Income Gap in North Korea Widens

I ran into this article regarding North Korean news. It provides an interesting insight on the inner workings of the party and some of the big name companies running the show. The kind of information that our current media wouldn’t run.

The Economist also ran an article back in February, also a nice read.

Reposted from The Chosunilbo
As scattered green shoots of a market economy pop up all over North Korea, the gap between rich and poor is also widening in line with capitalist trends. Wealthy people in the capital Pyongyang control profitable businesses through the support of the regime, while farmers in remote areas survive or not at all.

Socialist Tycoons
In March last year, American investor Jim Rogers went to an international coin fair in Singapore and snapped up 13 rare North Korean gold coins each valued at 2,500 Singaporean dollars, as well as hundreds of silver coins worth 70 Singaporean dollars each.

Why are there North Korean schools in Japan?

Learn something new about North Korea.

Reposted from The Economist

ALONG with America and South Korea, Japan is one of a handful of states that has no diplomatic relations with North Korea (though 165 countries do). On the rare occasions when they meet, the Japanese and North Korean leaders mostly discuss the thorny issue of abductees, seized from Japan’s beaches more than three decades ago. Japanese views of North Korea are the most damning in the world: in a survey conducted last month by GlobeScan, a pollster, not one respondent viewed the North’s influence as positive. Yet around 10,000 pupils in Japan study in schools that teach allegiance to the North’s Dear Leader and his father, Kim Il-sung. Why?

Between 1905 and 1945, when Japan occupied Korea, ethnic Koreans were considered Japanese nationals. After Japan lost control of the peninsula in the second world war, Koreans wishing to stay in Japan (known as Zainichi Koreans) were provisionally registered as nationals of Joseon, the name of undivided Korea between the 14th and 19th centuries. But when the North and South declared independence in 1948, the term Joseon no longer corresponded to a specific country. From 1965 Zainichi Koreans could register as South Koreans. Those who retained their Joseon nationality (rather than register as either South Korean or Japanese) became de facto North Korean citizens.

So part of the reason for the existence of the North Korean schools is an accident of history. About a quarter of the 600,000 Zainichi Koreans are members of Chongryon, a pro-North Korean organisation based in Japan which runs a network of banks, secondary schools and a university in Tokyo (though its big business is in pachinko, or gaming parlours). Its schools (known as joseon hakkyo, or Joseon schools) are vestiges of Korea’s colonial history rather than true indoctrination camps. But Chongryon serves as North Korea’s de facto embassy in Japan. For decades North Korean coffers funded its schools. Their curriculums are outside Japanese control; school excursions are usually to Pyongyang, the North’s capital. The organisation frowns upon marriage to Japanese citizens, and discourages Japanese naturalisation.

That said, many of Chongryon’s members hold South Korean passports—including North Korea’s most famous footballer, Jong Tae-se, who studied at a joseon hakkyo and who may hold passports for both Koreas. That is fine with South Korea, which considers all North Koreans to be citizens of the South anyway.

Photo Credits: AFP

North Korea – How to invest in North Korea – Part X

North Korea is attracting a lot of attention these days. What about the investment side of things? Can you in invest in North Korea? And if you could how would you do it? I started with an overview of the North Korean economy followed with the different ways you can invest in the country. Before we go any further, the content of this article is not to be considered for investment recommendation and not is linked to my work or Leopard Capital. I’m doing this for purely educational purposes.

Previous Posts:
1st Part: North Korea Vice Documentaries
2nd Part: North Korean Propaganda (Pictures & Videos)
3rd Part: North Korea – Funny Pictures, Memes and Celebrity Stop
4th Part: North Korea – Beautiful Pictures
5th Part: North Korea – How to invest in North Korea

North Korea’s Economy
North Korea is a very rigid central planned economy. Along with Cuba (slightly changing lately), they are the only two countries in the world with an almost entirely government planned, stated owned economy. The collapse of the Soviet Union and communist governments around the world, North Korea main source of support, throw North Korea on a steep decline. It’s hard to believe that North Korea had a higher GDP per capita than South Korea until the mid-70s. South Korea heavily invested in chaebol (business conglomerates) as their main source of economic growth and the rest is history. Today South Korea is a world leader in technology (LG, Samsung) and manufacturing (Hyundai) while North Korea’s industrial capital stock is beyond repair because of the lack of capital spending and maintenance. North Korea’s population is also extremely poor with reports of mass starvation. Two different kinds of choices, two different kind of path, two different kinds of results.

Economic collaboration with the South is most noticeable with the Kaesong Industrial Region, a special region 10 km north of the demilitarized zone. It allowed over a 100 South Korean companies to have access to cheap labor and provided the North Korea government with foreign currency. The zone opened in 2004 and an economist from the Bank of Korea predicted that it could create over 725,000 jobs and generate over $500 million in annual wages for the North Korea economy. After a few disagreements, wages have increase over time from $75 a month to $160 a month (North Korea demanded $300/month). At the moment of this writing the zone recently shut down because of the increase tension between the two countries. There is also the Rason Special Economic Zone, located in the North-East of the country on the border of Russia and China, whose purpose is to promote economic growth through foreign investment. Currently Chinese and Russian companies have invested in the zone and in August 2012 an international trade fair was held, offering foreign investors and journalists a look at the work-in-progress.

