Daily NK - State Expected to Attack Market with New Prices. Sources inside North Korea have reported that Pyongyang is planning to decree new market prices in the coming days, aiming to bring the market under control at the same time as it moves toward introducing a revised economic management structure. A North Hamkyung Province source told Daily NK earlier today, “I heard in a people’s unit meeting on the 20th that they will soon declare new state prices for all items. The state price of rice is going to be 4000 won, and corn will be 2000.”
“I was told that items not listed are not going to be saleable, and that a list of precise items and prices is to be put out by the Supreme People’s Assembly within the next few days,” the source went on. “In particular, she said they are going to ban South Korean, American and Japanese products, and strictly crack down on the sale of vehicles.” The information appears to reflect a desire on the part of the state to retake control of the nation's markets. Such moves have been made before. Daily NK - Chaos as Key Railroad Tunnel Collapses. Daily NK has learned that a typhoon which travelled across North Korea late last month brought about the collapse of the Ryongha Tunnel in Unheung County, Yangkang Province, crippling rail services to and from the border city of Hyesan. A Yangkang Province source reported the news on the 20th, saying, “The Ryongha Tunnel caved in as a result of Typhoon #15 [as ‘Typhoon Bolaven’ was known in North Korea].
The No.1 Train from Pyongyang to Hyesan is still not operational.” The Ryongha Tunnel is a 1.6km long tunnel that lies on the ‘Mt. Baekdu Youth Line’ connecting Kilju in North Hamkyung Province with Hyesan in Yangkang Province. It forms part of the route of Train No.1 from Pyongyang Station to Hyesan Youth Station and Train No.2, which goes the opposite way. When it passed through the area on August 29th, Typhoon Bolaven caused 400m of the central section of the tunnel to collapse inwards under the weight of the drenched earth lying above it, the source said. Daily NK - North Korea Losing PR Battle as 79% Choose HR. A new survey carried out by a department of Seoul National University has revealed that South Korean citizens regard North Korea as the biggest danger their country faces, and that they believe improving North Korean human rights should be the top priority of policy toward the northern half of the peninsula.
The survey, which was carried out in July, asked 1200 adults across the country for their opinion of North Korea. 47.3% of respondents said that North Korea is the most threatening country they face, followed by China with 30.5%. Japan and the United States came far behind. Asked who is responsible for the current state of inter-Korean relations, an overwhelming 87.3% pointed to North Korea. Asked about aid, 41.2% of respondents said that it should be kept at the current level, with 35% calling for a decrease and 23.8% saying it should increase. Daily NK - Security Forces Caught in Rationing Trap. Sources say that food insecurity problems have been mounting in some parts of North Korea recently. Now Daily NK has learned that in some areas even the security forces, a top priority group for the regime, have been unable to secure sufficient supplies for the provision of rations. A source from Yangkang Province revealed the news on the 25th, saying, “With the price of rice up at 6,500 or 7,000 won people can’t even dream of buying rice in the market right now.
It’s not just the ordinary people either; people working for the security services didn’t even receive their full rations last month or this.” “The NSA and PSM (National Security Agency and Ministry of Public Security) have to generate between one and two months-worth of food from their own cooperative farms," the source explained. “The NSA and PSM are the tools of domestic control that literally prop up the system,” he emphasized. Daily NK - State Expected to Attack Market with New Prices. Daily NK - North Eyeing Education System Reform. North Korea is reportedly planning to restructure its education system via the upcoming Supreme People’s Assembly session, bringing in an eleven-year system of mandatory education involving five years of elementary school, three years of middle school and then three years of high school.
“The compulsory education system is going to be partially revised by the Supreme People’s Assembly session scheduled for the 25th,” a source from Yangkang Province revealed to Daily NK on the 16th. “The period spent in elementary school is to be extended by one year, and then today’s middle school process is to be divided up into three years each of middle and high school.” Hitherto, North Korean education has involved a two year period of kindergarten divided into lower and upper class, but only upper class has been compulsory.
It is this ‘upper class’ that is to be added to the existing elementary school to create a five-year elementary school structure, the source claimed. Daily NK - NSA Ramping Up Use of Surveillance Cameras. The North Korean authorities are reportedly installing new and additional surveillance cameras on main defection and smuggling routes along the border with China. Although surveillance cameras have been visible along the North Korean border since 2010, that was limited to a small number of areas. However, sources suggest that there has been a substantial increase already in the first month of 2012. A source from Musan in North Hamkyung Province told Daily NK yesterday, “Starting this month more surveillance cameras have started being installed to improve security along the border.
The surveillance cameras have been brought in large numbers into areas where escapes and smuggling often used to happen.” The source explained, “The cameras are secured on poles erected 20m back from the riverside in areas controlled by the Border Guards, and the camera wires are connected underground to National Security Agency hideouts. Blog Archive » On the DPRK’s 6.28 Policy. Pictured above (Google Earth): The DPRK’s State Planning Commission (국가계획위원회) in Pyongyang UPDATE 21 (2012-11-15): Writing in 38 North, Randall Ireson offers a succinct, comprehensive assessment of the DPRK agriculture system and offers policy advice moving forward. See the full article here. UPDATE 20 (2012-11-12): Chris Green at the Daily NK points out anecdotal evidence that economic policy changes are still underway in the DPRK: UPDATE 19 (2012-10-19): Contrary to other claims (below), CCTV (China) reports that the agriculture policy changes have been implemented: UPDATE 18 (2012-10-18): The Institute for Far Eastern Studies (IFES) reports that the DPRK’s new economic management measures are stalled: UPDATE 17 (2012-10-15): The Daily NK offers a scenario for why an adjustment in agricultural production incentives have not been implemented: a bad harvest has forced policy makers to reconsider allowing the cooperative farms to keep so much of their produce.
Daily NK - RMB Exchange Up 44% as 6.28 Fear Spreads. The Chinese Yuan-North Korean Won exchange rate is exceedingly volatile these days even by North Korean standards. Having struck a high point of 1300 North Korean Won on the 27th, a 44% rise over the rate the previous week, by the afternoon of the 30th the exchange rate had lost some of that value, falling back to 1100won. Nevertheless, 1100won is still extremely high; the price of Yuan only topped 1000won on the 27th, though it subsequently fell back. In line with the rising exchange rate, rice is currently selling at very high prices; approximately 6500 Won in Hyesan, Yangkang Province yesterday.
This is a huge increase; from 3000won/kg at the beginning of June to 4000won/kg at the beginning of August. According to a source from the city, people cite the introduction of new economic management measures as the cause. “People know that when new economic measures get announced, the prices of goods skyrocket," she explained. Daily NK - 'Statue Demolition Society Fatigue' Grows. The North Korean authorities have now spent more than a month focusing on the case of the so-called ‘Statue Demolition Society’, ramping up patrols in the vicinity of revolutionary historical sites against a group, of which infamous defector Jeon Young Chul is alleged to be a member, that Pyongyang claims intends to attack statues of Kim Il Sung and Kim Jong Il. The propaganda marathon against Jeon and the society represents an attempt to generate unity behind the regime of Kim Jong Eun through Statue Demolition Society-related propaganda. As such, the authorities have been employing public lectures and the state media to generate fear of outside threats.
Notably, on July 20th, just one day after Jeon appeared at a press conference in Pyongyang to confess to his crimes, the Party Central Committee Secretariat handed down an order to local agencies requiring them to take additional precautions against attacks on revolutionary sites, including statues.