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Emperor Hotel Casino Re-opens

Thursday, June 14th, 2007

Daily NK
Han Yong Jin
6/14/2007

[NKeconWatch: Lots of pictures in original article]

The Emperor Hotel and Casino in Rajin-Sunbong has re-opened. It had earlier been a source of Chinese authority concern over remote gambling as the casino attempted to attract foreign tourists.

The North Korean regime designated Rajin and Sunbong as a special free economics and trade zone in December, 1991 and encouraged foreign businesses to locate there. Hong Kong’s Emperor Group opened a five star hotel with 100 guest rooms and a casino in July, 2000.

However, Cai Haowen, a superintendent at the Transportation Ministry in Yanbian-Zhou, embezzled approximately $425,000 of public funds and threw away all the money for gambling in the Emperor Hotel Casino, causing the Chinese government to close the hotel’s casino on January 11st, 2004.

Chinese bloggers who have visited the hotel released photos through a Chinese portal site, sina.com.

Bao Yong visited the Emperor in April and noted that the hotel is 50 km from Huichun, China, and the only tourists were Chinese. North Koreans were not permitted and there was no evidence of Russians. There were just Chinese cars with license plates from Liaoning, Heilongjiang, and, predominantly, Yanbian in the parking lot.

He said that “the strict hotel and casino management seemed more like agents or gangsters than managers, who were everywhere, creepily scrutinizing gamblers’ movement and attitudes.” They prevented him from taking photos inside the casino.

Posted in China, Gambling, Rason Economic and Trade Zone (Rajin-Sonbong), Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013), Sports | Comments Closed

The People’s Republic of Chippenham, a little slice of North Korea just off the M4

Saturday, June 9th, 2007

The Guardian
H/T DPRK Studies
Steven Morris
6/9/2007

At first sight they seem unlikely bedfellows. One is a friendly market town in Wiltshire where the Tories and Liberal Democrats vie for political control; the other is a secretive dictatorship that George Bush has branded part of an “axis of evil”.

But the burghers of Chippenham were yesterday coming to terms with the idea of their town being invaded – in a benevolent way – by the North Koreans.

Chippenham is one of many towns and cities across the UK hoping to cash in on the 2012 Olympics by hosting one of the teams as it prepares for the games.

Realising it could not hope to attract a country such as the USA or Australia, Chippenham sent off brochures to smaller sporting nations such as Ukraine, Slovakia, Armenia and some African states.

The first to reply was the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. An embassy official wrote that it was very interested and a North Korean photographer turned up earlier this week to take pictures of the town. The only catch so far is that the embassy has wondered if Chippenham would care to pay for its athletes to stay there. The town rather thought it would be the other way round.

Sandie Webb, leader of the consortium working to attract a team and the chairman of Chippenham Town FC, said: “It was a bit cheeky of them. We’ve written back asking them exactly what they would need and how many athletes they would bring. But it sounds like they are serious.

“I’ve been stopped by people in the street asking me about the political situation. I’ve told them all that’s up to people on the global level. If they are allowed to compete in the Olympic Games then they need a place to stay and what better place than Chippenham?”

The town is proud of its sporting facilities. It has a leisure centre, happily called the Olympiad, where North Korea’s judo and taekwondo experts could train. There is a good gym down the road at Melksham while cycling, archery and running could take place at Stanley Park in the town.

Very good equestrian facilities are not far away and training could even take place at Chippenham Town’s Hardenhuish Park, though with seating for 150 it hardly compares with North Korea’s May Day stadium, which holds a thousand times that number.

Of course, North Korea is not the biggest prize. Cities and towns across the UK and further afield are hoping for a multimillion pound Olympic windfall by attracting one of the teams. Birmingham is close to sealing a deal with the USA that could benefit the city by £10m or more. Sheffield and Manchester, both proud of their facilities, are also hoping to attract big teams.

Loughborough, Bath and Millfield, all renowned sporting centres, are vying for the honour of hosting Team GB but are hoping to secure a sporting giant if they miss out on the home nation.