What are North Korea’s main sources of income?
According to the CIA factbook, it relies on military products, machine building, electrical power, chemicals, mining, metallurgy, textiles, food processing and tourism. Its main exports are minerals, metallurgical products, manufactures including armaments, textiles and agricultural and fishery products and its main imports petroleum, coking coal, machinery and equipment, textiles and grain. South Korea’s investments and trade with China amounts for the bulk of the foreign currency income. South Korea is also the main trading partner. Again, according to the CIA and various sources a large chuck of their income is from black market activities.

Investing in North Korea
North Korea has no stock exchange where you can buy and sell companies online. Don’t even bother to look for an ETF or for ADR listed companies. Therefore you will need to look for alternative strategies.

Direct Investing
It’s possible. Canadian and U.S. companies are not allowed but there are some European and Chinese companies that does it. France’s Lafarge owns 30% of a cement plant that employs 3000 workers. I have included the Compilation of Laws Foreign Investment North Korea

Coins and Stamps

These asset classes being push by famous successful investor Jim Rogers.

North Korea – Beautiful Pictures – Part IV

1st Part: North Korea Vice Documentaries
2nd Part: North Korean Propaganda (Pictures & Videos)
3rd Part: North Korea – Funny Pictures, Memes and Celebrity Stop
4th Part: North Korea – Beautiful Pictures
5th Part: North Korea – How to invest in North Korea

This is the 3rd part of a multi-part posts. North Korea has been getting a lot of attention recently and all for the wrong reasons. Dennis Rodman’s diplomatic mission, nuclear weapons, potential war, mysterious crazy behavior, propaganda and the list goes on. I decided to compile together a collection of North Korean pictures and documentaries to get a better view inside of the hermit Kingdom. Some of it is funny, sad, disturbing and weird.

Here is few collections of beautiful pictures of the hermit kingdom.

Inside North Korea: tourist photos of Pyongyang and the surrounding area
By The Telegraph

An eight-lane super highway in North Korea is almost devoid of traffic in this image taken by Swedish photographer Björn Bergman. The road – which stretches around 160km from capital Pyongyang to the border with South Korea – is also in a state of disrepair. Picture: Photo2be.com / Barcroft Medi

Björn Bergman spent nine days in North Korea capturing the life of locals. It took him two years to get a visa and once inside the secretive nation, he was whisked around the country on an official tour bus. Björn said: “My rule as a photographer is shoot first, then ask. The guards were very hostile. At the hotels they told us to stay in and would not allow us to leave without guides. We tried three times but didn’t get further than three metres before they told us to go back. A hostess stands outside the train at a Pyongyang Metro station Picture: Photo2be.com / Barcroft Media

North Korean Propaganda (Pictures & Videos) – Part II

1st Part: North Korea Vice Documentaries
2nd Part: North Korean Propaganda (Pictures & Videos)
3rd Part: North Korea – Funny Pictures, Memes and Celebrity Stop
4th Part: North Korea – Beautiful Pictures
5th Part: North Korea – How to invest in North Korea

This is the 2nd part of a multi-part posts. North Korea has been getting a lot of attention recently and all for the wrong reasons. Dennis Rodman’s diplomatic mission, nuclear weapons, potential war, mysterious crazy behavior, propaganda and the list goes on. I decided to compile together a collection of North Korean pictures and documentaries to get a better view inside of the hermit Kingdom. Some of it is funny, sad, disturbing and weird.

This part address the propaganda videos and pictures that have been publish by the regime.

Videos from North Korea’s official website. This is what we are dealing with.

North Korean dreams of destruction of USA

“A Short, Three-Day War” – Video showing paratroopers descending on Seoul in an invasion scenario that envisages taking around 150,000 US residents in South Korea hostage.

Video showing hows American soldiers and U.S. President Barack Obama engulfed in flames, with the sequence ending in a simulated nuclear test.

Video showing paratroopers descending on Seoul in an invasion scenario that it said would see thousands of US citizens living in South Korea taken hostage.

North Korean Propaganda Posters – In case they didn’t hate the U.S. enough. I don’t see the artist’s name.

North Korea – Vice Documentaries & JRE clip – Part I

1st Part: North Korea Vice Documentaries
2nd Part: North Korean Propaganda (Pictures & Videos)
3rd Part: North Korea – Funny Pictures, Memes and Celebrity Stop
4th Part: North Korea – Beautiful Pictures
5th Part: North Korea – How to invest in North Korea

This is the first part of a multi-part posts. North Korea has been getting a lot of attention recently and all for the wrong reasons. Dennis Rodman’s diplomatic mission, nuclear weapons, potential war, mysterious crazy behavior, propaganda and the list goes on. I decided to compile together a collection of North Korean pictures and documentaries to get a better view inside of the hermit Kingdom. Some of it is funny, sad, disturbing and weird.

This post has a lot of parts.
1- Vice’s Documentary – Inside North Korea
2- Vice’s Documentary – North Korean labor camps in the Siberian forest.
3- The Joe Rogan Experience- Shane Smith discuss the North Korean slaves camp in Siberia.

1- Vice’s Documentary – Inside North Korea
First check out any videos done by Shane Smith from Vice. They’re the best. I have included his North Korea trip and the labor camps in Siberia videos. This give you a very good view of what’s really going inside because they were inside! If you don’t have time for anything else they are all must see!

Part 1
Vice founder Shane Smith managed to get into North Korea after a year and half of trying and is witness to the craziness of this hermit nation.

Part 2

Part 3

North Korean Labor Camps in Siberia
North Korea has come up with a new way to bring cold hard cash into its isolated country: export North Korean workers to slave away in the Siberian forest (often without telling them they’re no longer in North Korea). We set out to investigate these camps and almost landed ourselves in quite a bit of trouble.