UPDATE 3 (2012-5-18):  Yonhap reports on that the GPS disruptions have ended and offers some data on the scope of the inconvenience:

South Korea has accused North Korea of disrupting global positioning system (GPS) signals between April 28 and May 13 from the North’s western border city of Kaesong.

GPS is a satellite-based navigation system widely used by planes, ships and the military as well as ordinary drivers.

The jamming attacks have affected more than 650 flights by South Korean and foreign airlines, including Korean Air, FedEx and United Airlines, although no accidents have been reported, according to the transportation ministry.

Read more below…

UPDATE 2 (2012-5-19): KCNA reports that the DPRK denies the jamming activities:

Pyongyang, May 18 (KCNA) — The group of rat-like Lee Myung Bak, hordes of the worst traitors, is making its desperate efforts, sticking to its bad habit of escalating the confrontation with fellow countrymen.

The group is busy staging a new farce and smear campaign against the DPRK over the damage done by jamming.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications gave the following answer to the question put by KCNA in this regard on Friday:

According to the formal announcement by the politicians including the chairman of the Broadcasting and Communication Committee and media of south Korea, all parts of south Korea had been in mayhem due to jamming for 16 days from April 28 to mid-May.

More than 670 planes and 110 odd ships suffered from jamming.
There was the possibility of big accidents likely to claim big casualties. Airplanes, subject to jamming just before landing, had to divert their courses and circle in the air before landing in horror.

Drone S-100 of the south Korean navy on its test-flight was jammed and suddenly struck like a “missile” the vehicle which controlled it, leaving several people dead and seriously wounded.

There were such accidents in which aircraft belonging to the U.S. forces in south Korea and the south Korean army could not fly properly during war exercises targeted against the north and were forced to land hastily.

There were a lot of abnormal happenings in which control systems of sailing warships of the south Korean navy and many civilian ships were paralyzed due to the troubled GPS satellite navigation system and lost their directions. It is not easy to guess the mayhem as south Korean warships which should be in the waters south of the Military Demarcation Line were detected to be on the land of South Hwanghae Province of the DPRK. A 29 000-ton class passenger ship and oil transport lost their courses and they were in the danger of bumping against each other. There occurred such cases for several consecutive days in which fishing boats during their operations sailed beyond fishing grounds toward the north.

It was reported that on the ground, the main communication system used by the puppet army units was jammed, compelling it to switchover to an emergency wire and wireless communication system which was supposed to use as a reserve one.

The sky, land and seas of south Korea are in utter confusion due to this jamming plus mad-cow disease.

It is said that the Heaven knows who does the most evil thing and metes out punishment to him. No wonder, there is a rumor in south Korea that the group of traitors is paying a dear price for its thrice-cursed crimes.

What matters is that the group of traitors, which was so stunned by such terrible mayhem that it kept mum for sometime, came to its senses, though belatedly, and began staging the above-said farce and smear campaign against the DPRK.

At first, the group was so stupid as to assert radio signals seemed to come from the north but later denied itself the story, saying this was not scientifically confirmed for fear of something.

Then the group said in the end it was clear those signals came from Kaesong. Recently it spread misinformation that the north used a vehicle-shape means for jamming the GPS imported from Russia and stopped the jamming operation under the influence of China which was allegedly urged by Lee to tell the north to halt it.
Rat-like Lee Myung Bak group is behaving like sleep-walking patients.

In a word, the group is sticking to its inveterate bad habit of accusing others in a bid to shake off the disgrace.

When an attempt to send a “written protest ” to the DPRK in the name of the chairman of the puppet Broadcasting and Communication Committee and Media was frustrated, puppet forces are busy visiting the International Telecommunication Union and the International Civil Aviation Organization, etc. as part of their ridiculous diplomacy.

As an old fable of Korea says, for one trying to pass the buck for one’s wrongs to others is an attribute peculiar to a rat.

It is well known to the world that after fabricating the Cheonan warship sinking case, the Lee group deliberately brushed aside so many suspicions raised at home and abroad and labeled it the case “linked with the north”.

