Quotes of the Day:
“Always leave a way out, unless you really want to find out how hard a man can fight when he’s nothing to lose.”
- Robert Jordan, The Fires of Heaven
“Politeness [is] a sign of dignity, not subservience.”
- Theodore Roosevelt
"Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly."
- Marcus Aurelius
1. Trilateral summit of U.S., S. Korea, Japan to focus on N. Korea: Sullivan
2. Crypto crash threatens North Korea's stolen funds as it ramps up weapons tests
3. S. Korea marks 2002 inter-Korean naval skirmish with 'victory' ceremony
4. Yoon to promote export of S. Korean nuclear power plants, weapons
5. S. Korea's defense procurement subpanel approves new F-35A purchase proposal: officials
6. Yoon to call for strong response to N.K. provocations at meeting with Biden, Kishida
7. Yoon expresses hope for improved Seoul-Tokyo ties
8. U.N. rapporteur says N. Korea responsible for 2020 death of S. Korean fisheries official
9. [News Analysis] Is Yoon’s team hinting at wider strategy veering away from China?
10. Korea's first NATO summit to show expanded global role: experts
11. Yoon, Kishida exchange political pleasantries in Madrid
12. INDOPACOM chief calls North’s Korean War aggression ‘very similar’ to Ukrainian conflict
13. Using market surveys to understand N. Korea’s economic situation
14. In North Korea, a sack of flour separates haves from have-nots
15. The price of N. Korean staples, including corn, continue to rise
1. Trilateral summit of U.S., S. Korea, Japan to focus on N. Korea: Sullivan
As it should. This is the number one mutual trilateral priority.
Trilateral summit of U.S., S. Korea, Japan to focus on N. Korea: Sullivan | Yonhap News Agency
By Byun Duk-kun
WASHINGTON, June 28 (Yonhap) -- U.S. President Joe Biden will discuss ways to rein in North Korea's provocative actions when he meets with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts this week on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Spain, U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said Tuesday.
The trilateral summit involving South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will be held Wednesday.
"This will be the first trilateral leaders level meeting that we've had in some time among the leaders of these three countries," Sullivan told reporters aboard Air Force One en route to Spain.
"And it will be mainly focused on the continuing threat from the DPRK, particularly after an extended period of intense testing and other provocative activities that the North Koreans have undertaken," he added, referring to North Korea by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
U.S. officials have said the North has launched a total of 31 ballistic missiles so far this year, already marking the largest number of ballistic missile tests in a single year.
Pyongyang is also believed to be moving to stage its first nuclear test in over four years, with officials in both Seoul and Washington saying the country appears to have completed all preparations for a test.
North Korea conducted its sixth and last test in September 2017.
Sullivan said the U.S. is "constantly" looking for ways disrupt North Korea's nuclear and missile programs.
"We actually have kept up a tempo with sanctions over the course of 18 months, and we are constantly looking for new targets, especially because North Korea adjusts its methods of acquiring revenue constantly, and so we need to constantly be looking for ways to cut off those sources of revenue," he said when asked if the U.S. and its allies are moving to impose additional sanctions on North Korea.
"The president will have the opportunity with President Yoon and Prime Minister Kishida to discuss what we will do on the economic pressure side, particularly when it comes to depriving the North of hard currency that they use to fund their nuclear and missile programs," added Sullivan.
bdk@yna.co.kr
(END)
Related Articles
2. Crypto crash threatens North Korea's stolen funds as it ramps up weapons tests
Karma?
Excerpts:
North Korean hackers sometimes appear to wait out rapid dips in the value or exchange rates before converting to cash, said Jason Bartlett, the author of the CNAS report.
"This sometimes backfires as there is little certainty in predicting when the value of a coin will rapidly increase and there are several cases of highly depreciated crypto funds just sitting in North Korea-linked wallets," he said.
Sectrio, the cybersecurity division of Indian software firm Subex, said there are signs North Korea has begun ramping up attacks on conventional banks again rather than cryptocurrencies in recent months.
The firm's banking sector-focused “honeypots” – decoy computer systems intended to attract cyberattacks – have seen an increase in “anomalous activities” since the crypto crash, as well as an increase in "phishing" emails, which try to fool recipients into giving away security information, Sectrio said in a report last week.
But Chainalysis said it had yet to see a major change in North Korea's crypto behaviour, and few analysts expect North Korea to give up on digital currency heists.
"Pyongyang has added cryptocurrency into its sanctions evasion and money laundering calculus and this will likely remain a permanent target," Bartlett said.
Crypto crash threatens North Korea's stolen funds as it ramps up weapons tests
SEOUL, June 29 (Reuters) - The nosedive in cryptocurrency markets has wiped out millions of dollars in funds stolen by North Korean hackers, four digital investigators say, threatening a key source of funding for the sanctions-stricken country and its weapons programmes.
North Korea has poured resources into stealing cryptocurrencies in recent years, making it a potent hacking threat and leading to one of the largest cryptocurrency heists on record in March, in which almost $615 million was stolen, according to the U.S. Treasury. read more
The sudden plunge in crypto values, which started in May amid a broader economic slowdown, complicates Pyongyang's ability to cash in on that and other heists, and may affect how it plans to fund its weapons programmes, two South Korean government sources said. The sources declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the matter.
It comes as North Korea tests a record number of missiles - which the Korea Institute for Defense Analyses in Seoul estimates have cost as much as $620 million so far this year - and prepares to resume nuclear testing amid an economic crisis.
Old, unlaundered North Korean crypto holdings monitored by the New York-based blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, which include funds stolen in 49 hacks from 2017 to 2021, have decreased in value from $170 million to $65 million since the beginning of the year, the company told Reuters.
One of North Korea’s cryptocurrency caches from a 2021 heist, which had been worth tens of millions of dollars, has lost 80% to 85% of its value in the last few weeks and is now worth less than $10 million, said Nick Carlsen, an analyst with TRM Labs, another U.S.-based blockchain analysis firm.
A person who answered the phone at the North Korean embassy in London said he could not comment on the crash because allegations of cryptocurrency hacking are "totally fake news."
"We didn't do anything," said the person, who would only identify himself as an embassy diplomat. North Korea's foreign ministry has called such allegations U.S. propaganda.
The $615 million March attack on blockchain project Ronin, which powers the popular online game Axie Infinity, was the work of a North Korean hacking operation dubbed the Lazarus Group, U.S. authorities say.
Carlsen told Reuters that the interconnected price movements of different assets involved in the hack made it difficult to estimate how much North Korea managed to keep from that heist.
If the same attack happened today, the Ether currency stolen would be worth a bit more than $230 million, but North Korea swapped nearly all of that for Bitcoin, which has had separate price movements, he said.
