December 30, 2004 ? North Korea is undertaking small experiments with free market economy principles that would have been unthinkable a couple of years ago, the Unification Ministry said in a new report released yesterday. The report said that there are now 24-hour stores operating in Pyeongyang and six to seven places providing computer access as well. One of the stores has 100 personal computers, the report said. Some stores are selling hamburgers. The report said that hamburgers first started to appear at colleges inside North Korea where foreign culture is spreading faster than other places. According to the report, about 150 bars and 350 restaurants are operating in the capital Pyeongyang. Restaurants, cafes, karaoke and pool halls are running late into the night as long as there are customers. Lighters embossed with a restaurant's name are given as small presents to potential customers. Unification Ministry officials said that such trends in North Korean society are against standard policy. North Korea generally views too much leisure time as a threat to the ruling system. It publicly preaches that "the more free time people have makes room for individualism which leads to freedom of consciousness," the report said. Pyeongyang citizens are reportedly trying to barter with store owners when buying goods and services. The bargaining has giving birth to a vocabulary only found in societies where a free market economies exist, read the report. The ministry report said that such changes are being conducted while the North Korean regime is trying to strengthen its ideological education of citizens. "In order to make up for the shortage of goods and provide some flexibility in distribution, North Korea has introduced free market influenced economic measures," said a ministry official, who added that North Korea might briefly try to control the level of reform but that eventually it would be hard to change its overall direction. "The North Korean people have tasted what it's like to live in a free economy. Their minds already have started to adopt to such a change." by Kang Ju-an
Pyongyang, December 29 (KCNA) -- Economic cooperation has been vigorously promoted between the north and south of Korea after the publication of the June 15 North-South Joint Declaration. A progress has been made in various fields -- relinking of railway lines and roads along the eastern and western coasts nearly sixty years after their severance, activated tourism on Mt. Kumgang and start of the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) construction. But the inter-Korean cooperation has been disturbed by the United States in recent months. The U.S. is obstructing the KIZ construction which started in June last year. The U.S. is going to dispatch more than 20 personnel concerned including the secretary general of the U.S. side to the Military Armistice Commission in the U.S. army base in Ryongsan to the Joint Security Area of Panmunjom and the demilitarized zone to "approve" and "permit" the personnel and materials of the south side going in and out there. This reveals the heinous intention of the U.S. to keep the joint security area of Panmunjom and the demilitarized zone under its control and, at the same time, to block the north-south cooperation including the KIZ construction. The U.S. has hampered its progress in every way from the very start. It has strictly controlled money and electricity, alleging that they could be used for military purpose. And it has delayed the construction with an excuse of "investigation", threatened businessmen not to invest in the project and hindered the introduction of equipment and materials by dint of the unreasonable export law. In an interview with KCNA, a spokesman for the Committee for the Peaceful Reunification of the Fatherland brands the U.S. as a vicious disturber and a heinous aggressor who is trying to meddle in and obstruct all the Korean nation is doing by itself. A spokesman for the Korean National Economic Cooperation Federation in a statement called for determinedly frustrating all the U.S. obstructions, stressing that if they were allowed, the Korean nation would be deprived of the reunification era brought by the June 15 joint declaration and could never escape from a war disaster. It is not fortuitous that even south Korean media said it was none other than the U.S. that was obstructing the south-north relations and the U.S. was nervous of seeing the south and the north might solve the issue of peace and reunification by themselves. The Korean nation strongly denounces the U.S. for blocking the joint economic activities of the nation while deteriorating the nuclear issue on the Korean peninsula and keeping the country divided into two. [Sanctions]
Pyongyang, December 29 (KCNA) -- A modern greenhouse farm has been built in the Hwasong area of Pyongyang, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The farm, which covers hundreds of thousands of square meters, cultivates vegetables and flowers in an industrial way and on the basis of advanced science and technology. It consists of two kinds of greenhouses, one using nutritive liquid and the other using solar heat. The former is divided into seven plots for vegetables and three plots for flower plants. The application of nutritive liquid and temperature are controlled in a comprehensive way to suit the features of vegetables and flowers. The latter is built with adobe and vinyl sheets. It keeps warmth inside the greenhouse so that it can safely produce fruit-bearing vegetables even in the depth of winter and in early spring.
By Bae Keun-min Staff Reporter The first director of a South Korean hospital in the Kaesong Industrial Complex of North Korea believes the medical service will help build trust between the two rivals. The first ever South Korea-run hospital will be launched in the Kaesong Industrial Complex next month with the opening of a first-aid clinic. ``We will provide medical services to workers from the South when the hospital opens,'' said Chung Hyun-kee, who was appointed Kaesong hospital director. Chung now serves as president of Kosin University in Pusan.