It was brought to light that the group wrote letters “No. 1″ on the propelling body of the torpedo in a bid to prove that the case was “linked with the north” and it was recorded in the history of nation as unprecedentedly hideous fabrication. The group, however, failed to drop that bad habit.

When the system of the financial computer network of the “Agricultural Cooperative” of south Korea was thrown into the worst state of paralysis in April last year to cause a loss to the tune of a hundred million won and suffer disgrace in the eyes of the world, the puppet group instructed the puppet intelligence service and prosecution to draw a conclusion that they were caused by the ” north” and hastily make it public.

At that time even members of the cooperative, the victim, asserted that the above-said announcement was a hasty conclusion as it lacked a scientific ground and even the security planning board of the puppet army formally clarified that the above-said happenings could not be described as an attack of the north Korean military. All these things took place later.

It also took place shortly ago that the Lee group blamed the north for even the “cyber-terror against the election management committee,” a product of the mean scramble of the ruling party for power, only to suffer bitter disgrace.

Looking back on history, it was none other than the rat-like Lee group that foolishly behaved to put under control all untoward incidents, big and small, which happened inside south Korea due to wrong politics by spreading stories that the north was linked with them.

What is obvious is that all the misinformation that something was done by the north and something was linked with it floated by the group finally turned out to be a farce and fabrication for escalating confrontation with compatriots without an exception.

The story about the north’s jamming spread by the group of traitors is nothing but a desperate effort to shirk off even a bit the heavy responsibility for its thrice-cursed high treason.

The group is making its last ditch-efforts to escape punishment for its crimes but it should know that it is too late.

What remains to be done by the group is to make apology to the whole nation and the world and commit suicide.

The group stuck to its inveterate bad habit of shifting the blame for the scandals committed by its clan onto compatriots. This once again fully revealed that the Lee group is no more than a group of rats in human skin.

The group should bear in mind that evil doers are bound to suffer greater misfortune and disasters.

See also Martyn Williams’ report on the jamming here.

UPDATE 1 (2012-5-14): According to the Daily NK:

GPS jamming signals that have been coming from the Kaesong region of North Korea since April 28th show no signs of ceasing; however, there has been no damage done to property or people to date.

According to a source cited by Yonhap News on the 13th, “GPS jamming signals have been continuously emerging from the Kaesong area of North Korea, including today. However, there have been no cases of damage to our side’s military or civilian equipment.”

The source explained, “Most key equipment such as the military’s fighter jets, transporters and guided munitions carry a U.S. military code (‘P code’) receiver so it cannot be interfered with by North Korea’s GPS jamming signal. Private aircraft and ships also carry INS (inertia navigation system) or some other navigation system, and therefore North Korea’s signals cannot become a disturbance.”

Since the 28th of last month, 609 domestic aircraft from 10 companies, 48 aircraft from 22 American, Japanese and Chinese companies and one U.S. military aircraft have reported being affected by the GPS jamming signal.

The South Korean government has reported the issue to the UN affiliated International Telecommunications Union (ITU), requesting a ruling on whether the jamming violates international rules. North Korea is a member of both the ITU and International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO).

ORIGINAL POST (2012-5-4): According to a Yonhap story published in the Korea Times:

More than 120 ships, including Coast Guard vessels and a passenger boat, have reported malfunctions in their navigation systems since the apparent jamming of satellite signals by North Korea last week, maritime police said Friday.

According to the Coast Guard in Incheon, west of Seoul, a total of 122 ships were affected by the disruption to Global Positioning System (GPS) signals last Saturday. Among the vessels were eight patrol boats belonging to the Coast Guard, a passenger liner carrying 387 people and a petrol products carrier.

Fishing boats operating near the tense western maritime border with North Korea also reported errors in their navigation systems, although none of them led to accidents, Coast Guard officials said.

“Last Saturday, I was sailing toward Incheon when the GPS stopped working, and I almost sailed north,” said a fisherman from the western border island of Yeonpyeong, who gave only his surname Kim.