Bristol has signed a deal with Kenya not only to host its pre-games camp but to organise a series of sporting, educational and cultural exchange programmes. Large stretches of the south coast are bound to enjoy boom times as competitors taking part in the sailing events, which are to be based at Weymouth and Portland in Dorset, prepare for British conditions.

The battle to attract teams has also spread to continental Europe: Australia has agreed to train at a lakeside centre at the foot of the Italian Alps.

Smaller UK towns are also in the hunt. Councillors in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, have spoken about setting up a base should a nearby RAF base close down, while local politicians in Hertfordshire will this month discuss plans by Malaysia’s national sports institute to create a training camp for its athletes at the Malaysian Rubber Board’s research centre in Hertford.

The Chippenham consortium, made up of local businesses and public bodies, worked out its targets by discarding the big teams such as the US and the European nations who will stay at home to train.

They then studied the medal tables to work out which teams could benefit from their facilities and wrote off to 28. They included Japan among their targets partly because so many of its countrypeople visit the Cotswolds.

Chippenham town clerk Laurie Brown said he was sure the town would welcome the North Koreans if they do come. “People in the north-east still talk with fondness of the North Koreans who came there during the 1966 World Cup. We would be trying to bond with whichever country comes.”

From Kim to Eddie Cochran: How they compare

Pyongyang (population 3 million)

· Legendarily inaccessible, the North Korean capital has direct flights to and from Beijing and occasionally Russia

· Foreigners are not generally allowed to use public transport and face restrictions on interaction with the local population

· 50,000 members of the ruling elite live in a luxury compound in central Pyongyang while most of the city’s population relies on food aid. In winter the temperature routinely falls to -13C

· Attractions include the Juche Tap, a tower lit at night which is the only constant source of light in the city

Chippenham (population 40,000)

· Sited on the river Avon, the market town was the site of a royal residence during the Middle Ages and appears in Domesday Book as a crown manor

· It is 4 miles south of the M4, giving easy access to Bristol, Swindon, south Wales and London. Once known as Little Bath because honey-coloured stone was used for its public buildings

· Lacock Abbey, close by, became Hogwarts school in the first two Harry Potter films. The town holds an annual festival in honour of rock ‘n’ roll singer Eddie Cochran, who died in 1960 after a car crash in Chippenham.

Posted in Advertising, Football (soccer), Sports | Comments Closed

North Korean Soccer Sponsors

Wednesday, May 23rd, 2007

So, it looks like Hummel, a Danish sports apparel company is sponsoring the North Korean national soccer team.

http://www.hummel.dk/Company/Sponsorships/Football/North%20Korea.aspx

Posted in Civil society, Football (soccer), Foreign direct investment, Sports | Comments Closed

North Korean Propaganda Festival May Signal Shift in Policy

Thursday, May 10th, 2007

Bloomberg
Bradley Martin
5/10/2007

Since 2002, North Korea has invited visitors every few years to a festival featuring 60,000 dancers, gymnasts, acrobats and musicians, along with card-flippers who create vast pictorial mosaics covering one entire side of the 150,000-seat May Day stadium in the capital, Pyongyang.

The previous performance, in 2005, included noisy and bloody tableaux of North Korean soldiers making mincemeat of enemy soldiers. Last week’s Arirang production — named for a famous Korean love song — was different. Battlefield carnage was replaced with scenes of people seeking higher living standards by rebuilding factories and growing crops.

While North Korea is hardly going pacifist seven months after testing an atomic device, the propaganda shift may signal a significant change in policy, according to expatriate businessmen living in the isolated country. Now that it is a nuclear power, North Korea appears to be directing more resources to improving an economy on its knees after decades of sanctions and isolation, they say.

Korean officials “are now confident they can defend their country,” said Felix Abt, the Swiss president of PyongSu Pharma Joint Venture Co. Ltd., which recently started manufacturing painkillers and antibiotics in Pyongyang. “Their next priority is economic development.”

Consumer Goods

The policy emphasizes light industry to produce consumer goods. It was formally expressed in a joint editorial that was run at the beginning of the year in three major newspapers published by the regime, Abt said.

Getting verifiable information about policies in North Korea is still almost impossible, especially on tightly organized trips for foreigners in which government guides keep visitors on a short leash.

