Category Archive: Economy

Nov 09

Huge surge in mobile phone use in North Korea

Categories:

Economy, North Korea

November 9, 2010

Orascom, the Egypt based telecom group providing 3G cell service to North Korea (and also overseeing the refurbishing of the Ryugyong Hotel) reports a 63% in subscribers over the past 3 months. The change is largely due to services being provided outside Pyongyang. Koryolink, the service provider of the mobile network in which Orascom has a 75% stake, reported just over 300 000 customers as of the end of September. Approximately 75% of North Korea’s population is within coverage range of the service, with an expected 91% coverage by the end of this fiscal year. As always, the network is restricted to domestic usage with no linkages to the outside internet

Source: TechWorld

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/607

Nov 04

North Korean PDA device demo’d by Russian who leaked Red Star Linux OS

Categories:

Economy, North Korea, Russia

November 4, 2010

The Russian blogger who leaked the state sanctioned DPRK Red Star Linux OS is wowwing us again with another modern technological leap from the DPRK. The device functions as most traditional Personal Digital Assistant devices do, offering music and video playback, USB connectivity to Windows or Linux PCs, mapping applications, games, dictionaries and more. From the impressions in the blog post, this device would have the capability of a Palm Pilot release from ~2004. As mobile cellphones bring about a technical renaissance in Pyongyang, it is likely that only the higher class citizens could afford the reported $140 (USD?) pricetag for the device.

Source: http://ashen-rus.livejournal.com/ via the North Korean Economy Watch

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/590

Oct 28

North Korea demanding massive aid in exchange for war reunions

Categories:

Economy, North Korea, South Korea, Tourism

October 28, 2010

North Korea has suddenly demanded 500 000 tonnes of rice and 300 000 tonnes of fertilizer in exchange for further family reunions between South and North Koreans. Scheduled for this Saturday at the jointly run Mt. Kumgang resort in North Korea, 100 people from either country will be reunited for the first time since being separated by the Korean War in the 50s. It will also mark the first reunions in over a year between the countries. South Korea wants the reunions to happen more often – as much as 9 times a year due to the rapidly aging population of Korean War families, but the DPRK is demanding aid in return for the reunions. The North is also trying to resume tours at the jointly run Mt. Kumgang resort, an important currency generator for a regime under harsh economic sanctions from much of the westernized world. Following a tourism ban in April after the Cheonan incident, the North seized property at the resort, and tours have halted ever since. South Korean officials have stated that further discussions will need to take place at a government level in the future, as right now talks involving reunions are managed by Red Cross organizations from both sides of the border.

Source: Yahoo! News via AFP

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/568

Oct 28

Canada steps up sanctions against DPRK

Categories:

Economy, North Korea

October 28, 2010

Canada, my home and native land, has announced foreign policy changes for dealing with North Korea today. Following the sinking of the Cheonan, in May 2010 Canada had announced that it had severed all diplomatic ties with the nation. Now it has increased restrictions, prohibiting imports and exports between the countries, as well as a ban on Canadian investment in North Korean firms. Ships and aircraft are also forbidden from landing in or passing through Canada as well. The only exceptions to these rules are for humanitarian efforts, such as providing food aid (which interestingly enough is all North Korea usually demands from foreign countries). Canada sent over 25,000 troops to Korea to fight on the South side in the 1950-53 Korean War, in which over 500 Canadian troops lost their lives.

Source: CBC

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/562

Oct 26

PUST – The Pyongyang University of Science & Technology

Categories:

Economy, North Korea, South Korea, USA

October 26, 2010

A foreign university in Pyongyang has opened its doors and started classes. PUST, the Pyongyang University of Science & Technology was created by Christian South Koreans for educating students in North Korea with foreign professors and tools. The general ambition of the university is to enlighten a new generation of young North Koreans to raise their economy and modernize technologies in the isolationist state. North Korea authourities can review all of the curriculum, and has hand selected the first 160 students to attend the school. One of the founders, Park Chan-Mo, believes the creation of the university in such a reclusive and authoritarian state is a miracle from god. Park was arrested in North Korea in 1998 under suspicions of spying but was later released, and was approached in 2000 by the same man who ordered him arrested about the school project. 16 professors from the USA and Europe have arrived for teaching at the fledgling institute, none from South Korea however, as tensions are still high on the peninsula. The school will specialize in IT, industrial management, biotechnology, architecture & engineering, and health care, and all curriculum will be in English. The school has pointed out that it is not training North Koreans in sensitive subject matter such as nuclear technology. Visit the website for the school, hosted in North Korea on their recently popularized .kr top level domain.