Koreans are not free to travel between the sides as the 1950-53 Korean War ended in a truce and left them in a technical state of war.

On Wednesday, the transport ministry said about 250 commercial flights in and out of international airports at Incheon and Gimpo, also west of Seoul, were affected by the jamming, although they were not put in danger.

South Korea came under similar electronic attacks in March of last year, and in August and December of 2010, all of which were blamed on the North. South Korean Defense Minister Kim Kwan-jin has said anti-jamming programs are being developed to counter the attacks.

The defense ministry has also said the North operates a regiment-sized electronic warfare unit near its capital Pyongyang, and some battalion-sized units closer to the inter-Korean border.

…

Here are links to previous stories about the DPRKs GPS devices:

1. DPRK attempts to block ROK GPS signals (2011-3-20)

2. ROK believes DPRK disrupting GPS receivers (2010-10-5)

3. DPRK looking to export GPS jammer (2008-5-29)

The 15th Pyongyang Spring International Trade Festival opened on May 14th. See the KCNA story here.

Today, however, the Hanns Seidel Foundation has made available the marketing and information flyer for the second Rason International Trade Exhibition (RITE) which will take place from August 20 – 23, 2012.

The marketing and information flyer is in a three-part PDF which you can download here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Additional Information:
1. Previous posts on the Rason International Trade Exhibition can be found here.

2. Previous posts on the Pyongyang International Trade Exhibition can be found here.

By Michael Rank

Independent British energy company Aminex PLC has withdrawn from North Korea, citing ‘”the volatile and unpredictable politics of the area”, just two years after signing a deal covering a 50,000 sq km area off the country’s east coast.

Aminex said it was “in the best interests of shareholders for the Company to withdraw from the Korean exploration programme and not participate in seismic acquisition. This decision will allow Aminex to focus on growing its African portfolio.”

The company first signed an agreement for co-operation in oil and gas with the North Korean government in 2004, but this failed to make progress. In 2010 it introduced a new foreign partner, Singapore-based Chosun Energy Pte Ltd, which provided finance for the initial stages and a regional base in Singapore. Aminex said at the time that “despite challenging international politics,” it had “succeeded in maintaining strong relations with the Korean authorities”, resulting in the production sharing contract signed in May 2010.

But industry sources said Stuard Detmer, who was made Aminex CEO last September, was less enthusiastic about North Korea than his predecessor Brian Hall, who remains executive chairman, and this had contributed to the company’s decision to pull out of the DPRK.

Aminex’s main focus is now on Tanzania, where in February it made the first gas discovery in the onshore Ruvuma basin, having also disposed of an oilfield in Texas.

Aminex said in 2010 that the agreement “involves reprocessing and reinterpretation of old seismic data plus acquisition of new marine seismic data during an initial period. Licence holder] Korex believes that the East Sea has great potential for significant discoveries of oil and gas, while recognising the political challenges in the region and the need to ensure that any international sanctions are strictly observed.”

See previous posts about Aminex here.

According to Yonhap:

North Korea’s ceremonial head of state Kim Yong-nam visited a foodstuff factory in Singapore on Saturday after talks with the city-state’s parliamentary leader, the North’s official news agency reported.

Kim, president of the Presidium of the Supreme People’s Assembly, and his party were briefed on the constant development of the typical foodstuff factory, the (North) Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a brief dispatch from Singapore.

Kim and his party also watched a video on the management of the factory before looking around the production processes, it said, adding they also toured Hi-P International Pte Ltd., a manufacturer of electronic products, and a tourist islet.

On Friday, the No. 2 leader of the communist state held talks with Michael Palmer, speaker of the parliament of Singapore, according to the KCNA. The North Korean official will also visit Indonesia for talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, the agency reported last week.

Read the full story here:
N. Korea’s No. 2 leader tours food factory in Singapore
Yonhap
2012-5-13

ITEM 1: The Adventures of Kim Jong-un! An anime perspective on the life of Kim Jong-un (College Humor):

Click image to watch full video.

