NK NEWS BRIEF | October 30, 2013

Image from the KCNA website on October 25, via North Korea Tech

NK INTERNAL

• According to the IFRC’s “World Disasters Report 2013,” over 3 million NKoreans (13% of the population) were affected by natural disasters last year.

• NK Leadership Watch: For the first time in 13 years, NK held a meeting for its junior officers and political directors. KJU provided the opening and closing remarks at the meeting, emphasizing party-centered unity and troop discipline. KCNA: “The leader stressed that when the People’s Army repays the party’s trust and expectation, the might of the powerful revolutionary army will be highly displayed.” Also, the KPA staged a loyalty rally at Kumsusan Palace to pay tribute to NK’s leaders and reiterate the military’s vow to defend the country.

• Daily NK: Authorities are warning citizens about the unhealthiness of choco pies, the danger of foreign tourists, and leaflets being sent over from SK.

• In August a NKorean diplomat to Ethiopia defected to Seoul. The diplomat, not thought to be a senior official, reached Seoul after seeking asylum in SK’s embassy in Ethiopia.

ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY

• Yonhap: NK has designated 14 special economic zones this year. While the sites have yet to be revealed, the Rodong Sinmun said that legal regulations, administrative support, development and management of the zones are all in place. NK continues to discuss and promote the creation of these zones.

• A group of SKorean lawmakers will visit the KIC on Wednesday for an on-site inspection. However NK denied permission to Assemblyman Chon Myung Chul, who defected in 2004.

• After its shutdown in April, NK continued to use water supplies at the KIC for another 70 days. K-water, SK’s public water utility, estimates that 1.14 million tons of water was used.

• According to the Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry, this year NK imported 386 Swiss watches with an average value of around 200 USD, a 50% decrease on Swiss watch imports in 2012.

• WFP: A new factory in Pyongson is the 14th facility producing fortified foods for WFP programmes in NK. Currently, funding levels are such that production will cease at the end of February. For the next 12 months WFP needs to source US$80million to continue its work in NK.

REFUGEES

• UN SR Darusman: In the first nine months of this year 1,041 NKoreans arrived in SK, compared to 1,509 people for all of 2012 and 2,706 people in 2011. “This represents a reversal of the trend of steady increase in the number of annual arrivals since 1998, possibly due to recently tightened border control and increased incidents of refoulement.”

HUMAN RIGHTS

• Shin Dong Hyuk met with George W. Bush last week to share his story of growing up in a political prison camp and to promote human rights in the country.

• Last Friday, NKorean authorities repatriated six SKorean citizens (as well as the remains of another) after detaining them for illegally entering NK. The six men range in age from 27-67 years old and entered NK from 2009-2012 on separate occasions. Prior to defecting, several of the men were struggling in South Korea. Some of the men believed that “if I go to the North I can live well, and my sick body can recuperate.” Once they entered NK the men were imprisoned for 14 to 45 months at various camps throughout the country. SKorean authorities will now determine if the men breached SK’s National Security Law, which makes unauthorized entry into NK illegal.

• Korean War Abductees’ Family Union President Lee Mi Il: “The issue of wartime abduction was not solved during the ceasefire negotiations because they were classified as displaced citizens who fled to the North because they had lost their homes, and their negotiated return never took place. This classification makes the argument for their repatriation very difficult. We will continue to insist that these people were abducted, and continue to arrange events to pressure the North’s stance on this issue. Hence, international attention is essential to our cause.”

• HRNK gave away free Choco Pies near the White House today in its efforts to raise public awareness of the human rights situation in NK. The event coincides with the opening of two-day public hearings by a special panel of the UNHRC about human rights abuses in the DPRK.

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY

• Mongolia’s President was in PY for a four-day visit to commemorate the 65th anniversary of DPRK-Mongolian relations. The visit marked the first time a head of state came to NK since KJU took power. On Monday, the two countries signed several bilateral agreements in the agriculture, transportation, technology and tourist sectors.

• 38 North: New commercial satellite imagery indicates that North Korea is moving ahead with major construction projects at its Sohae Satellite Launching Station (Tongchang-ri). While it is too soon to reach a definitive judgment, evidence is growing that these activities are intended to support the two main priorities for North Korea’s rocket program—launches of larger rockets and of new mobile missiles—and that Sohae will be the main, and perhaps sole, test facility in the future.

• SK’s Unification Minister is not pessimistic about current inter-Korean relations.

• SK returned four NKorean fishermen and their boat one day after it drifted southwards following engine failure. (By contrast, in 2011 under LMB, 31 drifters were held for nearly a month of questioning).

• For the first time, NK has singled out and posted a list of 18 SKorean journalists and experts that it called “vicious, extreme-right reactionaries who remain ever-ready to plot against the North with lies and falsities” on Uriminzokkiri, its propaganda website. Uriminzokkiri has also publicly criticized the organizers of the 3rd North Korean Human Rights Film Festival.

• After two days of talks in Washington, China and the US struck different tones on their outlooks for the resumption of six-party talks.

ANALYSIS & OPINION

• Armstrong: “Mongolia has done a good job of portraying itself as an honest broker on Korean peninsula issues. It is probably the only country that both North and South Korea can be said to trust. To the extent that North Korea can be persuaded to do anything, Mongolia can play an important mediating role … Of course, North Korea is fiercely protective of its independence and will act in its own perceived interest, taking maximum advantage of the countries it deals with. But due to its non-threatening nature, Mongolia is in a better position to positively influence North Korea’s behaviour than are China, Russia, South Korea, Japan or the US.”

• Bosworth & Gallucci NYT Op-Ed: “Still, here we sit, with multiple dangers threatening both countries and the region, while Pyongyang moves ahead with its nuclear program. Whatever risks might be associated with new talks, they are less than those that come with doing nothing. Pyongyang’s nuclear stockpile will continue to expand, the North will continue to perfect its missile delivery systems, the danger of weapons-of-mass-destruction exports will grow, and the threat to U.S. allies will increase.”

• Yoon Deok-ryong, Korea Institute for International Economic Policy: “North Korea’s outstanding foreign debt is between $120 billion and $150 billion; if the state cannot repay this, they cannot get access to international financial institutions. The North Korean regime must take steps to restore trust. One of the ways this could be done would be to join the Paris Club of debtors, a structure within which developing nations can borrow money without incurring interest.”

• Jonathan Levine: “At Tsinghua, I taught and interacted with a number of North Korean students over the years. What I found most intriguing was how typical of international students they were. Contrary to the popular narrative of rabid xenophobia and virulent anti-Americanism, most of them were insatiably curious about other cultures, America’s most of all.”

MISC.

• Max Desfor, winner of the 1951 Pulitzer Prize for photography with his depiction of the Korean War, will celebrate his 100th birthday next week.

• Chinese scholar: PY asked Beijing in 1965 to send troops in preparation for another war on the Korean Peninsula.

• KJU recently received an honorary doctorate in economics from HELP University in Malaysia. When asked how the university could possibly award KJU with the doctorate, HELP’s President  said he hopes educational exchange and this “‘soft constructive’ approach” will help bring about a brighter future.

• Daily NK: A tourist’s photos from Sinuiju.

• KCNA has added higher resolution images. “They specifically target articles which they consider have propaganda value, and increase the number of images/videos associated with that article.”

• Al Jazeera report on this year’s North Korean Human Rights Film Festival in Toronto.

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