And if the propaganda on display during one of these visits last week can be believed, the government continues to conceive any new economic policy along the lines of a traditional, planned economy, focused on state-owned enterprises where workers are inspired to redouble their efforts and produce miracles of socialist endeavor.

The Arirang show made this abundantly clear. In an act called “Power and Prosperity,” the audience was urged to emulate “youth shock brigade” members and other working people in North Pyongan Province who recently completed Thaechon Youth Power Station No. 4 in spite of catastrophic shortages of food, energy and most other materials that became evident in the early- to-mid-1990s.

`The Power’

The performance illustrated that North Korea needn’t depend on foreign donations, said Kim Song Ho, 32, one of the tour guides assigned to foreign visitors this month. “Our country has the power to live by ourselves,” said Kim, who worked for the World Food Program’s Pyongyang office until the government reintroduced rice rationing in 2005 and told foreign-aid organizations it could manage mainly on its own.

In Thaechon, Kim said, “workers constructed a power station despite the bad situation without any help. Now the slogan is, `We will work like Thaechon Power Station workers.’ We renovated factories, built new factories and now the economy is booming more and more.”

Evidence of such economic change wasn’t included on the tour Kim was guiding. Kim said he would happily show such sites to the foreign visitor another time.

Different Conditions

The development schemes aren’t directly modeled on those of China or Vietnam, locals stressed. “The conditions of the Chinese and Koreans are different,” said Kim Hyon Chol, the 32- year-old chief guide of the tour group. “The biggest difference is that our country is not united.”

The regime has kept its propaganda options open on its military direction.

Billboards in the capital city showed a U.S. and a Japanese soldier both skewered on the same bayonet. And while there was no sequence in the Arirang show celebrating the country’s nuclear explosion or missile tests, a military parade on April 25 to which foreign residents were invited showed off a missile said to be capable of hitting U.S. bases on Guam.

At the Demilitarized Zone, which has divided North from South Korea since the Korean War armistice agreement was signed in 1953, Korean People’s Army Captain Han Myong Gil was asked whether North Korea is safer since its nuclear test. He replied that U.S. and South Korean forces had held huge military exercises even as diplomats talked of trying to bring peace to the Korean peninsula.

`Hostile Attitude’

“The saying goes in Korea, `If there are many clouds, it will soon rain,”’ the 28-year-old career officer said. “We can’t feel safe until the U.S. gives up its hostile attitude.”

Han eventually responded to a question about what he thought of his government’s spending money on a huge military apparatus – – North Korea’s troop strength is the world’s fourth largest — while people don’t have enough food.

“We receive fright and oppression from the U.S., so I cannot hide that our living standard is not high,” Han said. “We were on an arduous march for a long time. Now we are very proud because we defended socialism with the military-first policy. A strong country can defend itself, but the weak will be beaten down.”

Posted in Civil society, European Business Association, Light Industry, Manufacturing, Mass games, Political economy, Sports | 1 Comment »

Uri Party lawmakers leave for N. Korea to propose new economic projects

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2007

Yonhap
5/2/2007

A group of lawmakers from the pro-government Uri Party left for North Korea on Wednesday with a package of new proposals to boost economic and sports exchanges, including the construction of a second joint industrial park.

The five-member delegation, accompanied by agricultural and coal industry officials, will meet with top North Korean officials, including the North’s No. 2 leader Kim Yong-nam, during its four-day visit until Saturday, party officials said.

High on the agenda of the meetings will be the South’s proposals to create another South Korea-developed industrial complex such as one under operation in Kaesong; designate the mouths of the North’s Imjin River and the South’s Han River as a “joint security area”; and jointly collect sand from their beaches and build a cross-border canal linking Seoul and Kaesong.

The sides will also discuss the North’s proposed entry into the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, the hosting of a joint academic forum and the possibility of North Korean footballers playing in the South Korean professional league, he said.

“I hear some critics asking what right our party has to do this, but we can play a role as a messenger between officials of the South and the North about important current issues,” Rep. Kim Hyuk-kyu, the delegation’s leader, said before departing at Incheon International Airport.