ITEM 2: Looks like the KFA’s “Special Delegation” to the DPRK to celebrate Kim Il-sung’s 100th birthday was not so special–and more expensive to boot! A participant reports here, here, and here.

ITEM 3: A reader points out  that KCNA has updated the broadcast background to reflect the new construction on Mansudae Street. Below are two KCNA screen shots (2012-5-4, 2012-5-9):

Also, the news presenters have started wearing the new “double-leader badge” featuring both Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. Below are two screenshots (2012-4-11 and 2012-4-12):

A touristto the DPRK took these pictures a few days ago:

On the left, the new Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il badge. On the right, someone who shares the sentiment but lacks the means (or is not as well connected).

According to a colleague the new “pair” badge was distributed to the delegates of the party conference (3-4 to each delegate), and from them to other people. It is very rare to see these badges right now.

The Daily NK and Ruediger Frank  also wrote about the “pair” badges.

ITEM 4: North Korean art–some great works here. Also a reader send in this painting (3rd place and chosen as a national treasure no less!)

ITEM 5: This is the closest thing to a Kim Jong-il screen-saver that I have seen.

Nat Kretchun and Jane Kim of InterMedia have published a quantitative analysis of the ability of North Koreans to access outside information.  It is quite rigorous!

Download the PDF here

Abstract:

This study assesses levels of access to outside information within North Korea based on research conducted among North Korean defectors, refugees and travelers, as well as outside media content analysis and expert interviews. Survey samples of refugees and defectors are not statistically representative of the home population of North Korea and generally contain a disproportionate number of respondents from the provinces bordering China. Interpretation of all statistics contained within this report should be undertaken only with these caveats firmly in mind. The primary focus of the study was on the ability of North Koreans to access outside information from foreign sources through a variety of media, communication technologies and personal sources. The relationship between information exposure on North Koreans’ perceptions of the outside world and their own country was also analyzed.

The web cast was here (featuring panelists Abraham Kim, Nat Kretchun, Marcus Noland, and Martyn Williams) but I do not know how long it will be archived.

Here is coverage in Reuters, Bloomberg, Associate Press,

By Michael Rank

The Chinese embassy in Pyongyang has posted photos of the latest batch of Chinese students who have come to study in North Korea. There are sixty students in total, but the report gives no details of what they are studying or at which universities.

They are casually and colourfully dressed, as if on an American campus in fact, for the group photos which were taken at Sunan Airport and at the Chinese embassy when they attended a briefing by the consular section on “current conditions in Korea, consular protection and assistance and life as a student in Korea”.

The students pledged to “study hard, take advantage of good conditions for [learning] the language, make the most of their studies abroad to obtain the best results and to contribute their utmost for Sino-Korean friendship and cooperation,” according to a caption.

The students arrived in Pyongyang on May 4 and attended the embassy reception on May 6. The website says these students are state-sponsored, implying that there may also be Chinese students in North Korea who pay their own way or are sent by local authorities.

Little is known about Chinese students in North Korea, but earlier this year Sino-NK posted a translation of a fascinating article with some surprisingly frank quotes from an earlier group of Chinese students in the DPRK.

At least one former Chinese student in Pyongyang has risen high in the Communist hierarchy. Zhang Dejiang, 65, a vice premier who oversees industrial and energy policy, in March replaced the disgraced Bo Xilai as Party chief in the southwestern city of Chongqing after the biggest scandal in China in living memory involving the death of a British businessman and alleged large-scale corruption.

From 1978 to 1980 Zhang studied economics at Kim Il Sung University, where he was secretary of the Communist Party branch committee of Chinese students studying there.

Wow. In the (approximately) seven years of KCNA reports I have perused on Kim Jong-il’s and Kim jong-un’s guidance trips I have never heard of either of the leaders adopting the tone Kim Jong-un deployed on this trip.

Pictured above (Google Earth): The Mangyongdae Funfair (Not to be confused with the Kaeson funfair or the Taesongsan Funfair). I have actually visited this funfair twice. See here and here.