Source: PUST.kr and the New York Times.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/552

Oct 20

South Korea outlining unification plan

Categories:

Economy, North Korea, Reunification, South Korea, War

October 20, 2010

Setting a deadline of June 2011, South Korea’s government has announced that it will outline a plan for eventual reunification with North Korea. The worst case scenario, some estimates predict, will be that the cost of a regime class and gradual unification could cost several trillion US dollars. This announcement, like the August 2010 announcement of a Reunification Tax is likely to stir some saber rattling on the Northern side of the peninsula.

Source: Yonhap News

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/541

Oct 20

Foreign investors losing big on North Korea

Categories:

Economy, North Korea

October 20, 2010

The Institute of Far Eastern Studies, a Seoul based think tank focused on international on law, economy and living conditions for the people of Korea (especially North Koreans and defectors), reports that most foreign businesses doing business with the DPRK are losing money. A survey of 500 businesses that either work in both Koreas or have foreign dealing with North Korea report that nearly 94% of responders reported a loss of profits. The cause for these losses are the tightened sanctions on North Korea following the sinking of the Cheonan in March. Almost 52% of responders lost money due to business with the North having to completely halt, while 26% are fulfilling less orders, and ~22% cite high transportation and overhead costs. The average loss for the companies is 974 million won, or about 850 000 USD.

Source: IFES

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/538

Oct 06

KPA Journal No.1 Vol.9 released

Categories:

Economy, Military, North Korea, War

October 6, 2010

The always intriguing North Korean Economy Watch blog has linked the latest issue in Joseph Bermudaz‘ KPA Journal. These journals which come in PDF format detail the North’s military assets, biographies of its commanders, strategies, and more. Very interesting material and I encourage you to read them all. Click the link below to download all 9 issues published so far.

Source: North Korea Economy Watch

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/478

Sep 27

The costs of doing business with North Korea

Categories:

Economy, North Korea

September 27, 2010

Here’s an interesting story of James Perri, an Australian business man who is responsible for the 3G mobile cellphone network in the North Korean capital. Perri’s dilemma was finding a provider who would was neutral to North Korea, so he looked to the Egypt based “Orascom” for the contract. Orascom is also known as the group working to refurbish the Ryugyong “Hotel of Doom”. Orascom signed a $400 000 000 USD contract with the North for a 75% stake in state run Koryolink. Pyongyang’s 3G coverage kicked off in December 2008, strange for a nation with little mobile phone distribution and constant electricity problems.

Source: ARN via @LiberateLaura on Twitter.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/423

Sep 17

North Korea and the “Y1C” problem.

Categories:

Economy, North Korea, Offbeat

September 17, 2010

Remember the Y2K problem of the 1990s? Though a laughable issue, and probably of no serious consequence, North Korea is facing a similar crisis. The “Juche” calendar begun on April 15th, 1912, the birthdate of Kim Il-Sung. The current Gregorian year, 2010, is represented as Juche 99 on their calendar. Any North Korean computer systems (of which there are few) programmed using the Juche calendar will suffer the problem of a 2-digit year rolling over to “00” when the year becomes Juche 100. The Juche calendar, used often in state-run publications and news outlets, is often used alongside the Gregorian year (such as “September 17th 2010 – Juche 99”), so it’s improbably that this will be a big problem. But hey, with North Korea, you never can tell.

Permanent link to this article: http://www.openingupnorthkorea.com/archives/408

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