1. North Korea to allow more visitors from the US — NK needs tourism income, under the squeeze — Financial Times
North Korea will allow more tourists from its arch-foe the US to visit this year, seeking alternative sources of hard currency as sanctions bite deeper. …Tourism is a key foreign currency earner for Pyongyang, which is calling for sanctions imposed over its nuclear weapons programme to be lifted.
…Further denting Pyongyang’s dollar income, Thai authorities last month detained an aircraft packed with arms being smuggled from Pyongyang. Diplomats saw this as a severe threat to the cash flow of Kim Jong-il, the country’s leader. Reports from defectors also suggest a recent currency redenomination has caused economic chaos during a bitter winter.
In a very rare admission that the country needed to improve its economic record, Mr Kim this month confessed that the nation had failed to deliver “rice and meat soup” to the people. He vowed to improve people’s lives.
2. NK moves to counter the market it fears and needs — Voice of America
On November 30, North Korea’s government suddenly re-valued its currency, ordering citizens to exchange old won notes for new bills, at an exchange rate of 100 to one. It allowed each person to exchange just 100,000 won - the equivalent of around $30. Pyongyang has since banned the use of foreign currency such as U.S. dollars, or Chinese yuan.
The changes effectively destroyed the wealth of those who had piled up won by trading in makeshift markets. Many North Koreans keep their money at home because they either cannot access or do not trust the country’s banks. Ha Tae-kyoung is the president of Open Radio for North Korea, which, like VOA, broadcasts news into the North. He says sources inside North Korea report frustration at the revaluation.
…He says those who made huge profits in the market are the losers in the reforms. However, salaried workers closely connected to the government can see the reforms as a positive development. That is because some government workers are receiving the same nominal salaries as before the 100-to-1 devaluation, effectively raising their pay by a factor of 100.
Kim says he thinks North Korean leader Kim Jong Il and his apparatus remain strong enough to keep the market in check. He says the North Korean leader would not have implemented the reforms if he thought there would be serious resistance. However, Noland warns that could change if Pyongyang tries to enforce the ban on owning foreign currency. “It’s the elites that deal in foreign currency, indeed, parts of the military and security services,” he said. “And if the government literally tried to take their dollars or yuan away, that’s the sort of thing that could actually lead to political instability.”
3. why doesn’t everyone agree that Robert Parks is a HERO for being the hegelian dialectical opposite of patsy underpants bomber? (cue the violins…)
The other martyr, in stark contrast, was a 28-year-old Christian missionary, Robert Park. An American of Korean descent, Park offered himself up peacefully, on Christmas Day, for the cause of life and liberty for others. He went to northeast China, and from there walked across the frozen Tumen River into North Korea. Witnesses told reporters that as he went, he called out, in Korean, messages of God’s love, as well as “I am an American citizen.” He took with him a letter to North Korean tyrant Kim Jong-il, asking Kim to open his country and shut down his prison camps.
4. daredevil activist deserves more attention. well hey, i’ll bet he gets it too.
Park’s action seemed futile, but it has already begun to create ripple effects. Susan Scholte, a winner of the Seoul Peace Prize, and U.S. Special Envoy for North Korea Human Rights Issues Robert King publicly voiced their concern for Park’s safety. U.S. media, including the Christian Science Monitor, have shown interest in Park’s action, and prayer meetings are taking place in South Korea for his safety.
5. see? US human rights envoy urges NK to follow in footsteps of Russia, China
Robert King, in a live conversation with South Korean Internet users held on a U.S. Embassy-run Web site, said he wants North Korea to achieve significant political and economic changes like Russia and China have gone through over the past 20 years. “I hope North Korea follows their example and makes economic and political changes,” King said, according to a transcript posted on the Web site.
6. as if to underscore the point…new suspect in 10 year old NK kidnapping case. what are the chances??!!??
It was 10 years ago this Saturday that a South Korean pastor helping North Korean refugees in China was kidnapped. And as the anniversary nears, a new suspect in the abduction of Reverend Kim Dong-shik is under South Korean investigation. Do Hee-yun, head of the Seoul-based Citizen’s Coalition for Human Rights of Abductees and North Korean Refugees, told the JoongAng Ilbo that a former North Korean spy who “played a principal role” in the kidnapping of Reverend Kim is being interrogated by South Korean authorities. According to Do, the ex-agent, named Kim, wasn’t staying at the official North Korean refugee shelter Hanawon, but instead was at another facility for investigation.
7. NK ask for punishing sender of fliers
North Korea has called on South Korea to punish members of conservative organizations who sent anti-Kim Jong-il fliers across the border, the North’s state media said Wednesday. …Since late 2008, the fliers criticizing Kim Jong-il’s dictatorship and sometimes, containing U.S. dollars and Chinese currency, have troubled the isolated state, which controls the press and offers only limited information.
8. and all this pressure for what ends? the nuclear weapons. Russia (good cop?) willing to build railways if NK give up nukes
Russia is willing to construct gas pipes, electrical power networks and railways that could bridge the two Koreas and Russia if North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons. This is according to Russian Ambassador to South Korea Konstantin Vnukov, who told Yonhap News that the proposal could be included in the idea of the “grand bargain,” which was proposed by President Lee Myung-bak as a comprehensive rewards package for North Korea if it abandons its nuclear program. The South Korean government responded positively to Russia’s overture, saying the deal can be reviewed when the six-party talks resume.
9. US (bad cop) : another setback on nukes
In a Foreign Ministry statement issued Monday, North Korea proposed talks to reach a peace treaty before denuclearization. The North also said it could return to the six-party talks if United Nations sanctions were lifted. But the U.S. government dismissed the idea less than 24 hours later. It stressed that a peace regime and other issues could only be discussed once the North returns to the six-party process and makes progress in denuclearization.
Our government maintains the same stance. The nuclear standoff, which had been in a lull for about a month following the Pyongyang trip by Stephen Bosworth, the U.S. special envoy on North Korea, once again has become the sticking point among North Korea, South Korea and the United States….The chances of denuclearization of the peninsula in the near future have diminished. It may have become that much more difficult to see permanent peace here. But we can’t give up on seeing the North abandon nuclear weapons. We have to be patient and mix strong and soft responses until North Korea is persuaded. One hopeful aspect is that time is not on the North Korean side. With its pending leadership change, North Korea will find it difficult to maintain its hedgehog tactics.
The problem is that there remains a possibility that the North Korean regime, which may not opt for a bold shift in foreign policy, could act provocatively toward South Korea. Furthermore, we can also predict that the antsy North will continue to raise tension on the peninsula. Meticulous and thorough countermeasures to control the North’s provocations are necessary. On top of robust military strength, we need to apply the carrot and the stick flexibly.
10. also, US ‘unlikely to let SK reprocess nuclear fuel’ until this is all ironed out with NK. so, like, never?
The U.S. is unlikely to allow South Korea to reprocess spent nuclear fuel that is piling up in secure storage facilities until a satisfactory solution to the North Korean nuclear problem is found, a report said this week. The matter is a key issue in negotiations between Seoul and Washington on the revision of the Korea-U.S. Atomic Energy Agreement, which expires in 2014. …However, “if the North Korean problem were to be satisfactorily resolved, the U.S. might be prepared to agree to some form of pyroprocessing under strict nonproliferation conditions,” he added. Pyroprocessing is a new technology of eletrolyzing spent nuclear fuel rods and extracting uranium and plutonium that can be reused as fuel. It is being developed under South Korea’s initiative.