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter SJ Tech Co., a semiconductor parts manufacturer, held a dedication ceremony for its new factory in Kaesong, North Korea, on Tuesday to become the second firm operating in the inter-Korean industrial complex, located just north of the heavily fortified demilitarized zone. The factory, which currently employs around 70 North Korean workers to produce chip carriers, plans to enter mass production next month and employ 200 more workers next year, an SJ Tech spokesman said. The company, headquartered in Kyonggi Province, plans to invest 4 billion won ($3.6 million) in its Kaesong plant, which the Seoul government gave approval for in June this year. The ceremony at the 1,626-pyong (5,375 square meter) site in the pilot zone of the industrial park was attended by around 250 people from South Korea, including Kyonggi Province Governor Sohn Hak-kyu and Rep. Bae Ki-sun of the ruling Uri Party. On Dec. 15, Livingart, a Seoul-based kitchenware maker, began operations in a factory in Kaesong, rolling out the first products _ iron pots and pans _ of the inter-Korean joint economic project. In August 2000, Hyundai Asan agreed with North Korea to develop a 20-million-pyong (66 million square meter) complex in Kaesong, about 60 kilometers north of Seoul, at a cost of 200 billion won. The first phase of construction is currently underway for housing 300 companies, with completion aimed for 2007. Through a three-stage development plan lasting until 2011, Hyundai Asan predicts the Kaesong park will attract 2,000 companies, mostly from South Korea, while employing 700,000 North Koreans and 100,000 South Koreans. According to the Hyundai Research Institute of South Korea, the Kaesong project will provide more than $9.6 billion in economic benefits to the North and $74.9 billion to the South by 2011. im@koreatimes.co.kr 12-28-2004 17:35
December 28, 2004 ? After reaching an agreement with Pyeongyang, the Unification Ministry announced yesterday new regulations now in effect for visits to the Gaeseong Industrial Complex in North Korea. People who want to visit the complex will receive permission from the two Koreas' governments within five days; down from the current 10 days. Also, those who visit the complex will not have to present a visitor's report, which was previously required every time they visited the complex. A document to explain the purpose for the visit, required when applying for multiple visits, will replace the report. Unification Ministry officials said, "The revised regulations will help businessmen do business there easily. The government will work to simplify the passage procedures even more." [Kaesong]
Pyongyang, December 27 (KCNA) -- The World Federation of Overseas Korean Businessmen was inaugurated in Moscow on Dec. 18. Korean businessmen abroad were present at the inaugural ceremony that day. At the ceremony the chairman of the Businessmen's Association of the International United Confederation of Koreans was elected chairman of the federation.
By Seo Dong-shin Staff Reporter A federation of overseas Korean businessmen was founded on Dec. 18 in Moscow, Russia, Pyongyang's official news agency reported Monday. Although the purpose or the makeup of the organization was not specified in the report, experts here presume that the members are likely pro-Pyongyang Koreans residing abroad, considering the fact that the chairman of the industry committee of the International Koryoin Federation for Unification was elected as its president. The Koryoin Federation is known as a pro-North Korean organization centered on ethnic Koreans in Russia, often called ``koryoin.''
December 27, 2004 ? Pyeongyang has launched a large-scale crackdown on "anti-state activities" along its border with China, targeting not only border crossings by North Koreans, but the smuggling of Chinese goods and South Korean videotapes into the North, South Korean intelligence officials said yesterday. In late November, the North's governing Workers' Party and law-enforcement authorities jointly dispatched at least four units of 80 investigators each to the border area, a senior South Korean intelligence official said. "The investigation force will stage probes until the end of January," the official said. Besides North Koreans crossing into China, the units are targeting the smuggling of Chinese goods into the North, particularly mobile phones, the official said. Also targeted are videotapes of South Korean TV shows, as well as pornography from a variety of countries. Pyeongyang revised its criminal code in April to have legal grounds to prosecute such trade. [Economic reform]
Pyongyang, December 24 (KCNA) -- An enlarged plenary meeting of the DPRK Cabinet was held in Pyongyang on Dec. 22 to review the farming this year and discuss measures for bringing about a signal turn in agricultural production next year. The meeting stressed that it is very important to do farming well next year to significantly celebrate the 60th anniversaries of the Workers' Party of Korea and the liberation of the country and proposed tasks and ways to do so. It underscored the need to widely introduce high- yielding seeds to cultivation, reap a rich harvest from before and after crops in double- cropping, successfully cultivate potatoes and diversify the agricultural structure as required by the developing reality. It called for properly choosing crops and their species on the principle of maximizing the grain production, decisively increasing the fertility of soil on paddy and non-paddy fields and actively introducing new farming methods to rice cultivation, while conducting sowing and cultivation as required by the Juche-based farming method to boost the grain production. It also stressed the need to widely introduce efficient modern farm machines to agriculture to accelerate the industrialization and modernization of agriculture. The meeting was attended by Pak Pong Ju, premier of the DPRK Cabinet, and its members and officials concerned with agriculture as observers.
