Saturday, 26 December 2015

NK News 26 Dec 2015

top five most-read features and interviews of the week

Art of the unseen: Pulling back the curtain on North Korean art
By Michael Laff

Many critics look at North Korean art, especially portraits of Kim Il Sung surrounded by adoring children in idyllic village scenes, and dismiss it as mere propaganda. B.G. Muhn looks at the same work and marvels at the level of detail found in facial expressions and the delicate brush strokes that capture creases on pant legs.

In a nation where artistic themes are decided before the painter even sets the brush to canvas, the real creativity can be found in the artist’s mastery of technique and choice of color. Muhn, an artist and professor at Georgetown University, is an encyclopedia of North Korean art, making it a point of emphasis to identify the nation’s most famous painters, both historical and contemporary. He can rattle off names of artists who remain obscure to a world just getting its first glimpse of North Korean art through occasional exhibitions. Outside the world of Beijing auctions and a handful of European collectors who built up private holdings, he anticipates the skeptical reactions.

“I agree with most critics who say there is no individual expression in North Korean art,” he said. “One South Korean critic said, ‘Why do they need so many artists if they all do the same thing?’ There is no art for art’s sake in North Korea.”

Click here to read the full article at NK News

Visiting North Korea as a professional photographer

By Jennifer Dodgson

Christian Petersen-Clausen had never visited North Korea before traveling there this year to photograph the Hermit Kingdom for NK News‘ North Korea 2016 Calendar. Traveling by bus from Pyongyang to Kaechon, Nampho, the West Sea Barrage, the DMZ and Sinchon he discovered a land where ancient Confucian traditions and Soviet decor contrast with modern technology and conspicuous consumption.

NK News spoke to him about his trip and asked him to share some of his favorite images with us. As a photographer, one of the biggest surprises was that much of the guidebook advice about photographing the DPRK is inapplicable on the ground In fact, the rules – both tacit and official – regarding tourist photography change frequently, and depend to a great deal upon the whims and tolerance levels of your group’s guides.

While it is normal for guides to step in and prevent visitors from photographing soldiers and military installations, Petersen-Clausen’s guides were also unhappy about him taking photographs in museums and other sites featuring large-scale images of Kim Jong Un. Otherwise, he was left relatively free to choose his own subjects, even to the extent of being allowed to approach ordinary North Koreans in the street.

Click here for the full article at NK News

I’m dreaming of a North Korean Christmas
By Dennis P. Halpin

A mountain peak with a glistening treetop-like structure, where South and North Korea come together, has sadly come to symbolize military tension rather than peace on earth.

The twinkling of Christmas lights, at the confluence of the Han and Imjin Rivers, reportedly once penetrated across the DMZ to the North Korean city of Kaesong. Aegibong, the site of a fierce battle at the end of the Korean War, is named for the legendary “love mistress” who climbed the peak to gaze northward for her lost lover, the then-governor of Pyongyang. He had been taken away during a 17th-century Chinese invasion. In that regard, the peak is a rather perfect analogy for a divided Korea, although the annual holiday battle there over the Christmas tree remains rather mystifying to many outsiders.

NK News reported on December 3rd that the annual imbroglio over the Christmas tree has pitted local residents of the border municipality of Gimpo, concerned for their physical security, against conservative Christian groups seeking to exercise freedom of religion as guaranteed in South Korea.

Friday, 25 December 2015

The recent arrest of approximately 100 overseas Chinese citizens residing in North Korea, or Hwagyo, stems from a report rendered by the State Security Department detailing leaks of internal information through members of this foreign community, Daily NK has learned.

NK doubles down on alleged double agents

Lee Sang Yong | 2015-12-24 15:34

Read in Korean

The recent arrest of approximately 100 overseas Chinese citizens residing in North Korea, or Hwagyo, stems from a report rendered by the State Security Department detailing leaks of internal information through members of this foreign community, Daily NK has learned.

A source with ties to North Korea currently residing in Dandong, China spoke to Daily NK on December 20th, noting, “It’s well known that most members of the Hwagyo community here in North Korea are earning ‘dirty money.’ Some of them establish close connections with the North Korean State Security Department [SSD], especially those with very profitable or large business interests.”

In order to pursue these economic interests, she added, they must cooperate closely with the North Korean SSD, who have reported back to central bodies of spies lurking within the Hwagyo community.