"Needless to say, the North Koreans have lost a lot of value, on paper," Carlsen said. "But even at depressed prices, this is still a huge haul."
The United States says Lazarus is controlled by the Reconnaissance General Bureau, North Korea's primary intelligence bureau. It has been accused of involvement in the "WannaCry" ransomware attacks, hacking of international banks and customer accounts, and the 2014 cyber-attacks on Sony Pictures Entertainment. read more
Analysts are reluctant to provide details about what types of cryptocurrency North Korea holds, which might give away investigation methods. Chainalysis said that Ether, a common cryptocurrency linked to the open-source blockchain platform Ethereum, was 58%, or about $230 million, of the $400 million stolen in 2021.
Chainalysis and TRM Labs use publicly available blockchain data to trace transactions and identify potential crimes. Such work has been cited by sanctions monitors, and according to public contracting records, both firms work with U.S. government agencies, including the IRS, FBI and DEA.
North Korea is under widespread international sanctions over its nuclear programme, giving it limited access to global trade or other sources of income and making crypto heists attractive, the investigators say.
'FUNDAMENTAL' to NUCLEAR PROGRAMME
Although cryptocurrencies are estimated to be only a small portion of North Korea's finances, Eric Penton-Voak, a coordinator of the United Nations panel of experts that monitors sanctions, said at an event in April in Washington, D.C., that cyberattacks have become "absolutely fundamental" to Pyongyang's ability to evade sanctions and raise money for its nuclear and missile programmes.
In 2019, sanctions monitors reported that North Korea had generated an estimated $2 billion for its weapons of mass destruction programmes using cyberattacks.
One estimate from the Geneva-based International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons says North Korea spends about $640 million per year on its nuclear arsenal. The country's gross domestic product was estimated in 2020 to be around $27.4 billion, according to South Korea's central bank.
Official sources of revenue for Pyongyang are more limited than ever under self-imposed border lockdowns to combat COVID-19. China – its biggest commercial partner - said in 2021 that it had imported just over $58 million in goods from North Korea, amid some of the lowest level of official bilateral trade in decades. Official numbers do not include smuggling.
North Korea already only gets a fraction of what it steals because it must use brokers willing to convert or buy cryptocurrencies with no questions asked, said Aaron Arnold of the RUSI think-tank in London. A February report by the Center for a New American Security (CNAS) estimated that in some transactions, North Korea only gets one-third of the value of the currency it has stolen.
After obtaining cryptocurrency in a heist, North Korea sometimes converts it to Bitcoin, then finds brokers who will buy it at a discount in exchange for cash, which is often held outside the country.
"Much like selling a stolen Van Gogh, you’re not going to get fair market value," Arnold said.
CONVERTING TO CASH
The CNAS report found that North Korean hackers exhibit only "moderate" concern over hiding their role, compared to many other attackers. That allows investigators to sometimes follow digital trails and attribute attacks to North Korea, though rarely in time to recover the stolen funds.
According to Chainalysis, North Korea has turned to sophisticated ways of laundering stolen cryptocurrency, increasing its use of software tools that pool and scramble cryptocurrencies from thousands of electronic addresses - a designator for a digital storage location.
The contents of a given address are often publicly viewable, allowing firms such as Chainalysis or TRM to monitor any that investigations have linked to North Korea.
Attackers have tricked people into giving access or hacked around security to siphon digital funds out of internet-connected wallets into North Korea-controlled addresses, Chainalysis said in a report this year.
The sheer size of recent hacks has strained North Korea's capacity to convert cryptocurrency to cash as quickly as in the past, Carlsen said. That means some funds have been stuck even as their value drops.
Bitcoin has lost about 54% of its value this year and smaller coins have also been hit hard, mirroring a slide in equities prices linked to investor concerns about rising interest rates and the growing likelihood of a global recession.
"Converting to cash remains a key requirement for North Korea if they want to use the stolen funds," said Carlsen, who investigated North Korea as an analyst at the FBI. "Most of the commodities or products the North Koreans want to buy are only traded in USD or other fiat, not cryptocurrencies."
Pyongyang has other, larger sources of funding that it can rely on, Arnold said. U.N. sanctions monitors have said as recently as December 2021 that North Korea continues to smuggle coal - usually to China - and other major exports banned under Security Council resolutions.
VOLATILE CURRENCIES
North Korean hackers sometimes appear to wait out rapid dips in the value or exchange rates before converting to cash, said Jason Bartlett, the author of the CNAS report.
"This sometimes backfires as there is little certainty in predicting when the value of a coin will rapidly increase and there are several cases of highly depreciated crypto funds just sitting in North Korea-linked wallets," he said.
Sectrio, the cybersecurity division of Indian software firm Subex, said there are signs North Korea has begun ramping up attacks on conventional banks again rather than cryptocurrencies in recent months.
The firm's banking sector-focused “honeypots” – decoy computer systems intended to attract cyberattacks – have seen an increase in “anomalous activities” since the crypto crash, as well as an increase in "phishing" emails, which try to fool recipients into giving away security information, Sectrio said in a report last week.
But Chainalysis said it had yet to see a major change in North Korea's crypto behaviour, and few analysts expect North Korea to give up on digital currency heists.
"Pyongyang has added cryptocurrency into its sanctions evasion and money laundering calculus and this will likely remain a permanent target," Bartlett said.
Reporting by Josh Smith. Editing by Gerry Doyle
3. S. Korea marks 2002 inter-Korean naval skirmish with 'victory' ceremony
Excerpts:
The 2002 skirmish is also known as the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, as it followed a similar naval clash near the frontline island in 1999 that left seven South Korean sailors injured.
The NLL used to be a flashpoint of the Korean Peninsula, as the North disputed the NLL, arguing it was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led U.N. Command after the 1950-53 Korean War.
But tensions near the boundary appeared to have gone down as the North shifted its military focus to its nuclear and missile programs, with the South pushing to foster lasting peace on the peninsula.
S. Korea marks 2002 inter-Korean naval skirmish with 'victory' ceremony | Yonhap News Agency
By Kang Yoon-seung
PYEONGTAEK, South Korea, June 29 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's Navy on Wednesday held a ceremony to commemorate the sacrifices of sailors killed in an inter-Korean naval skirmish near the western sea border two decades ago.
The memorial event took place at the Navy's Second Fleet in Pyeongtaek, 70 kilometers south of Seoul, with the attendance of some 300 people, including the sailors' families and fellow troops.
The naval conflict occurred on June 29, 2002, as two North Korean patrol boats crossed the Northern Limit Line (NLL), the de facto maritime border, and launched a surprise attack on the South's Chamsuri-357 warship near the island of Yeonpyeong.
It left six South Korean sailors dead and 19 others injured. Around 30 North Koreans were thought to have been killed or wounded, according to the South's Navy.
