NK NEWS BRIEF | Oct 23, 2014

Defector Kim Hye-sook speaking at a UN side event, attended by NKorean diplomats, about her 28 years in a NKorean political prison camp | Rappler

NK INTERNAL

• Daily NK: A raging wildfire that broke out on October 21st in Samjiyon County, Yangkang Province is said to have burned down KJI’s home on Mount Baekdu near Milyong, where PY claims KJI was born.
• Yonhap: In response to the threat of Ebola, KCNA reports that NKorean authorities are strengthening quarantine measures at ports, airports and border areas. Tour companies report that NK will not receive tourists starting from 24 Oct.
• Daily NK: Authorities have intensified the crackdown on SKorean media. Source: “Especially now, even bribes that could have helped bypass punishment from the SSD are no longer an effective option… And with word that those involved will face penalization with no mercy, people are now too scared to watch them.”
• Kyodo, via Chosun Ilbo, on the smartphone ‘boom’ in NK: A ‘NK-made’ smartphone costs around 400,000 KRW (380 USD) and they are often used to play games, including Angry Birds, and send texts with emoticons (called 얼굴 문자, “face character” in NKorean). Smartphones for NKoreans cannot access the internet, but a man in his 30s told Kyodo: “You can tell the weather forecast by looking at the sky, and get the news by reading the Rodong Sinmun. They say the internet is just full of slander about our country, so I don’t want to look at it.” (Korean).
• RFA: NKoreans are overcoming their frequent power cuts by using 12V solar panels to charge batteries so they can watch TV or use electric lights at night. Chinese companies are responding to the demand by increasing the supply of devices that can run on 12V. (Korean).
• Daily NK source: “Since July, there has been a state-organized project to eradicate incandescent bulbs and use LED lights instead.” The KWP is ordering the switch to reduce electricity consumption, but many are unable to comply because of the price. An LED bulb sells for 8 RMB [10,000 KPW, roughly 2 kg of rice] at the market in North Pyongan Province, while a regular light bulb goes for 3,000 KPW.
• RFA: Bowibu officials operating on the border and in coastal areas are being switched so they don’t work in their home region, in an attempt to prevent corruption. However, sources report that corruption is in any case inevitable since officials have to take bribes to support their family. (Korean).  
• AP: NKorean soldier-builders are racing to finish building PY’s new airport to attract more tourists.
• AP roadtrip in NK: “Even on the most rugged stretches of road, lone pedestrians laden with belongings or wares for the market stoically plod to the next village, which could be half a day away. The number of bicycles, along with long-distance buses, has skyrocketed in recent years. Ox carts and cobbled-together contraptions with lawnmower-sized engines outnumber the aging trucks.”

ECONOMY & FOOD SECURITY

• RFA: Farmers are disappointed as the state reneged on its agricultural policy to allow farmers to keep 30 percent of their yield. Source: “[As] this incentive-added crop distribution promise was not kept even this year, it will cause trouble for farming because of the decline in farmers’ morale… Farmers are outraged at the authorities’ broken promise for incentive-added crop distribution each year.”
• New Focus: Foreign investment has seen the number of PY taxis increase to 1,000. The basic fare is reportedly 2 USD for 4 km/2.5 miles. (Korean).
• Yonhap: Chung Ki-sup, head of council of S Korean companies in Kaesong: “Without a fundamental enhancement in South-North relations, (the government push for) globalizing and re-invigorating the Kaesong Industrial Complex is impossible… The government should loosen or totally lift the May 24 sanctions.” Chung Yang-geun, co-chairman of the Private Inter-Korean Economic Exchange Council: “Before the sanctions, there were around 2,000 firms in the inter-Korean economic exchange business, but now it is even impossible to exactly determine who is still afloat.”
• Yonhap: 37SKorean business leaders will visit KIC this week to explore business opportunities.

NK-CHINA TRADE EXPO

• Yonhap: The third annual North Korea-China Economic, Trade, Culture and Tourism Expo was held in Dandong, China, for five days. 68 NKorean businesses attended, down from 100 last year.
• Chosun Ilbo: The number and value of trade and investment pacts signed between NKorean and Chinese businesses also declined, from 93 deals worth 1.6B USD last year to 60 deals worth 1.26B USD this year.
• Yonhap: NK used a booklet to advertise its 12.17 million workers as a “prepared labor force that can adapt to randomly-chosen professions… In our country, the level of education is high and the potential of intellectual capability is solidly prepared… There is no unemployment, labor striking or sabotage in our country.”
• Yonhap: NKorean official: “This year, we didn’t bring many products. Instead of selling products, we come here with hopes to meet with Chinese people who want to invest in our factory.”  
• Yonhap: According to Chinese customs data, NK’s bilateral trade with China stood at 4.05B USD in the first 8 months of this year, down 1.1% on last year.  

HUMAN RIGHTS

• AP: PY’s diplomatic offensive aimed at warding off a UNGA resolution calling for a ICC referral continues. In a closed CFR meeting, NKorean official Jang Il Hun said NK wanted the EU-Japan language about referral to the ICC removed, and that any chance of gestures like allowing a visit by a U.N. special investigator or the International Committee of the Red Cross would depend on what the EU does. NKorean officials also attended a UN side event featuring COI chair Kirby and two North Korean defectors, and engaged Kirby in debate (full video of that event here).   
• Yonhap: The NK embassy in Beijing provided a Chinese translation of their own human rights report to Chinese media.
• Yonhap: Chinese MFA spokeswoman on China’s view of the UNGA resolution: “You know that China’s stance on human rights issues is very clear and consistent. We believe that referring the issue of human rights to the International Criminal Court will not help improve the human rights situation in a country.”
• USG’s Ambassador King on PY’s reaction to human rights criticism: “One of the things that’s been interesting to see how much of an impact this has had is to see the North Koreans scrambling to deal with it. They have gotten such horrendous publicity that they’ve really come out of their shell and started fighting back… They’re recognizing it. They’re becoming engaged. They’re sending their foreign minister and others around the world to try to see if they can stop the damage. We have to use this time to fight back and to continue the struggle to emphasize the problem of North Korea.”
• Korea Herald: US Assistant Secretary of State Tom Malinowski will visit SK next week to discuss NK HR violations with NGO workers, defectors, activists, and government officials.

