According to a North Korean source, 1 kg of rice cost about 30 won right after the currency reform but is now closing in on 1,000 won. The U.S. dollar was exchanged at the rate of 75 won to the greenback right after the currency reform but soared to 400 won in late December. There is speculation that it is now only a matter of time before the rate will reach 3,000 won, the same as the unofficial exchange rate of the old won.
The blog called One Free Korea has written, and continues to write, in detail, about this issue. Kushibo believes that this may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back.
Even the best-case German model will cause South Koreans heartburn. Despite the $2 trillion West Germany has paid over two decades, Bonn had it relatively easy in the beginning. East Germany’s population was only one-quarter of West Germany’s, and in 1989 East German per capita income was one-third of the West’s. The two Germanies also had extensive trade ties.
North Korea’s per capita income is less than 5% of the South’s. Each year the dollar value of South Korea’s GDP expansion equals the entire North Korean economy. The North’s population is half the South’s and rising thanks to a high birth rate. North and South also barely trade with each other.
[ snip ]
I estimate that raising Northern incomes to 80% of Southern levels—which would likely be a political necessity—would cost anywhere from $2 trillion to $5 trillion, spread out over 30 years. That would work out to at least $40,000 per capita if distributed solely among South Koreans.
Who would foot such a bill? China is the greatest supporter of the current regime in Pyongyang, with trade, investment and economic assistance worth $3 billion a year. Even if that flow continues, it’s only a fraction of the $67 billion a year needed to equal $2 trillion over 30 years. Japan is willing to pay $10 billion in reparations for having colonized the North in the 20th century, but that too would barely make a dent.
That leaves international institutions like the World Bank as well as South Korea and the United States.
Sugar Daddy Sam and the IMF* to the rescue. Again. I wonder if South Koreans would be willing to give up their fancy cell phones and SUVs.
The Chosun Ilbo brings us the story of Choi Hyun-mi, a North Korean defector who is now the World Boxing Association women’s featherweight champion.
Born in Pyongyang, Choi showed early talent in sports. She joined the boxing team at the prestigious Kim Chul-joo Educational University in Pyongyang in 2003 at the age of 13. The team had been formed in anticipation of women’s boxing becoming an official event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
But her life was to change completely in February 2004, when her father, who worked for an international trade company, arranged a family trip to China. They never went back. Choi’s father was the first to arrive in South Korea through Thailand and Cambodia, and five months later, Choi followed with her mother and elder brother. “Adapting to South Korea was a quick process,” she says. “Once I became familiar with life here, my boxing gloves naturally came out of the box again.”
She soon dominated the amateur boxing circuit in the South, but necessity — the prize money for the winner of an amateur competition is a mere W50,000 (US$1=W1,171) — forced her to go professional in her second year of high school in 2007. Then her manager, whom she had trusted, forced her into a 12-year “slave contract,” which meant that even when she became WBA world champion in October 2008, she nearly had to miss the defense bout because she did not have enough money.
Fortunately, she got a more honest promoter, and will be attending university (Sungkyunkwan, I believe) this coming spring. But she will continue to box.
Here she is winning a World championship match:
In victory …
With a messianic aura around her head …
And looking sexy in high heels …
Finally, here’s a video about her. Interestingly, it briefly mentions how she and her family experienced the prejudices against North Koreans in South Korea.
Edit/Update:
Here is another video that I found. It mentions how she supported her family through her boxing because her father couldn’t find a job, and that North Koreans are looked down upon “because of their poverty and social awkwardness” (1:19). Another item of interest is the image at 0:49. “I’m going to kick your ass, and then hug my Hello Kitty doll.”
On a side note, I didn’t know that AlJazeera could be so good. I thought it was Al-Q’aida TV, but these videos felt like BBC World.
According to this article, the Great North Korean Currency Reform* was the brainchild of Kim Jong-il’s son, Jong-un.
The currency reform was suggested by a team under Kim Jong-un and the senior Kim approved the suggestion, the Open Radio for North Korea reported quoting an “internal source” in North Korea.
The radio said Kim Jong-un’s team judged that North Korea’s economic measure on July 1, 2002 was not proper to be applied for the “Kim Jong-un era” and asserted that the junior Kim, dubbed as the heir to his father, forced the measure to collect cash circulated in the private sector.
The currency reform was designed to create a basis for reform and openness under Kim Jong-un by raising the value of the North Korean currency and countering inflation, the report said.
If true, then Kim Jong-un is responsible for the worst unrest in North Korea in a long time. If he does succeed his father, then the agony that North Koreans have been suffering might look like Disneyland under the new regime.
According to a Japanese news report, China has detected deadly nerve gas at its border with North Korea. It’s believed to be leakage from an accident.
The Chinese special operations forces found 0.015-0.03 microgrammes of the gas per cubic metre when they were conducting regular surveys while there were winds from the direction of North Korea, the report said.
China suspects that there were some experiments or accidents in its neighbouring country, it said.
In related news, North Korea is believed to have 13 types of biological weapons, including cholera, pest, yellow fever, smallpox, eruptive typhus, typhoid fever and dysentery, at more than 20 facilities. It’s also reputed to have up to 5,000 tons of chemical agents. Additionally, North Korea’s nuclear program is thought to be located at about 100 sites. But don’t worry, we can take them out in the event of war, no problem.
A Japanese newspaper, the Mainichi Shimbun, claims to have obtained North Korean propaganda that is meant to prepare for the succession of Kim Jong-il’s son, Jong-un.
The documents contain slogans such as, “General Kim Jong-un has broad military insight and is matchlessly talented” and, “Revered Comrade Kim Jong-un is the successor to the peerless man who has led our military and people.”
The daily said the documents are probably being used by the Ministry of the People’s Armed Forces or the Ministry of State Security and appear to have been written after May Day because they include an account of the May Day fireworks, the newspaper said.
North Korea has closed ten restaurants in the countries of Thailand, Cambodia, and Laos. The restaurants had been specializing in North Korean cuisine, were earning dollars for the communist country, and were popular with South Korean and Japanese customers. The official reason given was the global financial downturn. However, there are reports that waitresses have been recalled and punished for being “flirtatious” with customers.
In response to upcoming joint military drills between American and South Korean forces, North Korea’s KCNA news agency quoted a military official as saying, “The U.S. imperialists and the Lee Myung-bak group should clearly understand that it is the iron will and resolute stand of the Korean People’s Army to go into action anytime to mercilessly wipe out the aggressors” with nuclear weapons.
In other news, the sun rose this morning.
The Dong-a Ilbo reports that, despite chronic, severe food shortages, North Korea has opened its first “sokseong” (fast) food restaurant. Because of North Korea’s poverty, prices are low.
For fifteen cents you can buy “minced beef and bread” (a hamburger). Other menu items include frizzled bread (a waffle) and “Kumkang fresh beer,” a glass of which costs six cents. (I wonder if it’s Taedonggang beer. If you haven’t already, be sure to watch the advertisement video.)
According to this article and this similar, older article, a senior official at the U.S. Defense Department has said that they are planning for a future North Korea, possibly one without Kim Jong-il.
Thank goodness someone is making preparations. Take a look at this article by a so-called professor to see the kind of head-in-the-sand mentality that is, unfortunately, prevalent here in the South.