Starting this year, the Navy named the anniversary event the "victory" ceremony to honor the sailors who dedicated their lives to safeguarding the country's waters south of the NLL.
During the ceremony, the bereaved families participated in a wreath-laying event aboard Navy ships that bear the names of the fallen sailors.
The Navy currently operates six high-speed guided missile ships that have been named after the late sailors to continue their unfinished mission of defending the waters and frontline islands near the NLL.
The 2002 skirmish is also known as the Second Battle of Yeonpyeong, as it followed a similar naval clash near the frontline island in 1999 that left seven South Korean sailors injured.
The NLL used to be a flashpoint of the Korean Peninsula, as the North disputed the NLL, arguing it was drawn unilaterally by the U.S.-led U.N. Command after the 1950-53 Korean War.
But tensions near the boundary appeared to have gone down as the North shifted its military focus to its nuclear and missile programs, with the South pushing to foster lasting peace on the peninsula.
colin@yna.co.kr
(END)
4. Yoon to promote export of S. Korean nuclear power plants, weapons
The ROK is a player on the global stage.
Yoon to promote export of S. Korean nuclear power plants, weapons | Yonhap News Agency
By Lee Haye-ah
MADRID, June 28 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol will seek to promote the export of South Korean nuclear power plants and arms during his bilateral meetings with world leaders in Spain this week, a senior presidential official said Tuesday.
Yoon is in Madrid to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit on Wednesday and has begun a series of bilateral summits on the sidelines, including with Australia's prime minister earlier Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he is scheduled to meet with the president of Poland and on Thursday with the prime minister of the Czech Republic.
"We will go all in to win orders for nuclear power plants vis-a-vis countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic, where the selection of contractors is imminent," Choi Sang-mok, senior presidential secretary for economic affairs, told reporters.
"For the past five years, we saw a contradictory situation where at home, we were seeking to go nuclear-free, but overseas, we were pursuing exports of nuclear power plants," he said, referring to the policy of the previous Moon Jae-in administration. "The nuclear industry was practically on the brink of collapse, but now we plan to resume nuclear power exports."
Britain, Romania and the Netherlands, all of whose leaders Yoon plans to meet this week, are potential buyers of South Korean nuclear power plants.
With Poland, Yoon will additionally discuss cooperation in the defense industry, an area that has seen a sharp increase in demand due to recent international events, Choi said.
Other topics on the president's agenda for bilateral summits will include strengthening supply chains in advanced industries, particularly in semiconductors and batteries, and establishing a foundation for future growth industries, according to Choi.
"This will mark the beginning of summit-level sales diplomacy for new export-centered businesses," he said. "This time we started with nuclear power and the defense industry, but over the next five years, the list will grow."
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
5. S. Korea's defense procurement subpanel approves new F-35A purchase proposal: officials
Excerpts:
The new fighter project is expected to help the Yoon administration's push to strengthen the "Kill Chain" preemptive strike program consisting of key strike assets like high-end combat aircraft.
Over the last several years, the efforts to bring in new stealth fighters gained little momentum, as the preceding liberal Moon Jae-in administration pushed for inter-Korean rapprochement.
S. Korea's defense procurement subpanel approves new F-35A purchase proposal: officials | Yonhap News Agency
SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- A subcommittee of South Korea's state defense procurement committee has endorsed a basic proposal to purchase some 20 F-35A radar-evading fighters, Seoul officials said Wednesday.
The Defense Project Promotion Committee's subcommittee approved it on June 9 in a push for a 3.9 trillion-won (US$3 billion) project to introduce the fighters, manufactured by the U.S. defense giant Lockheed Martin from 2023 through the mid to late 2020s.
The approval came as the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol administration is striving to beef up defense capabilities to counter North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats.
The South's military completed the deployment of 40 F-35As in January under its first fifth-generation warplane procurement project. It plans to add more to the current F-35A fleet under the envisioned second project.
The proposal is likely to be tabled at a full committee session slated for July 13, according to the officials. If passed, the state Defense Acquisition Program Administration plans to carry out a feasibility study and other follow-up procedures.
The new fighter project is expected to help the Yoon administration's push to strengthen the "Kill Chain" preemptive strike program consisting of key strike assets like high-end combat aircraft.
Over the last several years, the efforts to bring in new stealth fighters gained little momentum, as the preceding liberal Moon Jae-in administration pushed for inter-Korean rapprochement.
sshluck@yna.co.kr
(END)
6. Yoon to call for strong response to N.K. provocations at meeting with Biden, Kishida
Recognize north Korea strategy, understand it, expose it, and attack it with information to demonstrate to Kim Jong Un that his strategy will not succeed. It would be excellent if all three countries could be in synch on this.
Yoon to call for strong response to N.K. provocations at meeting with Biden, Kishida | Yonhap News Agency
By Lee Haye-ah
MADRID, June 29 (Yonhap) -- President Yoon Suk-yeol is expected to call for a strong response to North Korea's provocations and efforts to bring the regime back to dialogue in a trilateral meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida later Wednesday, a presidential official said.
Yoon, Biden and Kishida are scheduled to meet on the sidelines of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit in Madrid, which will mark the first trilateral meeting in nearly five years after the last one was held on the margins of the U.N. General Assembly in New York in September 2017.
"President Yoon plans to say that North Korea's provocations should be handled strongly in accordance with principles and propose close cooperation between South Korea, the U.S. and Japan so that North Korea will return to the dialogue table," the official told reporters.
The three leaders are expected to agree that continued advances in North Korea's nuclear and missile programs pose a serious threat not only to the Korean Peninsula but also to the region and the world.
They will discuss the U.S. extended deterrence commitment to its allies and ways to upgrade the three countries' security cooperation.
"President Yoon will stress that the North Korean nuclear issue is a common task requiring an urgent response from South Korea, the U.S. and Japan," the official said.
The three leaders are also expected to share the understanding that cooperation among their countries is critical as nations that share the basic values of a liberal democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
South Korea and Japan have seen their relations deteriorate in recent years due to protracted rows over historical issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula.
Washington has sought to encourage trilateral cooperation amid North Korea's nuclear threats and growing security and economic challenges from China.
hague@yna.co.kr
(END)
7. Yoon expresses hope for improved Seoul-Tokyo ties
I fear that President Yoon may want this more than Prime Minister Kishida.
Yoon expresses hope for improved Seoul-Tokyo ties
Korea, Australia reaffirm commitment to climate change, NK denuclearization on sidelines of NATO summit
Published : Jun 29, 2022 - 11:21 Updated : Jun 29, 2022 - 11:37
President Yoon Suk-yeol and first lady Kim Keon-hee attend a dinner hosted by Spain’s King Felipe VI in Madrid on Tuesday. Yonhap
MADRID -- President Yoon Suk-yeol expressed hope of improving South Korea-Japan relations to his Japanese counterpart, Fumio Kishida, during a brief encounter at the NATO summit, Seoul’s presidential office said Wednesday.