"Made-in-Kaesong" Goods Shipped to Seoul A ceremony to commemorate the first product in the Kaesong Industrial Zone held on Dec. 15. The first model factory started its operation on December 15 in the first-phase development district of the Kaesong Industrial Zone. The factory was completed in a one million phyong (one phyong equals to about 36 square feet) area. With a floor space of more than 1,000 phyong, the factory will produce more than 20 kinds of kitchen utensils through the cooperation of Koreans in the North and the South. The 4.5 billion won ($3.8 million) two-story factory, completed on December 2, was built by Livingart Co., a kitchenware maker of South Korea.
Key Policy to Develop Economy: Strengthening Government's Unified Guidance and Transferring Decision-making Authority to Lower Units The People's Korea interviewed Kim Yong Sul, Vice Minister of Trade of the DPRK on Pyongyang's incentive policy on external trade investment. The following is a summary of the interview. Q: A series of changes seems to have taken place in the DPRK's economy since the DPRK took measures to reform its economic management. Following these changes, favorable conditions have been created in trade investment. A: Lower organizations have been authorized to independently handle economic problems in many fields, while unified guidance by the government was strengthened after the economic management reform was taken.
Vice Trade Minister Kim Yong Sul The State Planning Commission sets production quotas for strategic materials and other important goods to each factory and production unit, but it gives only money quota to factories and enterprises which are not engaged in producing goods. Lots of lower units are carrying out production plans, using their originality to the full. There are detailed regulations concerning how money is spent, but enterprises can use money except payment to the government at their discretion. Enterprises can deal in necessary materials each other at prices of mutual consent. [Economic reform]
To Spread Productions of Korean Writers Worldwide and Protect Copyright of DPRK Writers, Artists from Piracy A book company of the DPRK and a media company of the Chongryun (The General Association of Korean Residents in Japan) recently agreed to jointly promote the work of protecting the copyright of DPRK works of art. Piracy and distortion of original DPRK productions and copyrights for them in foreign countries will be controlled and managed under this agreement. At the same time, this measure will give a great opportunity for the DPRK to spread its publications worldwide. Photo shows a scene of "Chun Hyang-jon," a famous movie in the DPRK. Korean movies will be also protected by this work from now on. Conclusion of Agreement The Choson Sinbo Company of the Chongryun and the Korea Publication Export and Import Corporation of the DPRK concluded an agreement to jointly promote the protection of the copyrights for the productions of the DPRK, with the approval of the DPRK Secretariat of Copyright. The Secretariat of Copyright was organized in June as a national institution for control and management of copyrights for DPRK productions.
By JAMES BROOKE (NYT) 1589 words Late Edition - Final , Section W , Page 1 , Column 3 DISPLAYING FIRST 50 OF 1589 WORDS - Five miles up a highway from this new break in the barbed wire wall across Korea, visitors may glimpse the peninsula's economic future: the building shells for the first industrial park where North Koreans are to work in South Korean In Koreas, High Hopes for an Industrial Marriage Five miles up a highway from this new break in the barbed wire wall across Korea, visitors may glimpse the peninsula's economic future: the building shells for the first industrial park where North Koreans are to work in South Korean factories. The potency of this marriage between North Korea's rock-bottom wages and South Korea's capital and technology has so excited Seoul that on Oct. 20 almost a quarter of South Korea's National Assembly members are to travel by bus to Kaesong, North Korea, to inaugurate the Kaesong Industrial Park. About 130 South Korean companies are already on a waiting list to open factories there, and it is expected eventually to draw billions of dollars in investments and employ 730,000 North Koreans and 100,000 South Koreans in more than 1,000 South Korean companies. A new dynamism could come if South Korea succeeds in developing North Korea as a huge back office. Companies in the park are to pay a minimum wage of $57.50 a month, far less than the $100 to $200 typical in China and $449 in South Korea. Corporate taxes in Kaesong will range from 10 percent to 14 percent, compared with 15 percent in China and 23 percent to 28 percent in South Korea. "The biggest advantage is the cheap labor," Lee Soo Young, a director at the Kaesong Industrial Complex Project.
Pyongyang, December 23 (KCNA) -- A national meeting of officials in the field of agriculture was held here Wednesday. The meeting was attended by Premier Pak Pong Ju, Vice-Premiers Kwak Pom Gi, Ro Tu Chol and Jon Sung Hun, and members of the Cabinet, officials of provincial, city and county people's committees and agricultural guidance organs and officials in the related fields. Minister of Agriculture Ri Kyong Sik made a report which was followed by speeches.
Pyongyang, December 23 (KCNA) -- Housing construction has been extensively carried on in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea this year. A large number of dwellings were built in towns and county seats including Manpho City, Kim Jong Suk County, Chosan County, Paechon County and Anak County. The Party information workers mobilized in the project of sprucing up the revolutionary battle sites and historical sites in the Mt. Paektu area have completed the construction of houses for more than 500 families in Samjiyon County.