Because these residents are privy to comparatively detailed internal information, the State Security Department has begun to suspect that they could turn at any time and leak that information to the outside. Not only that, the SSD has acquired intel that these overseas residents are acting as double agents: one foot embedded in the North Korean intelligence web and the other firmly planted below the DMZ with the South Korean authorities.

“Kim Jong Un is extremely sensitive to the potential for overseas Chinese residents, who can travel between North Korea and China with relative freedom, to make contact with South Korea,” the source explained.

“By reacting this way to negative talk of the regime leaking to the outside, the authorities are catching and seeking to make examples out of those caught up in the sweep."

As previously reported by Daily NK, this is not the first time the North Korean authorities have harbored and then acted on these fears.

A source in Hamgyong Province offered more insight on the same day. He reported hearing of arrests of overseas Chinese residents around Hoeryong City back in the fall of this year. Prior to being detained, these individuals had been under intense surveillance by the SSD, “who were desperate to find anything that could be interpreted as leading information to the outside.”

It has also been observed that crackdowns and investigations have been on the rise over Hwagyo’s expanding influence in and increasing domination of the markets. As they roll along in 10t cargo trucks, of which it is not uncommon for them to own two or three, North Korean residents witnessing the scenes say, “that’s where the big money is.”

Tellingly, North Korea’s delivery workers frequently hang around in front of the Hwagyo residences, known among many as “little kingdoms.” Working alongside in such proximity in evermore interconnected ways, “Kim Jong Un is concerned about the growing influence these people [Hwagyo] are having on North Korean citizens,” the source asserted.

Evidence of Hwagyo affluence is patent, he went on, citing examples such as “how they employ maids and send their kids back to China to study.”

When asked why the North Korean authorities are keeping mum about these developments, he asserted that "they know that if they claim it’s not true, it will only confirm that it actually is.”

“People in China who suddenly cannot make contact with friends and relatives living in North Korea are staying silent about the issue as well. This is because they judge that making a fuss will prove detrimental to China’s future negotiations over the discharge of those who have been arrested," he added.

Our source posited that in the future, North Korea would not release any information about this incident nor would their be any formal trials. "The entire matter will be settled quietly," he said. "After getting extracting the ‘whole truth’ from the Hwagyo suspects, they will be forcibly deported [back to China] and attempt to resolve the issue in that way."

As for the future of Sino-North Korean relations following this debacle, “it’s likely that because both sides are trying not to make a big deal out of it, there will be no major or lasting effects on bilateral ties. China, for its part, is working hard to cover up the incident, hoping to put it in the rearview mirror as soon as possible.”

*Translated by Natalie Grant

N. Korea's Kim unlikely to visit China if he sticks to nuclear ambition

N.K. NEWS

NorthKoreaN.K. News

(New Year Special) N. Korea's Kim unlikely to visit China if he sticks to nuclear ambition

2015/12/24 09:00

South Korea, the United States and other regional powers are urging China to do more in coaxing North Korea back to multilateral talks on the North's nuclear program. Kim, for his part, has shown no signs of giving up his nuclear ambition.

North Korea pulled out of the six-nation nuclear talks in late 2008 and staged its third nuclear test in early 2013.

China, which remains North Korea's key ally, diplomatic backer and economic lifeline, has expressed displeasure over the North's nuclear advances, although it remains unclear whether Beijing is exerting more leverage over Pyongyang.

With North Korea's ruling party preparing for its largest convention in 35 years in May next year, some analysts in South Korea have suggested that Kim may visit Beijing before or after the party congress as a bid to showcase his diplomatic achievement to the North Korean people.

Given China's stated goal of denuclearizing the Korean Peninsula, analysts said it does not make sense for Chinese President Xi Jinping to welcome Kim in Beijing unless Kim shows sincere willingness to abandon the country's nuclear program.

Zhang Liangui, a professor of Korean studies at the Party School of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party, said, "There is a huge difference on the issue of denuclearization between China and North Korea."

"Japanese and South Korean media have reported the possibility of a visit by Kim Jong-un to China next year. But, China denied (the reports)," Zhang said.

"Taking into consideration the current nuclear stalemate, I believe that the possibility of his visit to China is low," Zhang said.

Wang Junsheng, an associate professor at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said a summit between Kim and Xi would be unlikely unless North Korea complies with obligations under a 2005 deal in which North Korea agreed to abandon its nuclear program in exchange for aid and security assurances.

