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Independent British energy company Aminex PLC has withdrawn from North Korea, citing ‘”the volatile and unpredictable politics of the area”, just two years after signing a deal covering a 50,000 sq km area off the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

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 also wrote about the “pair” badges, but their examples are different from those presented here.

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

“Will North Korea’s Plans for Foreign Investment Make It a More Prosperous Nation?”
38 North
Bradley Babson

“North Korea’s Resource Headache”
The Diplomat
Andray Abrahamian & Geoffrey See

“North Korea redefines ‘minimum’ wage”
Asia Times
Andrei Lankov

And finally, congratulations to Geoffrey See at Choson Exchange. See why here.

On 2012-5-8 KCNA posted two articles citing a publication by Kim Jong-un on “land management”. The paper, titled “On Effecting a Drastic Turn in Land Management to Meet the Requirements for Building a Thriving Socialist Nation”, was not posted but will no doubt be offered for sale to Pyongyang tourists before too long. However until I receive a copy, the two KCNA articles below will have to do:

Kim Jong Un′s Work on Land Management Published

Pyongyang, May 8 (KCNA) — The dear respected Kim Jong Un had talk “On Effecting a Drastic Turn in Land Management to Meet the Requirements for Building a Thriving Socialist Nation” with leading officials of party and state economic bodies and working people’s organizations on April 27, 2012. The work was delivered to the participants in a meeting of activists of the general mobilization movement for land management on Tuesday.

Kim Jong Un stressed the need to make the upcoming meeting of activists in the general mobilization movement for land management an important occasion for preserving and glorifying leader Kim Jong Il’s idea of land management and undying leadership feats and effecting a drastic turn in the land management to meet the requirements for building a thriving socialist nation.

Land management is a patriotic work for the eternal prosperity of the country, and a noble work for providing the people with better living conditions, he said, and continued:

President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il paid deep attention to the land management and worked heart and soul to make the country more beautiful all their lives.

A large number of monumental edifices of eternal value have been built across the country and streets and villages have turned into a socialist land of bliss.

The epoch-making changes that have taken place in the land management are a brilliant fruition of the wise guidance provided by Kim Jong Il who set forth a far-reaching plan and unique policy on the land management and energetically led the struggle to realize them.

Kim Jong Un indicated the following general orientation and overall tasks to be fulfilled in the field of land management:

The officials and other working people in the field of land management should firmly preserve and always glorify the great General’s idea and leadership feats in the land management and thoroughly carry out his last instructions without the slightest deviation or concession and face-lift the land as befitting that of a thriving socialist nation.

It is necessary to turn Pyongyang into a capital city of the sacred revolution, magnificent and picturesque world-class city based on the revolutionary outlook on the leader.

The city of Pyongyang has been successfully laid out, centering around the statues of the President and the General standing high on Mansu Hill. It is necessary to green the areas around the statues and the Mansudae area.

It is important to spruce up the area of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun as the sacred temple of Juche.

Mangyongdae should be spruced up as a holy land of the sun so as to convey the greatness of the President and his undying feats generation after generation and make sure that a steady continuity is given to the revolutionary history of the President on this land.

Pyongyang should be built into a center and model city of Songun culture as well as a city based on the revolutionary outlook on the leader.

Local cities including provincial seats and rural villages should also be face-lifted to suit the specific local features.

All land except cultivated land should be covered with trees, grass, flower plants and other plants so that there should be no waste or weedy land. This is the intention of the party.

Big efforts should be directed to land management and preservation, tideland reclamation and land realignment.

The work for creating forests and protecting them should be carried out well to turn the whole country into thick woodland and greenery.

Attention should also be paid to improving water management including the improvement of rivers and streams.

Various structures including dam and lock gate should be built in the rivers and streams and gravity-fed waterways and irrigation channels be maintained and reinforced on a regular basis. Doing so would make it possible to prevent flood and drought and make an effective use of water, generate electricity, breed fish and add to the beauty of landscape.

Efforts should be directed to the road construction to round off the road network of the country in a reasonable way and put the roads on modern, heavy-duty and high-speed basis.

Ring roads should be built in Pyongyang and more highways and major roads be built.

Work for reinforcing railroads should be steadily pushed forward.