There have been a series of visits to North Korea by Uri Party lawmakers in recent months, prompting speculation that they were laying the groundwork for a summit between President Roh Moo-hyun and North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. The first and only inter-Korean summit, which took place in 2000, generated a series of economic and cultural exchanges.

Kim said the summit issue was not on the agenda, but acknowledged the delegation will respond if Pyongyang brings it up.

Accompanying the lawmakers are Nam Kyong-woo, livestock director of the National Agricultural Cooperative Federation, and Kim Weon-chang, head of the state-run Korea Coal Cooperation.

Posted in Agriculture, Coal, Football (soccer), International trade, South Korea, Special Economic Zones (Established before 2013) | Comments Closed

Drugs Stashed Away at a Foreigners Casino in Yangkang Hotel

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

Daily NK
Kwon Jeong Hyun
5/1/2007

Drug dealings have been occurring frequently amongst North Korea’s wealthy class which has led to an increase in people “taking medicine” an inside source recently informed.

Further, an underground casino for foreigners at Yangkag Hotel, Pyongyang, is known to have been openly circulating drugs. Yangkag Hotel is an elite hotel and was built in 1995 in co-partnership with France. Currently, the hotel operates a casino used by foreigners.

The source informed on the 30th, “Drug dealers directly approach the wealthy class who live around the borders of North Korea-China” and revealed, “People fall for the dealer’s trap and hence the number of addicted drug sellers and wealthy class is increasing.”

A few North Korean tradesmen even testified that a large number of the rich living in the border regions of North Korea, have in fact dealt with drugs in one form or another. Apparantly, about 3 out of 10 rich persons in North Korea have had some experiences with drugs and most of the long-distance drivers in North Korea take drugs.

One North Korean tradesman ‘H’ revealed, “Drug dealers con North Koreans with money by saying that the ‘medicine’ clears the head and acts as an aphrodisiac by giving you strength. Then they let the buyers taste-test the drug for free.” H said, “After a few times, the majority of these people become addicted and the dealer sets up a relationship to sell the drug for a long time.”

‘J’ who lives around the border regions expressed the seriousness of the drug issue by telling his own story. Through North Korea-China trade, J’s brother-in-law had accumulated a lot of wealth. One morning without any warning, he suddenly died in which J had thought was a hart attack. However, he later found out from his sister that drugs had been the cause.

For the past 2 years, J’s brother-in-law had been earning money and also spending it on drugs. He tried to quit on numerous occasions but was unable to escape from the persistent temptation by the drug dealer. As time passed, the symptoms of an addict surfaced which ultimately led to a drug overdose and death.

J said, “Never in my dreams could I have imagined that a good person like my brother-in-law would become a drug addict. Though authorities are enforcing regulations and punishment on the misuse of drugs, the problem is that there are no specific penalties or laws. If this keeps going, things could get worse.”

The source said, “North Korean authorities have made numerous decrees on various occasions stating that they will toughen punishment. But there are no specific rules or law and so there is no control over the offenders.” The source added, “The truth is, it will be difficult to penalize everyone according to the decrees set as many people throughout the regions of North Korea are now using drugs including the rich living in the cities.”

On the other hand, the district of Hamheung is receiving much focus as it is known to be the base for drug manufacture. Drugs sold on the black-market in Pyongyang, Chongjin and Shinuiju are considered of high quality and receive utmost trust if the drugs have been made in Hamheung.

Hamheung’s history dates back to when the chemical industry was first booming in North Korea. As a result, North Korea authorities began to produce medicinal drugs to attract more foreign currency. When the economic situation worsened, workers and the elite were known to have stashed drugs secretly in order to make money.

In addition to this, as lifestyles became more difficult, there were rumors suggesting that chemical analysts brought some raw materials of Philopon from China to secretly make drugs within the labs.

“It’s not only Hamheung. Drugs are easily available even in Pyongyang” the source said and, “Drugs are openly traded at the underground foreigners casino in Yangkag Hotel (for Hong Kong, Macau and Chinese tourists).”

The source continued, “The elite in Pyongyang often take drugs and this hotel is known for its stash of drugs” and added, “The Safety Agency and the Protection Agency must take action. Otherwise, the situation is only going to get worse.”