"Unless North Korea returns to the Sept. 19 Joint Statement, such a meeting would be highly unlikely," Wang said, referring to the deal that was reached during the six-party talks in September 2005.

The deal eventually collapsed due to a disagreement over verifying North Korea's past nuclear activity.

This month's abrupt cancellation of a concert in Beijing by an all-female North Korean band is also adding to the diplomatic uncertainties between North Korea and China.

In what was seen as a fresh sign that ties between the allies were on the mend after years of strain over North Korea's nuclear program, the North's Moranbong Band, formed by leader Kim, had been scheduled to perform in Beijing on Dec. 12. But, the band abruptly returned home hours before the concert was scheduled to begin.

The canceled concert came about two months after Liu Yunshan, the Chinese Communist Party's fifth-ranked official, visited Pyongyang and held talks with Kim.

Both North Korea and China remained tightlipped over the reason behind the cancellation of the much-anticipated concert.

Whatever the reason, a diplomatic source in Beijing with knowledge of the ties between North Korea and China said Beijing "lost face" in dealing with Pyongyang.

"Outwardly, both North Korea and China pretend as if nothing had happened," the source said on the condition of anonymity. "But, mistrust over North Korea would be further deepened inside the Chinese leadership following the sudden cancellation of the concert by the Moranbong Band."

How the CIA Got Korea's Future Wrong 15 Years Ago

The CIA predicted in 2000 that the two Koreas would be unified by 2015, with South Korea emerging as a military heavyweight in Asia.

The wildly inaccurate projection was part of a 70-page report in 2000 that tried to predict the near future and also guessed that the world would be feasting on cloned beef burgers by now.

The Telegraph on Tuesday compared the present situation with the CIA's predictions and also pointed to aspects the intelligence agency got right, like the widespread use of mobile communication devices, which would signify the "biggest global transformation since the industrial revolution."

When the report came out, the dot-com bubble had just burst, leading to skepticism about the IT industry, and it would be a decade before the first smartphone hit the market.

Thursday, 24 December 2015

Israel’s gold exports to North Korea

All that glitters: Israel’s gold exports to North Korea

Official appears to give incorrect data on gold and other exports to the DPRK

Leo Byrne

December 22nd, 2015

Israel ran afoul of UN sanctions earlier in December when the country’s Tax Authority was questioned on gold exports to North Korea which reportedly took place in 2011.

Speaking to Israel’s Knesset’s Economic Affairs Committee, Tax Authority export director David Khuri gave a mixed bag of answers on questions relating to breaches of UN luxury good sanctions, sometimes giving incorrect dates and information.

Khuri called the gold shipments – which were valued at around $347,000 – a “disgrace” to country, telling the committee they were unearthed by the UN and that further export attempts had since been blocked.

“To my regret there was export of gold, and regretfully (the UN) discovered this and we were required to give explanations,” Khuri said in comments carried by Haartez.

The export director however then made a couple of claims apparently at odds both with the data contained in the UN Comtrade database, and that in Isreal’s own numbers (from which the UN numbers are generated).

“There has been almost no exporting of gold to North Korea sonce (sic) 2011, and our exports only included books and dental implants,” Khuri added, according to another local news outlet ynetnews.com.

According to the trade databases however, the gold was not exported in 2011, but in 2013 and no other gold exports after 2006 are listed. Further exports over the last four years also include potentially sanctioned organic chemicals, wine (a real bargain if trade figures are to be believed at 1600 litres for $2000), aluminium, printing machinery, articles of wood and other miscellaneous chemical products.

The total listed value of the trade is $853,000, mostly on the back of the gold and chemicals shipments.

When contacted by NK News, the Tax Authority stood by the numbers.

“Mr. Khuri presented to the committee members accurate data, according to the information found in the customs’ database, regarding the subjects he was asked about,” the organisation’s senior media officer Iris Dor-On said , despite the database indicating otherwise.

Israel’s customs database

WEIGHT IN GOLD

Whether or not certain trades breach sanctions and how seriously, can often depend when they took place. North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic programs trigged fresh rounds of UN sanctions between 2006 and 2013, with later designations often building on earlier ones.

The most recent resolution in 2013 included a more defined list of luxury goods which previous documents lacked. After the third nuclear test, the UN Security Council also decided to try and further squeeze Pyongyang’s elite, by limiting exports of precious metals, stones and luxury vehicles.