Pyongyang, December 22 (KCNA) -- Power stations have been built along the Kaechon-Lake Thaesong Waterway in South Phyongan Province, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The 150- kilometer-long natural-flow waterway has been built from Taegak-ri in Kaechon City to Lake Thaesong. It saves 140 million kWh of electricity a year. Many spots have been chosen as sites of power stations along the waterway, providing a foundation for turning out several dozen million kWh of electricity a year.
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea has made signal successes in the land development this year. Hundreds of kilometers of roads and one hundred and tens of bridges have been built across the country. Nearly 1,000-kilometer-long roads have been improved technically so as to ensure rapid traffic of vehicles. More than 700-kilometer-long roads including streets in Kanggye City and Sunchon-Kaechon motorway have been paved or repaired. This year has witnessed achievements in river improvement projects including constructed or reinforced dams extending several hundred kilometers. Over 480,000 cubic meters of earth have been removed, about 200,000 square meters of stonewalls laid, hundreds of thousands of cubic meters of river beds dug and scores of hectares of river bank forests created in the projects. Hundreds of millions of trees have been planted in tens of thousands of hectares throughout the country.
Pyongyang, December 21 (KCNA) -- A trade agreement between the governments of the DPRK and Mongolia and an agreement on setting up the Inter-governmental Economic, Trade and Scientific and Technological Consultative Committee were signed at the Mansudae Assembly Hall Tuesday. Present at the signing ceremony from the DPRK side were President of the Presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly Kim Yong Nam, Foreign Minister Paek Nam Sun and officials concerned and from the Mongolian side President Natsagyn Bagabandi and Foreign Minister Tsend Munkh-orgil and other suite members. The agreements were inked by Vice-Minister of Foreign Trade Ri Ryong Nam on behalf of the DPRK government and Vice-Minister of Industry and Commerce Tsagaandari Enkhtuvshin on behalf of the Mongolian government.
By Reuben Staines Staff Reporter North Korea is facing growing unemployment as economic reforms force factories and businesses to shut up shop, according to a report by two U.N. agencies. The joint report by the World Food Program and the Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that 30 percent of North Koreans are under- or unemployed. The employment rate for women, which was once one of the highest in the world at 89 percent, is decreasingly particularly quickly, according to the report, which was released last month following an assessment mission to the North in September and October. ``An indicator of the magnitude of female unemployment may be that the term `housewife,' used for unemployed women, has become culturally more acceptable,'' it said, adding that the term was almost unheard just a few years ago.
December 22, 2004 ? Posco Engineering & Construction Co., a unit of Posco, Korea's largest steelmaker, won an order to build two power plants in Iran with a combined development cost of $600 million. The gas-fired plants in Kermanshah and Yazd will be started in the first half of 2005, Posco Engineering said in an e-mailed statement.
Pyongyang, December 18 (KCNA) -- The Korean Central News Agency issued a report Saturday in which it said that the army and people of the DPRK have made great achievements in capital construction over the last decade since leader Kim Jong Il held high the banner of Songun. The report says: In this period signal successes have been made in the overall construction including the building of monumental edifices for conveying the greatness of President Kim Il Sung and his revolutionary exploits down through generations and industrial construction. Epoch-making changes have taken place on this land even under the most difficult situation where the people had to make the "Arduous March," forced march and they were hard pressed for everything. This steadily added to the treasure of the country. It is the miracle unprecedented in the world history.
The Seonjuk Bridge is the most memorable landmark in Gaeseong, North Korea. Chung Mong- ju, a loyal retainer of Goryeo Dynasty, was killed on the bridge as the power of the 500- year-old capital waned. The city's tragic history has been forgotten by many Koreans today. Blocked by the Demilitarized Zone and historically shadowed by the Joseon Dynasty, the presence of Gaeseong feels more like a myth. When Wang Geon, the founder of Goryeo Dynasty, established the first unified kingdom on the Korean Peninsula in 918, Gaeseong was called "Songak." Its guardian mountain according to the feng shui is Mount Songak, the mountain of pine trees and rocks. The city of Gaeseong had been the auspicious cradle of Korea's unification for over a millennium. At the same time, it suffered one of the most painful experiences in the tragedy of national division. Located at the forefront, it was bombed by U.S. forces in the early days of the Korean War. From 1951 on, the city was devastated by the South by day and by the North by night. But the war-torn forgotten capital of the ancient dynasty has returned to the spotlight as the site of the joint industrial complex. Gaeseong kitchen pots, the first product manufactured at the complex, sold briskly Thursday at a department store in Seoul. When former German chancellor Helmut Schmidt was asked about the lessons of German unification during his visit to Seoul in the early 1990s, he said, "Unification comes suddenly. It's expensive, so be prepared." It was in 1951 when West and East Germany signed the Berlin Agreement, which enabled trade between the two countries. Although unification came 38 years later, the agreement must have had many unexpected effects. Since West Germany purchased East German products and invested in the country until the fall of the Berlin Wall, unification requires high costs. The price to pay after unification is even greater. It was only three years and four months ago that the two Koreas agreed to develop a joint industrial complex in Gaeseong. The initial construction cost of the complex was 220 billion won ($200 million). We have had a faster, cheaper start than Germany. However, the road to Gaeseong is still long. by Oh Byung-sang
