Aid Refusal Reveals
Policy Priorities
Daily NK. 9/14/12 By
Kang Mi Jin
North Korea recently
refused South Korea’s flood relief aid. The South Korean government had
offered 10,000T of wheat flour, 3 million units of instant noodles and medical
supplies all worth 100 million South Korean Won, but North Korea
rejected it, calling the offer derisory.
Analysts say the first
reason for the refusal was because Pyongyang only wanted rice, cement and heavy
machinery. In this way, the North Korean regime stated clearly that they do not
care about the people and thus will not accept aid that does not help the regime.
Daily NK subsequently
investigated the issue and, as expected, found out that the ordinary people of
North Korea did not know that their leaders refused flour and medical equipment
that could have been use for their own good. Understandably, the claim that the
Kim Jong Eun regime puts its own interests first rang out from all sides.
North to Impose Tax
Avoidance Fines
Daily NK. 9/14/12 By
Jeong Jae Sung
North Korea recently declared
that if companies operating in the Kaesong Industrial Complex fail to file
accurate taxes they are to be heavily penalized.
According to the
Ministry of Unification, North Korea notified the Kaesong Industrial Complex
Management Committee about revisions to the taxation code at the beginning of
last month. Asked why the North made the move, one South Korean government
official hypothesized, “The North seems to have some doubts about those
companies they didn’t gain from.” In other words, North Korea suspects that
there is false accounting occurring in the complex.
According to the
existing tax regulations, manufacturers in the complex pay 14% corporate income
tax. However, they are exempt for five years after first turning a profit, and
then pay tax at a reduced 50% rate for the next three years.
Despite the fact that
the complex was launched almost ten years ago, a sum total of just four
companies have paid a total of just $160,000 in tax over the last two years.
North Korea views such low tax receipts as suspicious given that there are now
123 companies operating in the zone.
There are suspicions,
however, that North Korea’s main goal is to extract maximum benefit from the
complex rather than addressing tax avoidance issues. Certainly, the
North has put financial pressure on South Korean companies in the past, for
example by refusing to allow workers to work if wages are overdue or imposing a
$10,000 fine if roads get damaged.
New evidence that Cheonan was sunk by an old mine
The Hankyoreh. 9/14/12 By Kang Tae-ho
S.Korea Develops Suicide Combat Drone
The Chosun Ilbo. 9/14/12
South Korea has developed a prototype self-destructing
drone capable of precision attacks on North Korean coastal artillery batteries
or rocket launchers. Military authorities expect to deploy it warfare-ready in
2016 once it has been honed and tested.
Korea Aerospace and Industries unveiled the drone, dubbed
"Devil Killer," in Seoul on Thursday. Developed jointly by KAI, Hanyang
University and Konkuk University, it has a 1.5 m fuselage and a 1.3 m wingspan
and weighs 25 kg. Foldable wings make it easy to support.
/YonhapThe drone can fly at a maximum speed of 350-400 km/h
and strike a target within a 40 km radius within 10 minutes. If deployed on
Yeonpyeong Island, for example, it would take four minutes to hit North Korea's
Kaemori Base, from where it shelled the island in November 2010.
The drone "can chase and strike even high-speed
hovercraft running at a speed of 80 km/h," the KAI said.
The drone can automatically identify targets with a video
camera and GPS device. It can carry about 3 kg of explosives, which is
equivalent to 10 hand grenades, a spokesman said.
Conventional howitzers are less accurate when they strike
military bases hidden behind a mountain or concealed coastal artillery
batteries. Missiles are capable of precision strikes but impossible to use in
large quantities because they are so expensive. The new drone will cost about
W100 million (US$1=W1,128).
The North is also reportedly developing a kamikaze attack
drone based on the U.S.' MQM-107D Streake
Kim: We're Strong Enough for End of Article 7
Daily NK. 9/13/12 By Chris Green
▲ Kim giving a guest lecture at Yonsei University on September
12th (©DailyNK)
South Korean society is now in a position
to allow the repealing of the controversial Article 7 of the National
Security Law, according to North Korea human rights activist Kim Young
Hwan.
Delivering a special lecture to a packed theater at Yonsei
University in Seoul last night, Kim explained, “I think that the South
Korean people are strong enough psychologically that there would be no danger
[in repealing Article 7].”
By repealing Article 7, which prohibits statements and
actions in praise of North Korea, people who do support Pyongyang would be
required to come out into broad daylight, and this would only serve to reveal
the bankruptcy of their beliefs, Kim noted, saying, “Pro-North Korea factions
expand when they live in the shadows. When they come out into the open they
wither.”