“(The resolution) reaffirms the measures imposed in paragraph 8 (a) (iii) of resolution 1718 (2006) regarding luxury goods, and clarifies that the term ‘luxury goods’ includes, but is not limited to, the items specified in annex IV of this resolution,” article 23 of Resolution 2094 reads.

Providing the North Korean government with gold however is problematic for another reason. Under the increasingly watchful eye of the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Asset’s Control (OFAC), the dollar has become a risky currency for the DPRK.

Gold could be used as way to circumvent the restrictions and allow North Korea to trade more freely. Resolution 2094 urges UN member states to monitor transfers of bulk cash to the DPRK, expressing “concern that transfers to the DPRK of bulk cash may be used to evade the measures imposed in resolutions 1718 (2006), 1874 (2009), 2087 (2013).”

“Gold is another form of payment that evades the formal financial system. UNSCR 2094 issued calls to be vigilant for and restrict the DPRK’s use of alternate means of payment, particularly bulk cash transfer. If the DPRK can get its hands on gold it will have a way to trade with most,” Andrea Berger, deputy director of proliferation and nuclear policy at RUSI told NK News.

The earlier resolutions did not call for the same vigilance on bulk cash or financial transfers, so gold exports occurring in 2011, instead of after the publication of Resolution 2094 in March 2013 could potentially run up against different sanctions.

LOOPHOLES?

Further complicating the sanctions picture is how well UN member states implement the Security Council’s resolutions into their national legislation. The UN itself does not enforce trade relationships between countries, nor prosecute companies or individuals that don’t pay attention to sanctions.

Local media in Israel also reported on the oddity of the exports occurring nearly a decade after the first DPRK designations. According to Harretz, the long delay was in translating UN sanctions into Israeli law was remedied on December 9 this year.

“A representative of the Economy Ministry’s legal department, Dalit Rennert, presented the order and said it would allow supervision of exports to North Korea and set that the export will be allowed only with a license. Likewise, the order sets a list of luxury products banned from exports,” Hareetz reported on the same day.

The lack of previously existing legislation was blamed for the loophole, which subsequently allowed the export of the gold with little apparent oversight. Israel’s Tax authority told NK News they were only an “enforcer” when answering questions on why no action was taken on the exports until 2015, adding they did not deal with issues regarding to UN sanctions.

“No such permits concerning goods, services and technology referred to in Council resolutions 1718 (2006) and 1874 (2009) have been given,”

But the claim that Israel had no laws to back up sanctions seems in tension with what they told the UN in 2010. Member states update the Security Council on the implementation of various sanctions and resolutions and according to the UN’s website, Israel filed two implementation reports in 2007 and 2010.

The second document implies that at least some legislation was put in place after the passage of resolution 1874 in 2009.

“In accordance with its domestic legislation, transactions or transfers involving goods, services and technology referred to in Council resolutions 1718 (2006) and 1874 (2009) require official authorization, by means of a permit, from various governmental authorities,” it reads.

“No such permits concerning goods, services and technology referred to in Council resolutions 1718 (2006) and 1874 (2009) have been given,” it adds.

The wording appears similar to reported by Harretz on December 9, which also claimed a license would be required for exports to North Korea.

“The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has duly informed all relevant domestic authorities of Council resolution 1874 (2009), together with a reference to its requirements and the additions it makes to the previous resolution, with a view to ensuring the implementation of its obligations,” the report continues.

The Tax Authority and Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment on the 2010 implementation report, or why there was no enforcement of the “domestic legislation” alluded to in it, which should have covered the (albeit somewhat vague) definition of luxury goods outlined in the 2006 resolution.

ALL THAT GLITTERS?

Other media reports on the exports mentioned David Khuri briefly spoke of other exports aside from the gold, but gave few details.

One potential eyebrow raising export which went unmentioned was the 2010, $56,000 shipment of “organic derivatives of hydrazine/of hydroxylamine”. The former chemical –when above a 70 percent concentration – is mentioned in the UN sanctions list 19 times, given its various spinoffs can be used as fuel for small rockets.

“China currently uses hydrazine as propellant … North Korea, like China, has been using hydrazine for rocket propellant as well. (It) is not used in large rockets but still in small rockets to put satellites in orbit,” Kwon Se-jin, a professor at the department of aerospace engineering at South Korea’s KAIST University told NK News.

The other chemical, hydroxylamine, is not designated by the UN, though could potentially be used in similar applications.