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- An extensive campaign for retooling existing equipment is being conducted in different sectors of the national economy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Much effort is being directed to reconditioning generating equipment in hydro- power stations. The Suphung Power Station has manufactured and installed highly efficient turbines of a new type and improved various kinds of equipment including stators of generators and oil cooler of large-size transformer. The Kanggye Youth Power Station has introduced new technical inventions into extending the serviceable life of impellers and raising their efficiency. Minor power stations in Jagang and other provinces have remodeled impellers in a rational way to generate more electricity with the same volume of water. Technical modernization of production processes are being dynamically accelerated in metal and machine-building industrial establishments. The Kim Chaek Iron and Steel Complex has introduced a new oxygen-blowing method into the oxygen furnace so as to remarkably shorten the steel-making time and improve the quality of steel. The Hwanghae Iron and Steel Complex has renewed tundish nozzle of continuous roughing machine to save a great deal of fuel. Hundreds of technical inventions have been introduced into production at the Rakwon Machine- Building Complex. The technical modernization is taking place in chemical industrial establishments, mines and collieries, too
Kaesong, December 15 (KCNA) -- The first model factory in the one million phyong (one phyong equals to about 36 square feet) development district at the first phase of the Kaesong Industrial Zone (KIZ) has been completed and commissioned Wednesday. The factory with a floor space of more than 1,000 phyong will produce more than 20 kinds of kitchen utensils thanks to the creative labor of Koreans in the north and the south. Present at the commissioning ceremony from the north side were Ju Tong Chan, director of the General Bureau for Central Guidance to the Development of the Special Zone, and other officials concerned and from the south side Chairman Hyon Jong Un and President Kim Yun Gyu of Hyundai Asan, Kim Jae Hyon, president of the Land Company, businessmen and other persons concerned. At the ceremony Hyon Jong Un and Chairman of the model factory Kim Sok Chol made speeches for the occasion and representatives from the north side and the south side made congratulatory speeches. Hyon Jong Un in her speech said that this auspicious event in which the first product was turned out in the KIZ would record a page in history as it demonstrated to the world the appearance of the united Korean nation and its strength guided by the spirit of the June 15 joint declaration. Hyon hoped for positive assistance and cooperation so that the construction of the zone, which is underway as a national and state undertaking, might make faster and successful progress. Ju Tong Chan said that the separatists at home and abroad, displeased with the movement for the reunification of the country and the north-south economic cooperation, have worked hard to sap the great vitality of the joint declaration and hamstring economic cooperation but they can never stem the trend of the times when the Koreans are advancing in the idea of "By our nation itself". He stressed the need to boost the inter-Korean economic cooperation and accelerate the construction of the zone under the uplifted banner of the joint declaration with the idea of "By our nation itself" being its core and thus realize the desire and expectation of all the fellow countrymen. Then representatives from the north and the south cut off the tape for the commissioning of the factory. At the end of the ceremony the participants went round the production processes of the factory and its trial products.
Pyongyang, December 15 (KCNA) -- Kim Jong Il, general secretary of the Workers' Party of Korea and chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, gave field guidance to the Songjin Steel Complex which is taking the lead in effecting a great surge in the production. He first went round the monument to the field guidance of President Kim Il Sung and the room devoted to the history of the complex.
By Seo Dong-shin Staff Reporter A total of one thousand ``made in Kaesong'' steel pan sets were sold out Thursday, only two days after they hit the shelves at a department store in Seoul. Priced 19,800 won per set consisting of two steel pans, 480 sets were sold out within two hours after Lotte Department Store in downtown Seoul placed them on the stand Wednesday afternoon. The remaining 520 sets sold out Thursday, three days earlier than the store had predicted. ``Some 20 percent of customers bought more than 10 sets,'' a spokesman for the department store said. ``A customer even bought 50 sets at once, saying he would distribute them among `silhyangmin,''' the official added. The term ``silhyangmin,'' refers to those who have lost their hometown; those who were born in North Korea but were unable to go back after the nation's division. The steel pan sets were the first products transported to the South from the pilot zone of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, which is located just beyond the world's most heavily fortified border. Produced by Livingart Co., a South Korean kitchenware company, operating its plant in the complex with 255 North Korean employees, the pan sets crossed the border on an eight-ton truck Wednesday. Unification Minister Chung Dong-young, who just returned from his visit to Kaesong to celebrate the occasion, bought four sets at the store and sent two sets of gifts each to former President Kim Dae-jung and incumbent President Roh Moo-hyun, according to sources. ``While Kim is the one who initiated the Kaesong project, Roh is the one who got the business on track,'' a Unification Ministry official said, adding the steel pan sets will therefore make good presents to them.