According to the presidential office, Yoon and Kishida had a short conversation at the dinner party hosted by Spain’s King Felipe VI on Tuesday.
Yoon and Kishida, along with leaders of Australia and New Zealand, are in Madrid to attend the NATO summit as Asia-Pacific partner nations.
”My aides and I are of the mind to take bilateral relations in a future-oriented direction by quickly resolving current issues in Korea-Japan relations after (Japan’s) upper house elections,“ Yoon was quoted as saying by his office.
Yoon was responding to Kishida congratulating him on his inauguration and the ruling People Power Party’s local election victory, Yoon’s office said.
The Japanese leader responded in kind, saying “(I) am aware that President Yoon is making efforts for Korea-Japan relations,” and that the two countries should work to establish “healthier relations,” according to Yoon’s public relations office.
Earlier in the day, Yoon had kicked off his schedule with a meeting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, where the two reaffirmed their commitment to tackling international challenges and democratic values.
According to Yoon’s office, the two reached a consensus on energy climate change and denuclearization of North Korea at the summit.
Seoul’s presidential office said that Albanese pledged Australia’s continued role in strong and strict enforcement of sanctions on Pyongyang and support for the denuclearization of North Korea.
They also reached a consensus on carbon-neutral green technology cooperation in response to energy and climate change, and discussed cooperation in the supply chain of advanced industrial materials and rare minerals.
In the meeting, Yoon expressed his hopes for Korean companies to participate in the green hydrogen sector, where Australia has a strong foothold, and emphasized economic and security cooperation to cope with climate change.
The South Korean leader also requested Australia’s support for Busan’s bid to host the 2030 World Expo, to which Albanese replied he would make “appropriate considerations,” Yoon’s office added.
At the meeting, Albanese also emphasized the importance of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and expressed hopes for South Korea and Australia to strengthen cooperation with ASEAN on regional issues.
8. U.N. rapporteur says N. Korea responsible for 2020 death of S. Korean fisheries official
Old news but it is never too late to illustrate the evil nature of the Kim family regime.
(LEAD) U.N. rapporteur says N. Korea responsible for 2020 death of S. Korean fisheries official | Yonhap News Agency
(ATTN: UPDATES with more remarks, other details from 4th para; ADDS byline)
By Chae Yun-hwan
SEOUL, June 29 (Yonhap) -- The outgoing U.N. special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation made clear Wednesday that North Korea is responsible for the killing of a South Korean fisheries official in 2020 and stressed that the bereaved family has the right to know details of how the death occurred.
"I have said that the government of North Korea is responsible for violating the right and killing this fisheries official," Tomas Ojea Quintana said in a press conference in central Seoul. "It is the responsibility of the government of North Korea to disclose information about what happened to him, to punish those who shot him in the sea and to provide reparations to the family."
The man was shot and killed by North Korea's border guard near the western sea border in September 2020, with the secretive state's strict measures in place to stave off the spread of COVID-19.
"This case is an example of the kind of draconian laws implemented in North Korea in the context of the COVID-19 restrictions where someone could be shot in these circumstances," Quintana added. "The family of this person has the right to know exactly what happened."
The incident has drawn keen attention again since South Korea's Coast Guard and the defense ministry earlier this month overturned their announcement made under the previous Moon Jae-in administration that he was killed while presumably attempting to defect to the North. Critics, however, accused the government of having attempted to play down the incident in a bid not to antagonize Pyongyang.
The late official's family has demanded access to classified presidential documents to determine why the government made such an announcement at that time. The Presidential Archive, however, has rejected the call.
Presidential documents are sealed for up to 30 years from the end of a presidency, with a legal exception for their disclosure in case they are considered vital evidence in an investigation.
"The challenge is how to balance the right to know what happened on the one hand but also national security interests," said Quintana, adding the right to know in his perspective "goes first."
The U.N. rapporteur, who arrived in South Korea on Monday for a three-day trip, met with the brother of the late official the previous day.
It will likely be his last visit to South Korea as special rapporteur, with his six-year term ending in August.
yunhwanchae@yna.co.kr
(END)
9. [News Analysis] Is Yoon’s team hinting at wider strategy veering away from China?
This will likely be viewed as the major inflection point in ROK-PRC relations.
[News Analysis] Is Yoon’s team hinting at wider strategy veering away from China?
Maintaining good relations with China may be difficult, experts say
Published : Jun 29, 2022 - 17:24 Updated : Jun 29, 2022 - 17:45
South Korea's flag (left) and China's flag (123rf)
Scaling down of economic ties with Beijing could be unavoidable if China continues to tie the economy to politics, experts say, as the new South Korean administration’s top officials hint at a change in Seoul’s China strategy that includes economic issues.
On Tuesday, Seoul’s senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Choi Sang-mok said that Korea should reduce its reliance on China for exports, possibly hinting at a strategy that veers away from China in terms of the economy.
Speaking in Madrid, where he accompanied President Yoon Suk-yeol to the NATO summit, Choi said that China’s growth is slowing and that Korea should now look to Europe.
Since its inauguration in May, the Yoon Suk-yeol administration has been showing a shift in the country’s diplomatic policies, making moves to bolster its alliance with the United States regardless of complaints from China.
The previous Moon Jae-in administration tried to maintain a balance in navigating relations between China and the US, as it sought to avoid unfavorable treatment from its biggest trading partner China.
Despite opposition from Beijing, the Yoon administration was quick to join the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework for Prosperity as a founding member in May, as the US-led economic initiative is widely seen as a regional grouping intended to contain China’s rise in the region.
Seoul also plans to normalize operations of its Terminal High Altitude Area Defense anti-missile system in Seongju, North Gyeongsang Province, while China’s protest is highly likely.
After the US deployed the anti-missile system here in 2017, China retaliated by boycotting South Korean goods, causing great losses to the South Korean economy at the time.
Seoul’s senior presidential secretary for economic affairs Choi Sang-mok speaks at a press conference in Madrid, Spain on Tuesday. (Yonhap)
Yoon is also currently taking part in the NATO summit, along with the leaders of three other Asia-Pacific countries -- Japan, Australia and New Zealand. China has expressed strong discomfort, saying the NATO summit would “stir up division and confrontation” in the region.
Seoul’s response to China’s apparent criticism of the developments has been somewhat different from what would have been expected of the previous administration.
South Korean Prime Minister Han Duck-soo called China’s opposition a “lack of courtesy,” and said the government would maintain its own principles and pursue its national interest.
