DPRK Business Monthly: September 2013
Published: September 2013The latest issue of DPRK Business Monthly is now available as a complimentary PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore. This regular publication looks at current international, domestic, and peninsular affairs concerning North Korea while also offering commentary and tourism information on the country.
The latest issue of DPRK Business Monthly is now available as a complimentary PDF download on the Asia Briefing Bookstore. This regular publication looks at current international, domestic, and peninsular affairs concerning North Korea while also offering commentary and tourism information on the country.
In international news, The UN Central Emergency Response Fund has allocated a total of about US$2.1 million in "Rapid Response Grants" following reports of heavy flood damage in the DPRK. A report by the UN released in August claimed there was an outbreak of a waterborne epidemic in the country. Elsewhere, South Korea’s government-run Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) found that over 80 percent of North Korea’s foreign trade last year was with China. Also, Russia and North Korea have opened a new railway line extending 54 km (33 miles) from the Russian border town of Khasan to the North Korean port of Rajin, the North's official KCNA news agency reported.
In inter-Korean news, South Korean civic group dedicated to promoting cooperation with North Korea has called on the Seoul government to allow humanitarian aid shipments to be sent overland. At present, all shipments sent to the North take a circuitous route through China, which is costly and time consuming. Elsewhere, a civic group comprised of South Korean companies doing business with the North is hoping to discuss ways to resume their inter-Korean businesses, which have been suspended since South Korea’s imposed sanction in May 2010 in retaliation for the sinking of a South Korean warship.
On the domestic front, plans to build a US$200 million international airport on North Korea’s East coast have been put on hold due to “political instability issues,” according to NK News. In Pyongyang, a fleet of 80 new Chinese-made taxi cabs has entered service, dramatically increasing the size of the capital city's local taxi capacity.
To read further about these topics and much more, please download the complimentary DPRK Business Monthly PDF.