Customers line up to buy steel pan sets of Livingart Co., which are the first products from the Kaesong Industrial Complex to be sold in the South, at Lotte Department Store in downtown Seoul, Wednesday. / Yonhap [photo]
The first manufactured goods from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex were produced yesterday. Despite the dire situation surrounding the Korean peninsula due to the nuclear crisis in the North, the Gaeseong Complex has now become a new symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation with the production of goods there. Even though the first products were 1,000 sets of pots, the fact that the goods produced in Gaeseong were sold in a department store in Seoul on the same day signals that if North and South Korea cooperate, it will open an era of "one-day economic cooperation." It symbolically shows that this is an opportunity for coexistence. Like the Mount Geumgang Tourism project, which has now stabilized, the Gaeseong Industrial Complex has made a successful start, and even though unification appears a long way off, it will be a chance for people in North and South Korea to increase their understanding of the need for unification and will become a catalyst for change. [Kaesong]
December 16, 2004 ? GAESEONG ? A shipment of pots, the first batch of North Korean-made products from the Gaeseong Industrial Complex, came across the Demilitarized Zone yesterday in a symbolic step that South Korea hopes will lead to a long-term economic relationship with North Korea. At an opening ceremony, about 180 North Korean workers dressed in dark blue fatigues operated machines as 380 South Korean and 50 North Korean guests looked on. The 4.5 billion won ($3.8 million) two-story factory, completed Dec. 2, was built by Livingart, a kitchenware maker and known as Sonoko Cuisineware Inc. in overseas markets. Attending the official opening day of production, South Korea's Unification Minister Chung Dong-young shook hands with North Korean workers and encouraged them. Nam Soo-hee, 19, a female worker from Gaeseong who was packaging the pots, said, "Thank you. I will do my best." Hong Ki-chul, 50, working at a molding machine said, "I am pleased North and South Koreans work together in the same factory." In upbeat remarks, Mr. Chung said, "The Gaeseong Industrial Complex is a symbol of joint prosperity. The pots Livingart is producing are pots containing the hope of unification that dissolves conflicts and produces peace." [Kaesong]
Pyongyang, December 14 (KCNA) -- A campaign for protecting and propagating marine resources is being conducted in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Fishery stations on the east coast have built more than 20 cultivation farms to further increase marine resources. Sea cucumbers, abalones, sea urchins and mussels which are under special protection are being artificially bred in spawning and cultivation farms
Pyongyang, December 14 (KCNA) -- The Kaechon- Lake Thaesong Waterway, which was constructed two years ago, is paying off in irrigating areas of South Phyongan Province in the western part of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. There are many reservoirs including Lake Thaesong along its 150-kilometer-long waterway. When water is stored in the reservoirs to the full, it makes it possible to do farming successfully in the granaries of South Phyongan Province and Pyongyang without worrying about water. The River Taedong flows into the reservoirs through the natural-flow waterway without the help of electricity. Water tantamount to the 70 percent of the whole water volume of the reservoirs has already been kept there. The Irrigation Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and the Kaechon-Lake Thaesong Waterway Management Station are managing well the Taegak Youth Dam and water inlet structures to fill the reservoirs with water of the River Taedong. Water will be stored to the full in Lake Thaesong by the end of December. In recent years the DPRK government has directed efforts to building natural-flow waterways to fully solve the water problem in farming. The Paekma-Cholsan Waterway project is now under way in North Phyongan Province in the northwestern part of the country.
North Korean employees are at work in a factory of Livingart Co., a South Korean kitchenware maker operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex in North Korea, while a group of South Korean officials look around the production line, Wednesday
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter North Korea's trade with China amounted to $1.01 billion in the first 10 months this year, up 40.3 percent on an annual basis, the Korea International Trade Association in Seoul said Wednesday.
It is the second consecutive year for the two countries to surpass the $1-billion-mark, according to statistics the association recently obtained from China. The trade volume between the communist allies increased over the past five years as it marked $1.02 billion last year, $738 million in 2002, $737 million in 2001, $488 million in 2000 and $370 million in 1999. China is the North's largest trading partner.
Made-in-Kaesong Products Go on Sale in S. Korea By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter Unification Minister Chung Dong-young will visit North Korea on Wednesday to mark the first production of goods by a South Korean company in the pilot zone of the Kaesong Industrial Complex, just beyond the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone. It is the first time for Chung to visit North Korea since he joined the Cabinet in June this year. ``We got the notification from the North this morning inviting a group of 400 South Koreans to the event celebrating the first production of goods by the kitchenware manufacturer Livingart in Kaesong,'' a ministry spokesman told reporters yesterday. The list includes 63 lawmakers, 26 government officials and 100 business leaders. .
Pyongyang, December 11 (KCNA) -- A DPRK governmental economic trade delegation headed by Rim Kyong Man, minister of Foreign Trade, Saturday left here to visit China. It was seen off at the Pyongyang Railway Station by Vice- Minister of Foreign Trade Ri Ryong Nam and Chinese Ambassador to the DPRK Wu Donghe.