Acknowledging concerns that China might retaliate against South Korea’s actions, Han said the country would tell China that it is wrong to do so.
“When we are pursuing the values and principles that the world respects, and China takes actions unfavorable to Korea’s economy (in retaliation), we should be able to tell (China) it is wrong,”
China continues to voice warnings, saying that South Korea’s tilting toward the US would only complicate its relationship with China.
Chung Jae-heung, a researcher at the Sejong Institute, said the conservative Yoon Suk-yeol government is showing very different diplomatic policies from that of his predecessor, and that the continuing discord with China will ultimately weaken economic exchanges.
“Maintaining good ties with China poses as a difficult mission for the Yoon Suk-yeol administration, when it is joining the US-led efforts to keep China in check,” Chung said.
Chung viewed it unlikely for China to take some kind of retaliatory measures against Korea as Seoul has not done anything it would find threatening. But the strained atmosphere will affect their economic exchanges, as companies would not want to make risky investment, Chung said.
“Political interactions always affect the economy. There is no reason for China to take some kind of a measure to pressure Korea now, but corporation would not want to do business related to China when bilateral relations are soured.”
South Korea already has experienced the negative impacts of relying too much on one country in trade, when the country faced a shortage of the urea solution, and also when China boycotted Korean goods in protest to THAAD deployment. So Seoul understands the need to diversify its trade partners, Nam Chang-hee, a professor of political science at Inha University, told The Korea Herald.
Last year, South Korea grappled with a dire shortage of urea solution, an essential fluid used to reduce emissions from diesel vehicles, when China restricted exports of some materials in order to handle the country’s power crisis.
South Korea imported all of its urea from overseas, with China accounting for 97 percent of that.
“If China again abandons the principle of dealing with political and economic issues separately and does take some kind of economic retaliatory actions against South Korea for its political decisions, China should understand that it will only strengthen the need for Seoul to lower dependence on Beijing,” Nam said.
10. Korea's first NATO summit to show expanded global role: experts
Excerpts:
Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst and current policy analyst at the Rand Corporation, said Yoon's participation in the summit may serve as a critical "hook" for Seoul's integration into these high-profile multilateral organizations.
"Should this trip be successful, it will help burnish Seoul's international standing and demonstrate to the U.S. and NATO participants the potential for Seoul to play a greater role in such multi-party platforms," she said.
...
"Beijing will still be sensitive to Seoul's conduct around the NATO countries, but it's also likely to respond in a less threatening manner since Seoul's participation in NATO carries, for the most part, benign intent," said Soo Kim, adding that Korea's participation carries some "interesting" interpretations.
"On the one hand, Seoul's essentially not signing up with a single country ― the U.S., for instance. It seeks to participate and contribute to a collective effort whose interests span a number of issues ― China being only one of them," she said.
"In addition, by partnering up with this group, perhaps Seoul is looking for a more integrative buffer against Beijing's aggression down the road. Korea may seek to expand its network of partners, particularly in light of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the challenges we face in dealing with U.S.-China competition."
Korea's first NATO summit to show expanded global role: experts
President Yoon Suk-yeol holds a meeting with his staff ahead of the NATO Summit in Madrid, Spain, Tuesday (local time). Yonhap
China expected to respond in less threatening manner
By Kang Seung-woo
Korea's first-ever participation in a NATO summit will serve as a stepping stone for the Asian country to demonstrate that it can play a larger role outside of its region as well as engage in discussions related to its national interests, according to diplomatic observers.
President Yoon Suk-yeol is now attending the summit in Madrid, Spain, where he is meeting with a number of world leaders. Although Korea does not belong to the 30-member alliance, it was invited for the first time along with Japan, Australia and New Zealand as the organization's Asia-Pacific partners.
"Basically, we participate in such multilateral forums to prevent our national interests from being discussed without our input, and in such processes, we aim to expand our interests without compromising our national interests," said Kim Yeoul-soo, chief of the Security Strategy Office at the Korea Institute for Military Affairs.
"That is why President Yoon decided to join the NATO Summit with a view for Korea to become a 'global pivotal state.'"
Yoon has pledged to turn Korea into what he calls a global pivotal state that ― as he vowed in his inauguration speech, May 10 ― contributes to universal values and international norms, such as freedom, liberal democracy, human rights, sustainable growth and peace.
Soo Kim, a former CIA analyst and current policy analyst at the Rand Corporation, said Yoon's participation in the summit may serve as a critical "hook" for Seoul's integration into these high-profile multilateral organizations.
"Should this trip be successful, it will help burnish Seoul's international standing and demonstrate to the U.S. and NATO participants the potential for Seoul to play a greater role in such multi-party platforms," she said.
According to the presidential office, the government plans to enter into a new cooperation program with NATO in the second half of the year on the occasion of Yoon's attendance.
Harry Kazianis, the president of Rogue States Project, a bipartisan national security think tank in the U.S., said there were many areas of cooperation that must be pursued, saying that Korea's military is one of the finest in the world, and NATO is the most powerful alliance ever created.
"Both sides should be attending each other's military drills, and NATO and Korean forces should also be actively training in each other's war games and simulated operations and do all they can to work together," Kazianis said.
"Both sides face authoritarian threats that have military arsenals that could kill millions, so Korea-NATO cooperation is essential."
President Yoon Suk-yeol, center, takes part in a group photo with U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders during a gala dinner held at the Royal Palace of Madrid, Tuesday (local time). Yonhap
Along with the military cooperation, there must be something Korea can benefit from in terms of economic interests by expanding cooperation with NATO countries, Kim Yeoul-soo added.
Yoon's NATO trip comes as the Chinese government has been issuing harsh responses, warning that it could fray ties between Seoul and Beijing, because NATO is expected to label China a "systemic challenge" this week.
Last week, China's foreign ministry expressed its objection to the four Asia-Pacific countries ― Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand ― participating in the summit as partner nations.
"The Asia-Pacific is beyond the geographical scope of the North Atlantic," its spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, said during a press conference last Thursday. "Countries and people in the Asia-Pacific are strongly opposed to anything being said or done to extend the military bloc to this region or stir up division and confrontation."
In addition, The Global Times, China's state-run media outlet, said, Tuesday, that Seoul's relations with Beijing will be more complicated if the Yoon administration loses its diplomatic independence gradually by relying on the U.S., describing Yoon's participation as a step toward the Asia-Pacific expansion of NATO amid China's growing military power.
Previously, the deployment of the U.S.' THAAD missile defense shield in Korea sparked economic retaliation from China. Given China's status as Korea's largest trading partner, the Korean government had remained lukewarm on the U.S.-China rivalry.
However, experts have ruled out the possibility that China's economic retaliation would be as strong as before.