According to Yonhap:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un lashed out at officials of an amusement park for neglecting to take proper care of the facility’s grounds and rides, the North’s state media said Wednesday in an apparent move to highlight the leader’s concern for his people.

North Korean media, including the official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), said Kim inspected the Mangyongdae Funfair in Pyongyang and scolded officials there after discovering flaws throughout the park.

It is the first time the North Korean media have reported a public censure by the new leader. Reports on similar activities by Kim’s father and late leader Kim Jong-il were also rare.

According to the news reports, Kim Jong-un noticed a damaged path in front of a Viking ride and called it “pathetic,” while also pointing out flaws in the park’s gardens and a roller coaster, the condition of paint on rides and the safety of a water park.

“Seeing the weeds grown in between pavement blocks in the compound of the funfair, he, with an irritated look, plucked them up one by one,” the KCNA said in an English-language dispatch monitored in Seoul. “He said in an excited tone that he has never thought that the funfair is under such a bad state and a proverb that the darkest place is under the candlestick fits the funfair.”

The KCNA reported Kim’s rebukes in detail, using strong expressions of disapproval.

“He scolded officials, saying why such things do not come in their sight and querying could the officials of the funfair work like this, had they had the attitude befitting master, affection for their work sites and conscience to serve the people,” it said. “Plucking up weeds can be done easily with hands as it is different from updating facilities, he added.”

Kim also instructed officials to draw a lesson from touring the site and take it as a warning of the need for a “proper spirit of serving the people,” the KCNA said.

Choe Ryong-hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the (North) Korean People’s Army (KPA), accompanied Kim on the trip and received the task of “sprucing up the funfair as required by the new century by dispatching strong construction forces of the KPA.”

Analysts in Seoul viewed the North Korean media’s unusual approach as an attempt by the leadership to transform Kim’s image. The new leader, believed to be in his late 20s, has thus far been portrayed as a friendly and gentle character with a striking resemblance to his grandfather and founding leader Kim Il-sung. Now, the aim is apparently to depict him as a leader who deals sternly with his aides in order to serve the public, the analysts said.

“It’s an attempt by Kim Jong-un to tighten discipline among ranking officials,” said Jang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University. “The fact that it was broadcast shows that the aim is to instill an awareness among ranking officials across North Korea that Kim Jong-un is a benevolent leader but also strict when it comes to principles.”

Jang also said the report could serve other purposes, such as proving Kim’s ability to look after detailed aspects of policy, or blaming government officials for the people’s frustrations.

Below I have posted the original KCNA report of the event:

Kim Jong Un Tours Mangyongdae Funfair

Pyongyang, May 9 (KCNA) — Supreme Commander of the Korean People’s Army Kim Jong Un, first secretary of the Workers’ Party of Korea and first chairman of the National Defence Commission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, toured the Mangyongdae Funfair.

The Mangyongdae Funfair is a cultural recreation ground for the people and an entertainment and educational center built by the great loving care and benevolence by President Kim Il Sung and leader Kim Jong Il who were always considerate of providing the Korean people with more affluent and highly civilized life.

Covering 70 hectares, the funfair has the first-phase funfair built in Kalmaeji Field and the second-phase one and a wading pool built on an expansion basis in Songsan Field.

The funfair has made positive contribution to the entertainment of people and school youth and children for decades.

He looked round various places of the funfair to acquaint himself in detail with its management and operation.

In front of the swingboat in the second-phase funfair, he, pointing at the seriously broken pavement in the compound of the funfair, asked officials when the road was last re-paved. It is regretful that the road has not been managed well, he said.

Putting his finger on the faulty arrangement of the bases of Oriental arborvitae and Sabina Chinensis, he said it would be good to have gravel stones planted in various shapes around the trees.