Kimchi stores and North Korean restaurants in the Chinese city indicate the North's move to reform its socialist system. Pyongyang plans to transform the northwestern border town of Sinuiju into a special economic zone to attract foreign investment. / Yonhap 12-12-2004 16:49
Pyongyang, December 8 (KCNA) -- Projects for rationalizing the power supply system are going full steam ahead in all parts of the country. They are aimed to put on a more rational basis the power supply network at different units and regions including provinces, cities, counties and major industrial establishments. The newly established power supply system will make it possible to do away with the loss of electricity in transmission and ensure the best use of it. It will also make it possible to remove a lot of transforming equipment and wires and electric poles in paddy and non-paddy fields that have long been in use. The power supply system extending hundreds of kms has already been updated taking the country as a whole in a short span of time since the start of the projects. Teachers, researchers, scientists and technicians of Kim Il Sung University and Kim Chaek University of Technology are contributing to successfully settling technical problems arising in the projects.
By Lee Hyo-sik Staff Reporter The economic gap between the two Koreas widened further to 32.9 times last year from 32.1 in 2002 as South Korea's gross national income (GNI) jumped 10.7 percent to $606.1 billion, while North Korea's rose 8.2 percent to $18.4 billion. The National Statistical Office (NSO) on Thursday reported South Korea previously saw its GNI increase to $547.5 billion in 2002 from $481.1 billion in 2001, with North Korea's expanding to $17 billion from $15.7 billion over the same period.
By Reuben Staines, Park Song-wu Staff Reporters Isolated North Korea is preparing to increase its railroad traffic with China and Russia, a pro-Pyongyang publication based in Japan reported Thursday. The Choson Shinbo quoted Ryu Byong-kuk, a Pyongyang official in charge of the North's railroad system, as saying that representatives from the three countries held a five-day meeting in Pyongyang from Nov. 15 to discuss ways to boost the frequency of the railroad services.
First South Korean bank in North Korea: Hwang Young-key, tenth from left, president of Woori Bank, cuts the ribbon with finance and business leaders from the two Koreas to celebrate the South Korean bank's opening of a branch in Kaesong, North Korea, Tuesday. Participants included Kim Yoon-kyu, eleventh from left, president of Hyundai Asan, and Kim Kyung-hoh, right, spokesman of the Ministry of Finance and Economy. Woori became the first financial services company to open a branch in the North. But bankers there cannot access the Internet and phone services. [photo]
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter Unification Minister Chung Dong-young plans to attend a ceremony on Dec. 15 to mark the first production of goods by a South Korean company at a pilot zone in Kaesong Industrial Complex, just beyond the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, ministry officials said Monday.
December 06, 2004 ? Unification Minister Chung Dong-young could make his first visit to North Korea Dec. 15, an administration official said yesterday. "Mr. Chung is expected to join the launching ceremony for a South Korean product in the Gaeseong Industrial Complex," said the official on the condition of anonymity. "A couple of problems remain, but we are in the last stage to finalize the trip." The facility makes kitchen products such as sinks and is the first one to start production. Mr. Chung took office in July. Also, an informal inter-Korean meeting of top officials may take place during the visit, officials said. "If a top official joins the ceremony from Seoul, then it is very likely that Pyeongyang will send a top official too in response," an employee at Hyundai Asan said yesterday. The company is leading the businesses in the Gaeseong complex. [Kaesong]
By Park Song-wu Staff Reporter Unification Minister Chung Dong-young plans to attend a ceremony on Dec. 15 to mark the first production of goods by a South Korean company at a pilot zone in Kaesong Industrial Complex, just beyond the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone, ministry officials said Monday. ``Chung intends to visit there,'' a high-ranking official at the ministry told The Korea Times. ``It is true we are currently in the process of organizing his visit to the industrial park.'' But he added that Pyongyang has not yet reacted to Seoul's proposal, saying, ``The whole process has not yet been completed. So it's difficult to confirm whether or not he will actually visit the North at the moment.'' It would be the first time for Chung to visit North Korea since he joined the Cabinet in June this year.
Pyongyang, December 3 (KCNA) -- Scientists of the Branch Academy of Light Industrial Science under the Academy of Sciences of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have registered many successes in their scientific research this year. Foodstuff researchers of the branch academy have found out a new kind of soybean malt bacteria through research for the standardization of the bean paste production method. Its protein dissolution ability is 1.5 times that of the old one. They have also built a process to turn out tens of tons of bacteria a year.
Pyongyang, December 2 (KCNA) -- Scientists of the Branch Academy of Light Industrial Science of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea have developed a new goat milk processing method in accordance with the rapid increase of goat farms in recent years. In order to improve the taste and quality of kefir, they found three kinds of lactic acid bacteria and succeeded in converting the bacteria into powder.