“Hydroxylamine nitrate is one of the candidates under research to replace hydrazine in the future,” Kwon added.

However tracking down the exact nature of the shipment is challenging. Custom’s databases rarely include information on the companies actually conducting the trade, nor would they be under any obligation to talk about a sanctions breaching export. Also, while some business directories list exporting companies by sector, membership is not obligatory so lists are not exhaustive.

The problem extends to other potentially sanctioned trades and countries. Israel is not the only exporter of hydrazine/hydroxylamine to North Korea since 2006. Membership of that dubious club also belongs to Italy, India and China, with the latter the only country to send shipments in 2014, though to this day Israel’s delivery remains the largest.

The problem extends to other potentially sanctioned trades and countries

The DPRK however may not need to import hydrazine above 70 percent concentrations, and could also perfectly legitimately order less concentrated or unsanctioned variants for more benign uses.

“Nearly every country working on space development projects domestically produces the main chemicals used in aircraft (or) space rockets. And I assume that applies in North Korea’s case too. They would not rely on hydrazine imports from abroad,” Kwon continued.

Nonetheless, despite a good probability the export was not in breach of sanctions, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs does not appear willing to clarify the shipment.

“We don’t comment on this issue,” they told NK News.

Additional reporting by Jiwon Song

Featured Image: Gold Bar by Philip Taylor PT on 2013-03-18 09:52:24

On Evil, should it exist

We are all only human. No one is above this condition. No one is below this condition. The remarkable Socialist Government of Greece has to deal with many Neo-Nazis, as Evil as ISIS, elected into their Parliament democratically. The Greek people now have to deal with not only these Greek Nazis, but also with the current Nazis of Germany and Europe and the US. As time goes by we will also have to accept other forms of Extremism in our Governments simply because this is how we maintain some balance. This is how we best maintain our slow survivable way.
Majority rules, minority rights...and lots of institutions in between. That's how it's done.
The majority people of Iraq, the Shia, need to talk with the minority people of Iraq, the Sunni, who make up ISIS: this is their business, not ours. It has never been our business, is not our business, and never will be our business. Neither is any more evil than the other...it is just that one has been driven to extremes.The best way for these factions of the one people, and the one sovereign nation, to work out these issues is not for us to bomb one faction over another. Just because we have the weapons and the means to insanity on a grand scale, we do not have to use them, we do not have to be insane as a human civilisation. There is nothing wrong with peace, love and understanding. There is nothing wrong with not being involved in another family's problems, but there is something very wrong with organising attacks and invasions to steal other people's oil, land and houses; and to base a whole national and international morality on that one greedy pecuniary thing...and to call that 'Good'. What we are doing in the Middle East is not good at all, it is evil and evil does beget evil, they say, and we see that...with every bombing raid...and we need to stop doing that.
If the notion of Evil actually exists at all, and I have doubts about that...then it isn't interested in blowing up some people in Paris, Evil is far more interested in controlling monetary and human systems en masse...and I believe Evil, if it exists, actual does do that quite often. Evil has nothing to do with humans blowing up each other on any meagre scale. Evil has nothing to do with any human religion at all. Evil's job is to control the whole human world mind and heart for a long time. Evil has nothing to do with jihad or crusades etc. that's just the rhetoric. The reality is within our government systems that keep suffering immigrants, escaping Evil, locked up in prison camps, as Australia does every day.There's real human suffering there, and we do it to our equals, and we are happy with doing it. We are happy to be torturing...us..and we actually think that this is good, and we want to keep doing this and even punishing the innocent more. That's how we are as a society. We certainly won't elect any government that wants to stop us punishing victims...as much ourselves as ourselves. That's real evil. Australia does Evil right to the bone of being, and likes it. We'll vote out anyone who stands up, who doesn't want more. We've got the taste for it now.

Dealing with ISIS, the IRA, and Australian Aborigines

The Western Plan for ISIS:
1: Well, first, we are going to annihilate them. When that doesn't work, well, we're going to 2: Negotiate with them, then, when that doesn't work, we're going to 3: Assimilate them, and then when that doesn't work, we're going to 4: Integrate them, and then, when that doesn't work, we're going to 5: Give them Self Determination...just like we did with those other evil anti-human Death Cults, who respected none of our modern civilising qualities, the Australian Aborigines, and the Irish Republicans. After all, we know what we are doing here. We've dealt with these kind of pagans before.