"Beijing will still be sensitive to Seoul's conduct around the NATO countries, but it's also likely to respond in a less threatening manner since Seoul's participation in NATO carries, for the most part, benign intent," said Soo Kim, adding that Korea's participation carries some "interesting" interpretations.
"On the one hand, Seoul's essentially not signing up with a single country ― the U.S., for instance. It seeks to participate and contribute to a collective effort whose interests span a number of issues ― China being only one of them," she said.
"In addition, by partnering up with this group, perhaps Seoul is looking for a more integrative buffer against Beijing's aggression down the road. Korea may seek to expand its network of partners, particularly in light of Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine and the challenges we face in dealing with U.S.-China competition."
Describing China as a threat to Korea's democracy, economy and overall strategic position, Kazianis said, "China can complain all it wants, but President Yoon is making the right call trying to build partnerships with all nations ― especially those that are weary of Beijing's growing power."
In response to China's displeasure, the presidential office has repeatedly said Yoon's participation in the summit has nothing to do with a shift to an anti-China policy.
Kim Yeoul-soo said the Korean government should maintain that stance despite admitting that the current situation is mainly about seeking to contain China.
"Although the U.S. government keeps saying that it is not targeting China, it is true that NATO is broadening its priorities beyond Europe to the Asia-Pacific region to keep Beijing in check by inviting the four nations as guests," he said.
"However, the Korean government needs to stick to its existing position, or explain we are not joining the move to isolate China, while pursuing national interests by working together with multilateral forums."
11. Yoon, Kishida exchange political pleasantries in Madrid
Hopefully they will build on this.
Wednesday
June 29, 2022
Yoon, Kishida exchange political pleasantries in Madrid
Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and other world leaders pose for a photo at a dinner hosted by King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain at the royal palace in Madrid on Tuesday evening. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]
MADRID, Spain — President Yoon Suk-yeol and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida made first contact at a dinner in Madrid Tuesday evening, exchanging wishes for better relations.
The encounter between Yoon and Kishida lasted three to four minutes at a banquet hosted by Spain's King Felipe VI for some 40 world leaders on the eve of a NATO Summit.
Kishida came over and offered greetings to Yoon and congratulated him on his inauguration last month and the victory of his People's Power Party in the June 1 local elections, said the presidential office. Yoon replied that he hoped Kishida's ruling Liberal Democratic Party saw "good results" in elections for Japan's upper house of parliament next month.
Kishida expressed thanks and was quoted as saying by the presidential office, "I know that President Yoon is working hard for Korea-Japan relations. Let's make efforts to develop the Korea-Japan relationship into a healthier one."
Their first face-to-face encounter came after the two sides failed to arrange a formal bilateral summit in Madrid, largely because of Japan's upcoming elections. Korea's presidential officials left open the possibility of casual encounters that could take place without advance notice.
Seoul and Tokyo's relations are poor over historical issues stemming from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule over Korea and a trade spat from 2019.
Yoon was inaugurated on May 10, while Kishida took office last October. New leaders have been seen as an opportunity to improve relations.
At the dinner, the two leaders agreed to continue their conversation at a trilateral summit with U.S. President Joe Biden Wednesday afternoon, the first of its kind in nearly five years. Those talks were expected to focus on North Korea's nuclear threat.
The last trilateral summit took place in September 2017 on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
A quadrilateral meeting of the leaders of NATO's four Asia-Pacific partners — Korea, Japan Australia and New Zealand — on Wednesday was another opportunity for Yoon and Kishida to talk.
Yoon is on a five-day trip to Madrid Monday to attend the NATO Summit on Wednesday and Thursday, his first overseas trip since he took office. He is the first Korean president to be invited by NATO.
At a session of the 30 members of the NATO military alliance and partner countries, Yoon was expected to give a speech explaining his position on North Korea and other issues. South Korean participation in the NATO Summit is drawing flak from both Beijing and Pyongyang.
In a statement on Sunday, North Korea's Foreign Ministry accused the United States of "making a full-fledged move to establish an Asia-style NATO" by holding joint military exercises with South Korea and Japan.
Chinese experts said relations with South Korea may become complicated as the Yoon administration "gradually loses its diplomatic independence" by relying on the United States, reported the Global Times Tuesday.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said in a press briefing Monday that the trilateral meeting with Seoul and Tokyo will be "mainly focused on the continuing threat from the DPRK [Democratic People's Republic of Korea], particularly after an extended period of intense testing and other provocative activities."
Sullivan said Biden will talk with his Indo-Pacific partners and the NATO alliance about the "China challenge and the ways in which it increasingly is a relevant factor."
On the sidelines of the NATO gathering, Yoon kicked off a series of bilateral talks starting with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese Tuesday afternoon.
The two leaders said they will cooperate closely based on democratic values, human rights and market economics, said the presidential office.
They also promised to expand cooperation on energy, climate change and North Korean denuclearization.
Albanese said Australia intends to actively and strictly implement economic sanctions imposed on North Korea in the future, said Yoon's presidential office.
Albanese also said Australia and Korea should strengthen cooperation with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
Yoon asked for Australia's support for South Korea's bid to host the 2030 World Expo in Busan, and Albanese replied he would make "appropriate considerations."
On Wednesday, Yoon met Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and discussed cooperation in high-tech industries, namely semiconductors.
Yoon said he expects that Dutch semiconductor companies' investment in Korea, such as chip equipment maker ASML, will contribute to the establishment of a stable supply chain, according to the presidential office. He requested a stable supply of chip equipment for Korean semiconductor companies, while Rutte said he appreciated complementary cooperation between the two countries in the semiconductor field.
Yoon noted that the Netherlands is pursuing a policy to increase nuclear power plants, and said he hoped that "Korean companies could contribute with its world-class safety and price competitiveness." The two leaders agreed to advance consultations on cooperation in the nuclear power field.
Yoon also explained the current situation on the Korean Peninsula, including concerns about the possibility of North Korea holding a seventh nuclear weapons test.
Yoon was expected to focus on economic cooperation and explain South Korea's position on North Korea in meetings with leaders from Britain, Denmark, Poland, Canada, France, the Czech Republic and Romania.
A scheduled meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Tuesday was canceled because of scheduling conflicts and rescheduled for Thursday afternoon.
BY SARAH KIM [kim.sarah@joongang.co.kr]
12. INDOPACOM chief calls North’s Korean War aggression ‘very similar’ to Ukrainian conflict
I am seeing a lot of comparisons between Ukraine and the Korean War. Is it a useful analogy?
INDOPACOM chief calls North’s Korean War aggression ‘very similar’ to Ukrainian conflict
Adm. John C. Aquilino signs a digital guest book at the National War Memorial in New Delhi, India, on April 25, 2022. (Anthony J. Rivera/U.S. Navy)
Russia’s invasion of its neighbor Ukraine bears similarities to North Korea’s invasion of its neighbor 72 years ago, the U.S. commander in the Indo-Pacific said over the weekend.
