NK Economics – Page 14

July 27, 2006

Now What? Part 4: Someone Didn’t Get the Memo

[Several very interesting updates here; scroll down.] Recently, it has often seemed that different parts of South Korea have been applying different policies to the same issue. Take South Korea’s response to the new U.N. Security Council Resolution 1695, which requires countries and companies to exercise “vigilance” in making sure they don’t supply North Korea with the components or funds to build more missiles. UniFiction Minister Lee Jong-Seok has opted for a “don’t ask, don’t tell” interpretation of that resolution,...

Appeasement/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/WMD

July 24, 2006

Now What? Part 3: Dave, What Are You Doing?

Update: The BOC account played a role in the 2000 summit scandal, according to the Chosun Ilbo. What skill it must take to step in it this hard: SEOUL, July 24 (Yonhap) — North Korea is suspected of having printed fake Chinese currency, which prompted the Bank of China (BOC) to freeze all of its North Korean accounts in an apparent retaliation, a South Korean legislator asserted on Monday. Quoting a number of unidentified U.S. officials, Rep. Park Jin of...

China/China & Korea/Counterfeiting/NK Economics/Six-Party Talks

July 24, 2006

Dram Man on the FTA

Dram Man has probably been following the issue as closely as any K-blogger, and details six reasons why “you can stick a fork in this baby.” Update: That may explain why the government is now asserting that it will stick with Kaesong, a non-starter with the U.S. side, as an FTA must-have. This sounds like the position of someone who wants to satisfy his base, and who knows that there won’t be an FTA. Update 2: The U.S. postion on...

NK Economics

July 23, 2006

MUST READ: NYT on NK Counterfeiting

The New York Times has a very extensive article on North Korea’s counterfeiting operations: By 1984, as North Korea’s planned economy began to fall apart, Kim Jong Il, who by that time was effectively running much of the government, issued another directive, according to the North Korean specialist, who told me he has obtained a copy of the document. It explained that “producing and using counterfeit U.S. dollars” was a means, in part, for “overcoming economic crisis. The economic crisis...

Counterfeiting/NK Economics/Washington Views

July 22, 2006

Now What? Part 2

Right after North Korea launched its round of missiles, I outlined a series of options, mostly financial, that the U.S. and other countries could take in response. Two weeks later, several aspects of that forecast are holding up well. What looked at first like another U.N. farce, then a modestly successful sanctions effort (by U.N. standards, anyway), now looks to be an important and hard-won component of a coordinated effort to tighten the squeeze on the regime-sustaining half of North...

Appeasement/Counterfeiting/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea/WMD

July 19, 2006

Text of U.N. Security Council Resolution, Statements by Ambassadors

Being a practiced skeptic of South Korean UniFiction Minister Lee Jong-Seok, I had to fact-check his narrow interpretation of U.N.S.C. 1695, that it “does not prescribe economic sanctions” and “should not adversely affect the on-going inter-Korean reconciliation projects, such as the Kaesong Industrial Park and tours to the North’s Mt. Kumgang.” Here, in relevant part, is what 1695 says: Requires all Member States, in accordance with their national legal authorities and legislation and consistent with international law, to exercise vigilance...

"United" Nations/Appeasement/NK Economics/WMD

July 18, 2006

A Wedge Between China and North Korea?

Update 7/21: Senator John Voinovich, who cried when he previously announced that he couldn’t support John Bolton’s confirmation, now says he would. More. North Korea’s decision to test those missiles is looking more like a miscalculation today than it did two weeks ago. South Korea has halted the delivery of aid (for now), Japan is preparing for a new round of sanctions, the United States may do the same, and the U.N. Security Council unanimously passed a resolution that John...

"United" Nations/China & Korea/Kremlinology/NK Economics/WMD

July 17, 2006

Japan Considers New Sanctions on N. Korea

These would be severe: Tokyo may ban cash remittances and freeze assets held by North Korea in Japan, according to local media. A ban on bilateral trade is also under consideration. Japan is in a foul mood over North Korea’s threats, and it appears dissatisfied with the limited sanctions imposed by the U.N. Japan has recently coordinated its actions closely with the United States, which causes one to wonder what additional measures the U.S. will impose, and whether it will...

Japan/Japan & Korea/NK Economics/WMD

July 15, 2006

Too Little, Too Late

There may be no better way to defeat a radical movement than to let it win an election. The radical is an inherently emotional creation, one ill suited to the objective analysis of facts that effective government requires. If democratic institutions can survive their tenure of office, they generally discredit themselves in short order. I can’t imagine a better illustration of this principle than watching a South Korean government with a 14% approval rating meekly promoting a military alliance and...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/NK Economics/ROK Military/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military

July 13, 2006

The FTA Has Turned Ugly

An anti-Free Trade Agreement protest of 25,000 has clogged downtown Seoul, and on that day, it wasn’t safe to look “American” on the streets, not even for the Swiss. A Swiss man and two friends were set upon by a mob of angry protestors who apparently mistook them for Americans on Wednesday. The group of 10, who were taking part in a Gwangwhamun rally to protest against an FTA between Korea and the U.S., approached the man and his friends...