Seeing the weeds grown in between pavement blocks in the compound of the funfair, he, with an irritated look, plucked them up one by one. He said in an excited tone that he has never thought that the funfair is under such a bad state and a proverb that the darkest place is under the candlestick fits the funfair. He scolded officials, saying why such things do not come in their sight and querying could the officials of the funfair work like this, had they had the attitude befitting master, affection for their work sites and conscience to serve the people. Plucking up weeds can be done easily with hands as it is different from updating facilities, he added.

Saying that the amusement facilities have been put into operation with the paint scraped off, he noted that the officials and care-takers of the funfair have below-zero spirit of serving the people. This is not just a business issue but an issue concerning ideological viewpoint, he said in a serious tone.

He dropped in at the fountain pool where he stressed the need to tidy up the place even though it may not go operational for this or that reason.

Officials should draw a serious lesson from the tour of Mangyongdae Funfair, he said, adding that this occasion should be taken to issue a serious warning to the officials so that they can have proper spirit of serving the people.

He called for sprucing up the Mangyongdae Funfair as required by the Songun era. This process should be made an occasion of removing outdated ideological point of view from the heads of officials and ending their old work-style, he added.

He set forth the tasks for sprucing up the funfair.

He gave Choe Ryong Hae, director of the General Political Bureau of the Korean People’s Army, the task for sprucing up the funfair as required by the new century by dispatching strong construction forces of the KPA.

The officials of the relevant fields including the Pyongyang City Committee of the WPK, ministries and national institutions should fulfill their duties and responsibilities in sprucing up the funfair to implement the WPK’s intention of serving people in practice.

He was accompanied by Choe Ryong Hae and Ma Won Chun, vice- department director of the WPK Central Committee.

According to Yonhap:

A U.N. food agency has estimated that North Korea will secure 2 million tons of rice in 2012, up about 18 percent from last year, a news report said Wednesday.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said that the North produced 1.6 million tons of rice last fall and is expected to import 300,000 tons of rice and receive 100,000 tons of outside assistance, Washington-based Radio Free Asia reported, citing the FAO’s food outlook.

The Rome-based U.N. agency also estimated that North Korea’s per capita rice consumption is expected to increase to 72.3 kilograms between last year’s fall and summer of this year, up from 64 kilograms in the same period last year, the RFA said.

In February, the FAO said more than 3 million vulnerable people are estimated to face a food deficit as chronic food insecurity continues throughout North Korea.

The North has relied on international handouts since the late 1990s when it suffered a massive famine that was estimated to have killed 2 million people.

Marcus Noland has a piece here on global food prices.

Read the full story here:
U.N. estimates N. Korea to secure 2 million tons of rice this year
Yonhap
2012-5-9

According to Yonhap:

North Korea will enter the Paralympic Games in London this year, a pro-North newspaper said Wednesday, marking the first time the communist country will compete in the games for the physically disabled.

North Korean Paralympic athletes left for Beijing last Thursday and will hold joint training sessions with their Chinese counterparts until early June, according to the Chosun Sinbo, a Tokyo-based newspaper seen as a mouthpiece of the Pyongyang regime.

The athletes will stay at a sports village in the Chinese capital and conduct training and competitions in table tennis, swimming and athletics, among other sports, it said.

The London Paralympic Games are set for Aug. 29 to Sept. 9.

The paper reported in December that North Korea was preparing to join the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the competition’s global governing body, in order to take part in this year’s event.

That attempt ended in failure, but a South Korean official at the Korea Sports Association for the Disabled said North Korea won provisional membership of the IPC in March.

“Provisional member countries are also given the right to take part in the Paralympics,” the official said on customary condition of anonymity. “This is the first time North Korea has won the right to participate.”

A country’s past participation in international competitions is a key indicator of its qualifications for joining the Paralympics, according to the Chosun Sinbo.

“(North Korean) athletes will gain that qualification through this trip to China,” it said.

North Korea is a frequent participant in both Summer and Winter Olympic Games. The country has so far competed in eight Summer Games and won 10 gold and 41 total medals.

It will also compete at the upcoming London Olympics set for July 27 to Aug. 12.

Read the full story here:
N. Korea to join Paralympics for first time
Y
2012-5-9