The two conflicts grew from a “desire to dominate a peaceful neighbor’s territory and people,” Adm. John Aquilino said during a memorial service Saturday in Honolulu marking the anniversary of the Korean War.
The 1950-53 war, still unresolved, “started as an act of aggression, very similar to what we see in the Ukraine today,” said Aquilino, the head of Indo-Pacific Command, which is headquartered in Hawaii. Aquilino leads roughly 380,000 U.S. troops in 36 nations.
On Jun 25, 1950, North Korean forces, backed by Russia, crossed the 38th parallel into South Korea. Counterattacks by the 21 allied nations led by the U.S. pushed the North Koreans back almost to the Chinese border, prompting China’s entry into the war and an eventual stalemate.
A “broad alliance of countries and shared values” joined forces on the Korean Peninsula to “preserve the freedom that we enjoy, as well as the rules-based international order,” Aquilino said.
“It is altogether fitting and proper we reflect on this conflict and consider how we might avoid such events in the future,” he said.
Aquilino spoke four months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his nation’s armed forces into Ukraine. The U.S. and NATO members have hurried arms and other supplies to Ukraine to help it fend off the Russian forces.
“Just like we saw 72 years ago, the Soviet Union and [China] approved and supported the North Korean plans,” Aquilino said at the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific. “Authoritarian regimes in North Korea and [China] approved of the Russian invasion of [Ukraine].”
Around 10,506 civilians were killed in the conflict as of June 23, according to a report from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. The U.N. believes that most of those casualties were due to heavy artillery, air strikes and other explosives across wide areas.
Chinese officials have called for calm and claim they do not materially support Russia’s campaign. The two countries held a large-scale military exercise in the South China Sea and the Sea of Japan in May.
“China-Russia relations is a partnership, not an alliance,” Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe said during the 2022 Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on June 12. “It does not target any third party.”
North Korean state-run media support Russia’s campaign against Ukraine. Russia made a “legitimate demand” against Ukraine, the North Korean Foreign Ministry said in February.
13. Using market surveys to understand N. Korea’s economic situation
More insight into what is happening inside north Korea.
＜Inside N. Korea＞Using market surveys to understand N. Korea’s economic situation(1) Chinese-made products nowhere to be found…Replaced by domestic soap, toothpaste and clothing
File Photo: A view of a market in Chongjin, in North Hamgyung Province, the country’s third largest city. Taken by ASIAPRESS in September 2013.
Surveying market trends are an essential way to understand North Korea’s economy, whose realities are largely unknown in the outside world. What kind of things are sold in the country’s markets, and where are they made? Even this kind of basic information is hard to come by in the North Korean context. ASIAPRESS recently conducted a survey in mid-April of four government-run markets in cities located in the northern party of the country. ASIAPRESS will report the results of the data it found in two installments. The first installment concerns North Korea’s “daily necessities,” such as soap and medical supplies. (ISHIMARU Jiro, KANG Ji-won)
◆ A difficult survey environment
ASIAPRESS has five reporting partners in the northern part of the country who conducted the market surveys. The survey efforts were attempted in four cities spread across North Pyongan Province, Yanggang Province and North Hamgyung Province; however, delays in reporting and insufficient data forced ASIAPRESS two summarize the results of the survey from just Hyesan and another city in North Hamgyung Province, nicknamed“City A.”
The biggest roadblock in conducting the surveys was communication. ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea. The Kim Jong-un regime not only uses powerful jamming equipment on the border with China to block communication, but it is also conducting massive crackdowns on people who communicate with the outside world through roaming patrols equipped with communications detection devices.
While ASIAPRESS has reporting partners in Pyongyang, South Pyongan Province, and Kangwon Province, communicating with them has become more difficult after restrictions were placed on movement when North Korea closed its borders in January 2020. Reporting partners have also been hesitant to conduct market surveys of other areas using domestic phones over concerns about being tapped by the authorities.
◆ Logistics difficulties
ASIAPRESS planned to wrap up its market surveys by April 12. That was because the “Festival of the Sun,” a ceremony to honor the 110th anniversary of Kim Il-sung’s death on April 15 would be held soon after that point, followed by a major military parade. ASIAPRESS believed that the items on sale and their prices could be impacted by these events.
The “Festival of the Sun” has become the country’s biggest holiday, and every year the authorities distribute cookies and other foodstuffs to the people for free as gifts from the leader. What the authorities have distributed over the past 20 or so years has been very poor quality, yet they are nonetheless sold in the markets. The market surveys, for various reasons, were not completed until late April in some regions, and data from these regions have been taken out of the final results.
On May 12, the Kim Jong-un regime officially acknowledged an outbreak of COVID-19 for the first time and moved to completely ban movement between different regions of the country. Cities were put under lockdown, with the movement of its residents banned. Markets were closed as well.
Most urban lockdowns were lifted by mid-June, leading to the reopening of markets. However, as of June 27, bans on movement between cities continues to be strictly controlled. This has led to major bottlenecks in the distribution of goods, and the number of items for sale in markets has fallen dramatically when compared to the market surveys taken back in April.
Readers should thus take into account the aforementioned limitations and changes in the situation in North Korea when reading this report. For reference, 1,000 KPW was around 0.156USD as of mid-April.
14. In North Korea, a sack of flour separates haves from have-nots
Excerpts:
Flour had been a cheap ingredient to make snacks and fried dishes less central to the North Korean diet, said a resident of Unsan county, South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang.
“Flour … has become a deluxe ingredient that people use to show off when guests come over,” she told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“Last week, for my son’s birthday, I invited his elementary school teacher to my house. I wanted to show respect and sincerity, so I bought some imported flour, which is now costlier than the rice that goes into making ddeok, so I served bread, mandu and jijim,” she said.
In North Korea, a sack of flour separates haves from have-nots
Flour is now 3 times costlier than rice, and people who can afford bread are seen as well-to-do.
By Hyemin Son for RFA Korean
2022.06.28
A loaf of bread has become a status symbol in North Korea as prices for flour have increased so sharply that only the wealthiest citizens can afford it, sources in the country told RFA.
Throughout Korean history, white rice has reigned supreme as the basic staple that signified wealth, and poorer people would mix their rice or replace it completely with cheaper grains like millet.
In the case of North Korea, it is still true that only the very wealthy can expect all their meals to contain white rice or have the luxury of eating sweetened rice cakes, called ddeok, as a treat. Most North Koreans subsist primarily on corn and other coarse grains.