Anti-Americanism/Korean Law/Korean Society/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea

July 13, 2006

A TKL Re-Run: Winning the Information War

Richardson’s writings on the maintenance of the Cult of Kim, and Matt‘s latest comment on my post on recent acts of resistance inside North Korea turn my thoughts back to the question of what the outside world could do to influence events inside North Korea. The answer: at least something, although the impact is hard to guess before we make a concerted effort. I previously posted my thoughts on the subject at NKZone, in October 2004, and republish them here...

Democracy/NK Economics/NK Military

July 12, 2006

Sticker Shock: A Post-USFK South Korea Must Do Less for More

A few days ago, the Marmot linked this RAND report on South Korea’s Defense Reform Plan (DRP). The report starts with some alarming disclaimers: it could not access much of the ROK MND’s classified information on strength levels or weapons systems, and the author has no experience (!) analyzing defense budget requests. Nonetheless, the author was able to pull together enough knowable facts to convince me that the DRP will come unglued. How fast? Without a national emergency, I give...

An Alliance?/Anti-Americanism/NK Economics/Technology/U.S. & Korea/U.S. Military

July 11, 2006

More Bad Economic News in North Korea

The Daily NK reports that the Kimchaek Iron and Steel Plant in Chongjin, North Korea’s fourth-largest city, has stopped producing: In a recent newsletter, Good Friends, a support organization for North Korea explained that “Equipment had severely deteriorated and original resources such as coal and coxtan are not supplied. …. Kim Cheak Iron and Steel Complex Operations has approximately 50,000 workers and is a special complex where people are stationed for 3 months for discipline and reform. However as factory...

Inside NK/NK Economics

July 10, 2006

Seoul’s FTA Losing Streak

The South Korean government continues its losing streak in the FTA debate, for good or for ill. On the good side, it has realized that it stands no chance of including North Korean-made Kaesong products in the wake of Kim Jong Il’s missile tests. On the not-as-good side, the anti-FTA side, most of it comprised of radical leftists, has managed to make opposition to the FTA the new focus of anti-Americanism in Korea, while Roh’s administration failed to confront its...

Anti-Americanism/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea

July 6, 2006

At the U.N., Life Imitates ‘Team America’

Kim Jong Il: Hans Brix? Oh no! Oh, herro. Great to see you again, Hans! Hans Blix: Mr. Il, I was supposed to be allowed to inspect your palace today, but your guards won’t let me enter certain areas. Kim Jong Il: Hans, Hans, Hans! We’ve been frew this a dozen times. I don’t have any weapons of mass destwuction, OK Hans? Hans Blix: Then let me look around, so I can ease the UN’s collective mind. I’m sorry, but...

"United" Nations/China/China & Korea/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/NK Economics/Unintended Humor/WMD/WTF?

July 4, 2006

Now What?

North Korea’s missile test opens up new options for the United States. Here is a list of them. [Scroll down for updates.] It too easy to say, as many will in the coming days, that there is little that the United States and other nations can do to North Korea diplomatically or economically now that it has done the unthinkably stupid and launched its (taepo)dong and (count ’em!) five smaller missiles [Update: make that six]. Let me express my respectful...

Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/Drugs & N Korea/Geopolitics/NK Economics/U.S. Law/WMD

June 28, 2006

The End of the Rainbow

Really, this piece by Michael O’Hanlon and Mike Mochizuki is well reasoned and said. Even if I disagree with much of it, I think they have a good grasp of which threats we ought to be worrying about. The debate about whether regime change would work is competely speculative until we actually try it in earnest, of course. At this point, they had me: [T]he administration should build its North Korea policy around the notion that we need to present...

Abductions/Appeasement/China/China & Korea/Counterfeiting/Diplomacy/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea

June 27, 2006

The Law of the Street

Look what happened yesterday when the Korean government tried to engage its citizens in public discourse on a Free Trade Agreement with the United States. The hearing, organized by the Trade Ministry, had just begun at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry building in central Seoul when the protesters interrupted a speech by Kim Jong-hoon, Korea’s chief negotiator, in its opening moments. Catcalls rained down on Mr. Kim, and several protesters approached the podium, scuffling with government officials who...

Censorship/Democracy/NK Economics/U.S. & Korea

Category: NK Economics