In Kim Jong Un’s North Korea, China Helps a Few Get Richer

Who would have thought that a reporter could go to Pyongyang and bring home some news in spite of the minders?

The economy of the isolated North — where famine killed hundreds of thousands in the 1990s — is widely believed to be battered and stuttering, but the luxury shops of the showcase capital tell a different story.

According to expatriates living in the city, there are ever more cars on the roads and traffic in the centre is increasingly busy.

Many vehicles are old, but the number of newer Mercedes, BMW, Lexus, Toyota and Land Rover models is on the rise.

The international community imposed a strict embargo on all luxury goods for North Korea and its ruling elite in 2009, but it is ignored by supply networks running through Pyongyang’s key ally China, said South Korean MP Yoon Sang-Hyun. [AFP, Gilles Campion]

According to a March 2011 assessment by the World Food Program, over six million North Koreans need emergency food aid. According to Article 25 of the North Korean Constitution, “The State shall provide all the working people with every condition for obtaining food, clothing and housing.” In U.N. Security Council Resolutions 1718 and 1874, China voted to ban the export of luxury goods to North Korea. Discuss among yourselves.

One of these days, a smart news service is going to sign a distribution agreement with Rimjingang or one of the other guerrilla news services. The service will provide training and equipment for more guerrilla reporters, including satellite phones that would allow the reporters to send their stories out without crossing borders. In return, Rimjingang will give that wire service an exclusive on the news it brings out. The wire service may, in a fit of candor, note that the reports cannot be verified independently, but if the AP isn’t saying that about what it produces with KCNA, it must not be mandatory.

In somewhat related news, is apparently desperate enough for cash that it’s sending more workers abroad to earn hard currency. I say “desperate” because the Libyan example shows us that this is a risky venture for North Korea. (Does anyone know if they were ever allowed to go back to North Korea?)

[W]hen package tours to Mt. Kumgang for South Koreans came to a halt in July 2008, it lost a steady source of some $50 million a year. North Korea’s arms export industry suffered hugely from sanctions imposed by the international community after its nuclear and missile tests in 2009, and the fatal blow came when South Korea halted all trade after the sinking of the Navy corvette Cheonan in 2009. Room 39’s annual income has reportedly dropped to $200 million.

Say it with me: this report could not be verified independently.

Incidentally, I’ve made the editorial decision to start writing “Kim Jong Un” instead of “Kim Jong Eun.” There aren’t many matters on which I consider KCNA to be authoritative; this may be the first.