But now flour has become so scarce that it costs more than rice, and North Koreans are starting to equate eating bread, or batter-fried foods like savory jijim pancakes, as a sign of wealth, a resident of Kimjongsuk county in the northern province of Ryanggang told RFA’s Korean Service on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“These days, it’s the most prosperous household that can buy imported flour from the marketplace and make foods like bread and jijim,” said the source.
“Before the pandemic it was the families who could make ddeok or who ate bowls of white rice, who were considered prosperous, because they had to ship the rice from places like Hwanghae province in the country’s grain producing region. But now imported flour is several times more expensive than rice,” she said.
Cheap Russian and Chinese flour was once readily available in large quantities, but imports stopped when North Korea sealed its borders at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2020 and suspended all trade.
The border has remained closed for the entire pandemic, save for a brief reopening earlier this year that quickly ended only weeks later with a resurgence of the virus in China. Flour’s price has been intimately tied to the ability to import.
Flour in Kimjongsuk county cost 4,000-4,600 won per kilogram (U.S. $0.25-0.29 per pound) in December 2019. During the pandemic the price went as high as 30,000 won per kilogram, then fell to 10,000 when China and North Korea briefly restarted maritime and rail freight. But now that the border is closed again, prices have increased to about 18,000 won.
According to the Osaka-based AsiaPress news outlet that focuses on North Korea, the current price of rice in the country is about 6,600 won per kilogram, up from about 4,200 won at the end of 2019.
“Ordinary residents cannot even dare to buy flour, because it’s even pricier than rice. When the price of flour is more than two or three times that of rice, as it is now, bread and mandu dumplings suddenly become food that only the high-ranking officials and fabulously wealthy can afford to eat. So foods made with flour are now a symbol of wealth,” said the Kimjongsuk source.
Flour had been a cheap ingredient to make snacks and fried dishes less central to the North Korean diet, said a resident of Unsan county, South Pyongan province, north of the capital Pyongyang.
“Flour … has become a deluxe ingredient that people use to show off when guests come over,” she told RFA on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“Last week, for my son’s birthday, I invited his elementary school teacher to my house. I wanted to show respect and sincerity, so I bought some imported flour, which is now costlier than the rice that goes into making ddeok, so I served bread, mandu and jijim,” she said.
Translated by Claire Shinyoung O. Lee. Written in English by Eugene Whong.
15. The price of N. Korean staples, including corn, continue to rise
The price of N. Korean staples, including corn, continue to rise - Daily NK
Trading companies are buying up foreign exchange and expanding moves to restart trade, which may explain rising exchange rates
FILE PHOTO: North Koreans are seen peddling goods at a street market in Hyesan, Yanggang Province. (Daily NK)
Market prices in North Korea are skyrocketing, including the price of grains such as rice and corn.
According to Daily NK’s regular survey of prices in North Korea, a kilogram of rice in North Korean markets cost KPW 5,500 in Pyongyang, KPW 5,600 in Sinuiju and KPW 5,800 in Hyesan as of Sunday.
That represents an 8% to 10% increase across all regions from a survey taken at the end of last month.
After climbing continuously from January, the market price of rice temporarily fell in late May before restarting its upward trajectory in early June.
Corn — the staple of low income families — has also climbed. As of Sunday, a kilogram of corn cost KPW 2,850 in Pyongyang, KPW 2,900 in Sinuiju and KPW 3,100 in Hyesan.
This represents the first time this year the price of corn has crossed the KPW 3,000 line.
The market price of rice and corn usually comes down a bit when fresh potatoes, wheat and barley hit the markets in early June. This year, however, prices are rising instead.
Multiple sources in North Korea said with food shortages intensifying this year, many potato fields suffered from frost, and even at farms where the fields were properly harvested, the military purchased all the potatoes.
This is to say, the poor potato harvest led to a situation where too few potatoes hit the markets to influence grain prices.
Meanwhile, exchange rates for the dollar and yuan climbed across all regions of North Korea. As of Sunday, the dollar was trading at KPW 7,200 in Pyongyang, KPW 7,230 in Sinuiju and KPW 7,250 in Hyesan.
The yuan was also higher, trading at KPW 900 in Pyongyang and KPW 920 in Sinuiju and Hyesan, the first time since June of last year that the yuan had crossed the KPW 900 line.
North Korea amended the law at the 20th Plenary Meeting of the 14th Standing Committee of the Supreme People’s Assembly on May 31, and conveyed the changes to provincial party committees in mid-June.
In fact, North Korea made it clear that putting economic plans on the back burner due to emergency quarantine efforts, or the opposite — engaging in shoddy quarantine efforts, forgetting to put the lives and safety of the people first — represents a challenge to state quarantine policy.
The gist is that officials must faithfully carry out both quarantine efforts and economic development. Yet, some North Koreans say the amended law really puts the main emphasis on the economy.
Multiple sources in South Pyongan Province, North Hamgyong Province and elsewhere said that after receiving the changes in the amended law, major trade-related agencies in each region received an order to survey which imports their provinces need before submitting lists of these items to the government.
Trading companies are responding by buying up foreign exchange and expanding moves to restart trade. This situation appears to be a factor in rising exchange rates.
Although there is currently no regular freight train service between North Korea and China, seaborne trade is reportedly brisk at the North Korean ports of Songnim and Nampo. One Daily NK source even said the number of ships entering Songnim and Nampo has doubled since last month.
“There’s a finite amount of imports you can bring in by train, but by sea, you can import a lot more, and more kinds of items, too,” she said. “There’s more prying eyes with train-based trade, which means the outside world often learns what’s been imported. But when you bring things in by ship, the advantage is that you can do so under the nose of sanctions.”
Daily NK’s latest market price survey also found that the price of diesel — for which North Korea relies entirely on imports — fell slightly.
As of Sunday, a kilogram of gasoline cost KPW 12,500 in Pyongyang and KPW 12,300 in Sinuiju and Hyesan, about KPW 100 to 300 more than it did in the middle of the month. In contrast, a kilogram of diesel cost KPW 10,000 in Pyongyang, KPW 9,800 in Sinuiju and KPW 9,900 in Hyesan, less than it did in the previous survey, when it cost KPW 10,040 in Pyongyang, KPW 10,200 in Sinuiju and KPW 10,060 in Hyesan.
A source in Pyongyang said the falling diesel prices during the farming season, when demand for diesel climbs, was because of increased supply due to imports.
Translated by David Black. Edited by Robert Lauler.
Please direct any comments or questions about this article to dailynkenglish@uni-media.net.
De Oppresso Liber,
David Maxwell
Senior Fellow, Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Senior Fellow, Global Peace Foundation
Senior Advisor, Center for Asia Pacific Strategy
Editor, Small Wars Journal
Twitter: @davidmaxwell161
Phone: 202-573-8647
