the gesture it would offer to the world of their willingness to try to open up a different diplomatic track.”
• US General Curtis Scaparrotti: “I believe [PY has] the capability to miniaturize a (nuclear) device at this point and they have the technology to potentially deliver what they say they have… We’ve not seen it tested, and I don’t think as a commander we can afford the luxury of believing perhaps they haven’t gotten there.”
• ROK-US: OPCON transfer has been delayed again, possibly into the mid-2020s. The original due date was 2015, which PGH promised to deliver in her campaign pledge. Seoul and Washington agreed that the transfer will take place when the ROK military is capable of detecting and foiling possible nuclear attacks from PY. PY predictably reacted angrily to the news of the delay.

ANALYSIS & OPINION

• Choson Exchange: “China’s baseline for “good behavior” from North Korea is significantly lower than that of the US: it is not difficult to imagine a scenario in which North Korea could be rewarded for progress on the nuclear issue with AIIB loans for development. It certainly could be part of a package deal. Major development projects could help underwrite systemic legitimacy in some ways; that might very well be a pitch that the Chinese will make to the Korean side at some point.”
• Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry: Out of 100 companies partaking in inter-Korean economic cooperation and 200 companies with high-ranking domestic sales figures, 43.7% believe that unification will have long-term positive effects despite the initial setbacks on the national economy, and 39.7% believe unification will provide opportunities to increase national sales figures and discover new enterprises. In other words, 83% of 300 SKorean companies believe unification will have positive economic benefits (Korean).
• Stephan Haggard: “The charges are plausible enough for them to be considered at the ICC, and if North Korea wants to defend itself it can do so in a prosecutorial setting in which all legal opportunities for a defense will be provided. At the same time, however, if North Korea is seriously interested in engaging on the substance of the issues—such as opening the prison camps to outside independent scrutiny, for example through the Red Cross—then the international community should test the waters.”
• Marcus Noland: “Presumably this tilt toward Moscow—however justified as a means of diversifying political and economic contact— is a temporary blip: the case for North Korean-Chinese economic integration is overwhelming. In the meantime, however, Pyongyang seems happy to dance with its old partner wearing new duds.”

MISC.

• RFA: Luxury villas in PY remain vacant a year after their inhabitants, Jang Song-taek and officials tied to him, were purged.
• AFP: SK’s NIS claimed that more than 20,000 smartphones in SK may have been hacked by PY. NIS also reported that there have been more than 75,000 hacking attempts against ROKG agencies and media websites since 2010.
• New Focus: Contrary to SKorean idea of the female ideal, some in NK believe women should be physically strong and ready to face life’s struggles. Source: “As jangmadang activities are becoming more important for NKorean people, women at jangmadang need to have an outgoing personality and a loud voice in order to sell more than other people. The right women to marry in NK are those who are tough, strong, and have a militant mindset” (Korean).
• AP: 50 photos taken in NK by David Guttenfelder.

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