Posted in Black markets, Civil society, Drug smuggling, Gambling, Illicit activities, Tourism | 2 Comments »

North Korea Uncovered (Google Earth)

Sunday, April 22nd, 2007

DOWNLOAD IT HERE (to your own Google Earth)

Using numerous maps, articles, and interviews I have mapped out North Korea by “industry” (or topic) on Google Earth. This is the most authoritative map of North Korea that exists publicly today.

Agriculture, aviation, cultural, manufacturing, railroad, energy, politics, sports, military, religion, leisure, national parks…they are all here, and will captivate anyone interested in North Korea for hours.

Naturally, I cannot vouch for the authenticity of many locations since I have not seen or been to them, but great efforts have been made to check for authenticity. In many cases, I have posted sources, though not for all. This is a thorough compilation of lots of material, but I will leave it up to the reader to make up their own minds on the more “controversial” locations. In time, I hope to expand this further by adding canal and road networks.

I hope this post will launch a new interest in North Korea. There is still plenty more to learn, and I look forward to hearing about improvements that can be made.

Posted in Agriculture, Coal, Communications, Dams/hydro, DPRK organizations, Education, Electricity, Energy, Football (soccer), Forestry, Gambling, Golf, Google Earth, Health care, Hoteling, Manufacturing, Mass games, Military, Mining/Minerals, Nuclear, Railways, Religion, Restaurants, Sports, Tourism, Transportation, Worker's Party | 5 Comments »

North Korea Authorities, “Take Care of Kim Il Sung Birthday Presents to Citizens on Your Own.”

Monday, April 16th, 2007

Daily NK
Kim Young Jin
4/16/2007

The North Korean authorities ordered that the holiday gifts given to North Korean citizens for 4.15 Kim Il Sung’s birthday, Sun Day, be distributed by each provincial body.

The leader of a people’s unit Mr. Choi of a district in Hyesan, Yanggang said in a phone conversation with Daily NK on the 13th, “The order came from the center to supply liquor and sweets through the body.”

He said, “A ‘4.15 subdivision committee’ has been organized in each province and has been going down to the commercial offices and food factories to directly inspect production.” The committee is a team that exists for the people who were temporarily transferred from party and political organizations for the seasonal production of sweets for distributing to children on Kim Il Sung’s birthday

This order’s intention can be interpreted as North Korean authorities trying to raise the holiday atmosphere by sparking competition among the provinces to celebrate Day of the Sun as “the year of victory in Military First Ideology.”

”The manager who cannot even provide one bottle of alcohol is not entitled”

However, the central party provided the order without a realistic plan of action, leaving it in the hands of factory and enterprise offices.

Another well-informed source stated that, “The central party has sparked a competition amongst the provinces to see which municipality provides more.”

On the 80th birthday anniversary of Kim Il Sung in 1992, when the “Supply Diversification” competition was kindled, the news spread that Junchun Commercial Office in Jakang, to where Jung Chun Sil (a member of Supreme People’s Committee) belongs, supplied 13 kinds of socks, candles, matches, and alcohol, but most of the provinces stopped after passing out one bottle of drink.

The well-informed source also stated that more than one bottle of drink could not be distributed this time. Soju is an item which cannot be left out from the holiday provision. Each provincial organization was known to bluff. “Factory managers who cannot provide at least one bottle of drink should forfeit their positions.”

At a food factory producing drinks, 10 hours of electricity was provided and the factory entered production round the clock, but it still had difficulty due to the lack of electricity and raw materials.

Demand-driven supply is also insufficient. After supplying drinks produced at this factory to organizations of influence, coal and mine workers, and laborers who work in dangerous jobs, there is not enough for all citizens.

As a result, authorities are asking factory and enterprises offices themselves to provide the laborers. Most factories are ordering from individual home-brew traders.

Failure in “gift” production for children

In the midst of this, it has been known that units which have taken charge of production of gift-use sweets are in a state of panic.

A part of the provinces used corn taffy and substituted corn instead of flour because of the lack of candy powder (sugar). Also, provisions had to be completed by April 13 to 14th, but the production line could not operate due to the lack of electricity, so goods could not ensure within the planned time.