For the present, it is necessary to complete the project for reconstructing and repairing railways in the northern part in a qualitative manner at an early date.

Kim Jong Un called for channeling efforts into sprucing up coastal areas, underscoring the need to improve the management of coastal and territorial waters so as to protect natural disasters, add to the beauty of landscape and protect and increase marine resources.

He also underlined the need to do well the work to protect marine resources and conserve environment and nature.

He underscored the need to hold in check such practices as developing underground resources at random or creating disorder in their development.

To effect a drastic turn in land management it is necessary to work out a master plan for land management in a scientific and realistic way and carry it out under a long-term plan, he noted, and continued:

In the period of the general mobilization movement for land management all the institutions, enterprises, co-op farms and all the people should take part in the work for land management. The period from every November to March the next year should be set as a period for protecting forest and underground resources and from every March to July as a period for protecting useful animals. The nature conservation should be done in an intensive way as an all-party, nationwide and all-people work in these periods.

He called for making brisk scientific and technological exchange with other countries and international organizations.

The Ministry of Land and Environmental Conservation and relevant institutions should conduct brisk joint study, academic exchange and information exchange with scientific research institutions of other countries and take part in international meetings and symposiums to introduce advanced science and technology, he added.

Kim Jong Un said that there should be no exception as far as land management and environmental protection are concerned, adding that every field and every unit should be subject to state control as regards these matters.

The party attaches great importance to land management and environmental conservation in building a thriving socialist nation, he said, calling on the whole party, the whole army and all the people to more dynamically conduct the general mobilization movement for land management, spruce up the land as befitting that of a thriving nation and actively contribute to building an economic power and improving the standard of people’s living.

Kim Jong Un called on all officials and people to dynamically wage the general mobilization movement for land management with ardent loyalty to the party and warm patriotism and thus firmly preserve and always glorify Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il’s idea and exploits performed in the land construction and step up the building of a thriving socialist nation.

Kim Jong Un Indicates Tasks for Land Management

Pyongyang, May 8 (KCNA) — The dear respected Kim Jong Un in his work “On Effecting a Drastic Turn in Land Management to Meet the Requirements for Building a Thriving Socialist Nation” indicated tasks facing the field of land management.

The general orientation and overall tasks for the field of land management are to firmly preserve and always glorify leader Kim Jong Il’s idea and leadership feats for land management and give a face-lift to the land of the country to suit a thriving socialist nation, Kim Jong Un said, and continued:

It is necessary to turn Pyongyang into the capital city of the sacred revolution, magnificent and picturesque world-class city based on the revolutionary outlook on the leader.

Greening should be done well to spruce up the areas around the statues of President Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il, the Mansudae area and the area of the Kumsusan Palace of the Sun as the sacred temple of Juche as well as the Mangyongdae Revolutionary Site.

Pyongyang should be built into a center and model city of Songun culture so that Songun culture created in Pyongyang can spread to other parts of the country.

Local cities and rural villages should also be face-lifted to suit the specific local features.

Big efforts should be directed to land management and preservation, and the creation of forests and their protection and management should be done well to turn the whole country into thick woodland and greenery.

Attention should be paid to improving water management including the improvement of rivers and streams.

Road construction and management, protection of coastal and territorial waters and conservation of environment and nature should be done well.

The country’s underground resources should be saved and protected well.

A master plan for land construction should be worked out in a scientific and realistic manner and it should be carried out under a long-term plan.

In the period of general mobilization movement for land management all the institutions, enterprises, co-op farms and all the people should take part in the work for land management. The period from every November to March the next year should be set as a period for protecting forest and underground resources and from every March to July as a period for protecting useful animals. The country’s nature conservation should be done in an intensive way as an all-party, nationwide and all-people work in these periods.

He called for rapidly developing science and technology in the above-said field. He continued:

The Ministry of Land and Environmental Conservation and relevant institutions should conduct brisk joint study, academic exchange and information exchange with scientific research institutions of other countries and take part in international meetings and symposiums to introduce advanced science and technology.

Kim Jong Un called on all officials and people to dynamically wage the general mobilization movement for land management with ardent loyalty to the Party and warm patriotism and thus firmly preserve and always glorify Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il’s idea and exploits performed in land construction and step up the building of a thriving socialist nation.