REFUGEES

• NFI: When hwagyo, or Chinese citizens and their descendents, in NK “defect” to SK, they face their own unique dilemmas. Source: “Isn’t my country of birth and growth North Korea, despite my Chinese citizenship? My identity was North Korean. If I spoke any Chinese, I would have felt a national connection; because I didn’t know the language, I thought of myself as a North Korean, not Chinese. Choosing a hwagyo ID was solely for money-making purposes.”
• VOA: NKorean refugees in the US gathered to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the North Korean Human Rights Act (Korean).

INTERNATIONAL POLITICS & SECURITY

• INTER-KOREAN: NKorean and SKorean troops exchanged gunfire at the DMZ after 10 NKorean soldiers approached the military demarcation line. No-one was reported hurt. Meanwhile PY unilaterally revealed the details of N-S military talks held on 15 Oct. This was not the first time that PY divulged or distorted the details of private meetings.
• KCNA: “The inter-Korean ties are now standing at the crossroads: To make the seeds of hard-won inter-Korean dialogue sprout or allow the confrontation to reach an extreme phase and spark off a war… There is no reason to fail to open the second round of the north-south high-level contact, if the south Korean authorities take a responsible measure for preventing such provocative acts as rattling the nerves of the other side and sparking off an armed clash.”
• A survey of 500 SKorean adults revealed that 62.9% thought that balloon launches by activists should be blocked. Breaking down by political party support, 53.1% of Saenuri supporters and 83% of NPAD supporters thought the launches should be blocked. Potential legal measures to halt balloon launches exist in SK, but the govt has said it does not plan to place legal restrictions on the activists. The next launches are scheduled for 25 Oct.
• In a move likely to go down well in PY, the ROKG demolished a huge 43-year-old Christmas tower whose lights could be seen from the NKorean side of the DMZ. ROKG also extended an invitation to PY to send a delegation to the ‘Northeast Asia Peace Cooperation Initiative’ forum in Seoul, 28-30 Oct.
• UNITED STATES: PY released detained US citizen Jeffrey Fowle on October 21st. KCNA claimed that KJU “took such a special measure… taking into consideration the repeated requests of U.S. President Obama.”
• Kerry: “We’ve said from day one that if North Korea wants to rejoin the community of nations it knows how to do it – it can come to the talks prepared to discuss de-nuclearisation… The United States is fully prepared, if they do that and begin that process,  we are prepared to begin the process of reducing the need for American force and presence in the region because the threat itself will then be reduced.”
• USG’s Sydney Seiler: “In terms of what the other countries would do, imagine a scenario in which the DPRK announces its returning to six-party talks, it agrees to a moratorium on nuclear tests, on missiles launches, halt to its nuclear programs… The entire world would see that as a fundamental change in North Korea’s orientation toward denuclearization.”
• JAPAN: Tokyo plans to send a delegation to PY for meetings on 28-29 Oct, responding to PY’s request to visit the country for a detailed update on the abduction investigations. Chief Cabinet Secretary of Japan: “We have decided that it is meaningful, in light of moving the investigation forward, to let people in charge of the probe know that the abduction issue is our top priority, and ask them questions and obtain as much detailed information as possible.”
• RUSSIA: Moscow and PY decided to use Russian rubles for interbank transactions, as part of efforts aimed at boosting annual bilateral trade to 1 billion USD by 2020.
• Yonhap: PY is working with Russia to rebuild the Jaedong-Kangdong-Nampho railway, and to renovate the railway between Khasan and Rason. KCNA called the joint venture “the first stage of realizing the large-scale cooperation project” between the two nations. Russian media reported that the 25 billion USD deal was signed to rebuild 3,500 km / 2,200 miles of railway.
• Kim Yong-nam, NK’s ceremonial head of state, will visit Ethiopia, Sudan, and the Congo.  

ANALYSIS & OPINION

• NFI: “Constant self-isolation may be the meaning of life as a surveillance agent in North Korea. Of course, there are many who commit immoral deeds, which I don’t intend on defending. All I want to say is that police officers are human beings, who experience feelings of loneliness and isolation. When I was in North Korea, I used to console myself through South Korean dramas, not people. During the day, I feigned loyalty to the regime. At night, I watched South Korean dramas at home. This was my reality.”
• Prof Kang Myung-do (defector): “I’d say North Korea’s series of military provocations are carefully calculated in order to heighten fear of an armed conflict between the two Koreas… Public concern about military threats will grow in South Korea and calls for military talks are likely to spread. That’s where Pyongyang could come in and propose such talks exclusively.”
• David Hawk breaks down PY’s responses to the UN COI Report: 1) Counter-report; 2) New approach to UPR; 3) Diplomatic offensive at the UNGA.
• Roberta Cohen’s recommendations for human rights dialogue with PY: “The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Prince Zeid of Jordan, and his Office should be the focal point for dialogue with North Korea in line with UN resolutions calling for dialogue adopted by consensus in the General Assembly. A dialogue should seek to establish technical assistance programs to help North Korea bring its laws into line with international standards…”
• Eric Talmadge: “Tuesday marked the 20th anniversary of [Agreed Framework]… Fowle’s release could thus be seen as an attempt to feel out Washington and see if there is any possibility of broader talks.”

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