Buttressing his claim, Kim pointed to the case of Lee Seok
Gi, once a comrade in the underground People’s Democratic Revolutionary Party
during the 1990s but someone who is currently a lawmaker with the left wing
United Progressive Party. Lee’s attempts to operate in the National Assembly as
a legitimate lawmaker have become mired in allegations of electoral fraud and
claims that he recently commented, “Being pro-America is a bigger problem than
being pro-North Korea.”
However, in supporting the repeal of Article 7, Kim also cautioned against arguing for the complete repeal of the National
Security Law itself, pointing out that it contains provisions to counter
espionage activities and other aspects deemed vital to South Korean national
security.
Last nights lecture was organized by NKnet, with the
assistance of Yonsei University Graduate School of International Studies
Unable to hire North Koreans, South Korean businesses
shutting down
The Hankyoreh. 9/13/12 By Song Kyung-hwa
A South Korean company that was preparing to open a factory
near the border between North Korea and China this year is facing
problems with securing manpower. As wages have risen in China, it is getting
harder to recruit workers in the provinces, as many have moved to big cities
where they can earn more.
At the beginning of the project, the company had planned
to hire North Korean workers but now is apparently unable to do that
due to the May 24 Measures
put in place by the South Korean government to stop commercial exchange with
North Korea after the May 2010 sinking of the Cheonan warship.
Since the enactment of the measures, the Ministry of
Unification has forbid South Korean firms from using North Korean labor.
According to the law on South-North Korea cooperation, a South Korean must
obtain prior approval from the Unification Ministry to contact a North Korean.
But when this is requested, one must declare the reason of the contact and when
the objective is for labor hire, the request is rejected.
A Unification Ministry official said, “Before the May 24
Measures there was no particular restriction about hiring North Koreans. But we
feel that it is not appropriate to hire North Koreans at this time because we
want to cut off cash going into the regime.”
There are many South Korean businesses operating in China
calling for changes. Many of those businesses are shutting down and returning
home as the costs of working in China have gotten too high. They are therefore
asking to use North Korean labor, which is much cheaper. A South Korean
businessman said, “While the South Korean government is turning economic issues
into political problems, the Chinese are taking full advantage of the labor
resource and also underground resources that are abundant in North Korea. We
hope that that we will also be able to use these resources in a rational manner
so that it will be beneficial to the South Korean businesses also.”
An official for the Korea Investment-Trade Promotion Agency
said that since the May 24 Measures, there has been a withering to death of
South Korean businesses in China that are doing work with North Korea. “Considering
the changes that are taking place in North Korea including the labor that is
being dispatched to China, there are many South Korean businesses who are
expressing frustration that economic activities with North Korea have come to a
stop,” the official said.
Movie on N. Korean defectors to premiere in U.S. Congress
NK News. 9/13/12 By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (Yonhap) -- A South Korean movie on the
life-or-death defection of North Koreans to China will premiere on Capitol Hill
next week, its maker said Wednesday.
The film "48M"
provides a vivid account of North Koreans fleeing their hunger-stricken
communist nation. The title refers to a 48-meter-wide stretch of the Yalu
River, the shortest route between North Korea and China.
A group of North Korean defectors also plans to participate
in a hearing on the country's human rights situations that will be hosted by Rep.
Frank R. Wolf (R-VA), co-chairman of the Tom Lantos Human Rights
Commission, a nonpartisan congressional entity established in 2008, it added.
U.S. House passes bill
on adoption of N. Korean orphans
Yonhap News Agency.
9/12/12 By Lee Chi-dong
WASHINGTON, Sept. 11
(Yonhap) -- The United States House of Representatives passed a bill
Tuesday aimed at encouraging U.S. families to adopt North Korean children.
The bill calls for the
U.S. secretary of state to develop a strategy to facilitate the adoption of
orphaned North Korean refugee children by families here.
The bill, introduced
by Rep. Ed Royce (R-CA) in 2011, says, "Thousands of North Korean
children do not have families and are threatened with starvation and disease if
they remain in North Korea or as stateless refugees in surrounding countries;
and thousands of United States citizens would welcome the opportunity to adopt
North Korean orphans living outside North Korea as de facto stateless
refuges."
"Malnutrition,
abuse, exploitation, lack of education: these are the horrors faced by many
orphans of North Korean origin, who are effectively stateless and without
protection," Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL), who chairs the House
Committee on Foreign Affairs, said in a statement.
Fiction of the North
Korean Refugee Orphan
Christine Hong* | September 24, 2012
[Originally published in 38 North, September 19, 2012]
Christine Hong* | September 24, 2012
[Originally published in 38 North, September 19, 2012]