By Kim Tae-gyu Staff Reporter South and North Korea reached an agreement on the supply of electric power to the Kaesong Industrial Complex, according to the Korea Electric Power Corp. (KEPCO) on Friday. Under the agreement, the South will transfer electric power to the communist North from late next month, marking the first time since the Korean War broke out in 1950. KEPCO is required to provide 15,000 kilowatts of electricity through above-ground power lines to the complex's pilot zone, sized at 28,000 pyong (92,400 square meters). By 2007 when the first-phase development of the Kaesong complex is scheduled to finish at 1 million pyong, the transmission volume will increase to 100,000 kilowatts.
North Korea has been chronically short of electricity, making it vital to secure a stable power supply to operate the Kaesong complex successfully. Pyongyang had initially asked that a power generation facility be built, but Seoul suggested the complex's electricity needs be met via power lines.
Pyongyang, November 30 (KCNA) -- Great efforts have been made to conserve land in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in recent years. Various projects to plant trees for land conservation, protect terraced plots and edges of paddy and non-paddy fields and improve rivers, streams and waterways have been carried on in the provinces, cities and counties of the country. More than 56 kilometers of dykes for controlling tidewater damaged by a high tidal wave have been revamped or reinforced with 400,000-odd cubic meters of earth and 120,000-odd square meters of stones in Haeju, Ongjin, Pyoksong, Chongdan, Unryul and Kangryong of South Hwanghae Province on the western coast.
Meeting of Asian Countries for Cooperation in Railways Held in Pyongyang A meeting of Asian countries of the Organization of Railways Cooperation was held in Pyongyang from November 15 to 19. It was attended by a representative of the organization and railway delegations of the DPRK, China, Russia, Mongolia and Vietnam. An opening address by the representative of the organization was followed by a congratulatory speech by Im Chol Ung, chief of staff of the Ministry of Railways of the DPRK. The meeting involved panel discussions. It reviewed the international passenger train service among the Asian countries affiliated to the organization and discussed the 2005-2006 plan for train service and the issue of improving the passenger transport service. The KCNA reported on November 19 that the meeting provided an occasion of further developing cooperation among Asian countries in the field of railways. A protocol of the meeting was signed on November 19. The protocol deals with the agreement on the 2005-2006 timetable for international passenger trains and their service by Asian countries affiliated to the organization.
Pyongyang and Beijing Cooperate Closely in Building Glass Plant Photo shows the construction site of the Taean Friendship Glass Plant. The construction of a glass plant is now in full swing in the DPRK in close cooperation with China. The factory named "Taean Friendship Glass Plant" is offered gratis by the Chinese government. The construction started on July 1 as a ground- breaking ceremony was held at the construction site in Taean County near Nampo, the DPRK's west coastal port city in South Pyong-an Province. The plant will be completed on October 10, 2005, in the 60th anniversary day of the Workers·Party of Korea. [Aid]
A spokesman for the Korean National Economic Cooperation Federation issued a statement on November 6 bitterly denouncing the U.S. obstructions to the construction of the Kaesong Industrial Zone in the name of all Koreans desirous of national reconciliation, unity and independent reunification.
Official economic exchanges between the DPRK and Italy have been gradually increasing in recent months, South Korea's official Yonhap News Agency reported on November 2. A group of eight DPRK officials from its foreign and finance ministries and central bank left for Italy on September 7 to receive training in finances, a report released on November 2 by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said.
Course organised by the Swiss Center for Applied Studies in International Negotiations (CASIN)
October 18th 2004 / Geneva, Switzerland Dynamic, inquisitive, engaging and extremely knowledgeable - just some of the feedback speakers gave describing this year's participants at CASIN's 7th annual professional training for officials and diplomats from the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea (DPRK). 14 members of various Government ministries including the Ministry of Light Industries and the Ministry of Foreign Trade attended the six-week programme. The participants followed a tailor made, hands-on, multi-dimensional curriculum aimed at enhancing their understanding of the international economy and the functioning of the global trading system.
As first German political foundation, the Seoul Office of the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) organized a training seminar on market economy in Pyongyang from March 29th to April 1st, 2004. The four-day seminar on the role of the system of national accounts and commercial accounting in a market economy was attended by around sixty North Korean experts from Academia as well as representatives of economic institutions and the administration.
Workshop on economic reform and the development of economic relations between the EU and the DPRK from August 31 - September 4
"The Role and the Functioning of the Banking Sector in a Market Economy such as Germany"
organised by Friedrich Naumann Foundation Foreign Trade Bank Korean-German Friendship Society October 25 - October 28, 2004
People's Palace of Culture Pyongyang PROGRAMME
Pyongyang, November 27 (KCNA) -- The first national scientific and technological public presentation was held at the People's Palace of Culture on Nov. 25 and 26 to increase agricultural production by bringing about a radical turn in seed improvement. It was co- sponsored by the Central Committee of the Korean General Federation of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Agriculture. It was attended by officials, scientists and technicians in the fields of seed selection and breeding from all parts of the country. More than 100 papers on scientific and technological achievements and experience were presented there.