Until the early 1990s, the central party promised flour, sugar, and other materials, but due to the worsening of financial difficulties, it decreed that provinces themselves take care of these goods. After the 65th birthday anniversary of Kim Il Sung in 1977, North Korea provided sweets to pre-school students who are at least five-years old to 11-year old elementary school students as a way of boosting their devotions but under the pretext of “gifts.”

Defector Mr. Kim reflected, “I can remember, after going up one by one to receive gifts, approaching the portraits of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jung Il and bowing. In 1970-1980, the snacks and sweets were at least 10 different kinds, but now, there is only corn snack and one package of candy.”

Posted in Alcohol, Civil society, Light Industry, Manufacturing, Mass games | 2 Comments »

N. Korea starts mass gymnastic show to mark anniversary of founder’s birthday

Sunday, April 15th, 2007

Yonhap
4/15/2007

North Korea has launched a month-long mass gymnastics show as part of festivities to mark the 95th birthday of its late founding leader Kim Il-sung, the country’s new agency reported Sunday.

The Arirang Mass Games opened at Pyongyang’s May Day Stadium on the evening of Saturday, with hundreds of dancers and gymnasts performing against a gigantic backdrop of mosaic pictures formed by thousands students holding up colored panels, the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-il did not attend the opening show on the eve of his late father’s birthday, the agency said.

The show was held in 2002 and 2005, but was cancelled last year due to floods, causing hundreds of U.S. and Western tourists to cancel their planned trip to one of the world’s last remaining communist state.

This year’s show, which runs about 80 minutes starting at 8 p.m. every day except for Sunday, is expected to continue until May 20, Western tour organizers said.

This year’s show carries special meaning for North Korea, as it will celebrate the 95th anniversary of the birth of the late leader who died of heart failure in 1994. This year also marks the 62nd anniversary of the Korean Peninsula’s liberation from Japan’s colonial rule and the founding of the North’s ruling Workers’ Party.

The first version of Arirang, named after a famous traditional Korean folk song, was held for nearly five months in 2002, with about 100,000 students and ordinary people participating.

At that time, North Korea staged a promotional campaign for the festival, calling it a “once-in-a-millennium” event. Some viewed it as an effort to gain publicity at the time of the World Cup finals co-hosted by South Korea and Japan the same year.

Posted in Mass games, Sports, Tourism | Comments Closed

Festive mood grips N. Korea as late founder’s birthday nears

Friday, April 13th, 2007

Yonhap
4/14/2007

A festive mood was pervading North Korea Saturday as the birthday of the communist state’s late founder drew near, with a series of exhibitions and gatherings being held, the North’s state media reported.

Pyongyang has staged art, sports and dance events annually for the birthday of Kim Il-sung, which falls on April 15, and is also known as the Day of Sun. Kim died of heart failure on July 8 1994 at the age of 82, and his son Kim Jong-il took power afterward.

Art troupes from China, Russia, Japan, Kazakhstan, India and Indonesia staged performances in Pyongyang on Saturday, the third day of the country’s April Spring Friendship Art Festival, according to the North’s state media.

A flower exhibition for “Kimilsungia,” an orchid named after Kim, was opened Friday with the North’s and foreign officials in attendance. The exhibition will be run until Thursday.

The festive mood is expected to culminate when the North stages the pro-unification Arirang festival Sunday through May 20. It is one of the North’s major gymnastics events and is popular among both Western and South Korean visitors.

Foreign delegations also have arrived Pyongyang to celebrate Kim’s birthday, the state media reported.

An Indonesian delegation made a visit to the North’s Mansudae Assembly Hall on Friday and conveyed a present to the incumbent North Korean leader via Kim Young-dae, the North’s No. 3 leader. It also toured Mankyongdae, the birthplace of the late founder in a rural village near the North Korean capital.

A Russian delegation also paid homage to a Kim Il-sung statue at the Mansudae Assembly Hall, while a Mongolian delegation paid visits to art exhibition halls and other sites to commemorate the birthday.

Posted in Art, China, Civil society, Japan, Russia, Sports | Comments Closed

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