[Cankor] Report #236

[cankor at cankor.ca]

Dear subscriber,

Welcome to issue #236 of the CanKor Report.

This week's QUIDNUNC section includes two responses to the question: How can 
the DPRK, with no technological infrastructure and limited internet 
connection, possibly produce a team of hackers capable of posing any 
credible threat?

Answers are sought to the following question: How 'reversible' are economic 
reforms in the DPRK? Or put another way, what constitutes a threshold for 
'real' reform in the DPRK, considering that many observers don't count it 
'real' unless it brings about wholesale political change, or control of 
reforms is devolved from the political sphere?

Please send your answer (maximum 150 words) to: editor at CanKor.ca

The CanKor team.

For articles not original to CanKor, direct links are available in the
Contents section, should you wish to consult the originals on the internet.

If the links no longer function, you may refer to the full text articles
appended to the issue.

For back issues, archives and other content, please visit our website:
http://www.cankor.ca
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CANADA-KOREA ELECTRONIC INFORMATION SERVICE

CanKor # 236

Friday, 10 February 2006
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Bilateral talks between Japan and DPRK end without agreements save that of 
meeting again in the near future for the purpose of "narrowing differences". 
Both sides report the talks as useful in getting to know each other better. 
The DPRK asks Japan's help in persuading the USA to lift economic sanctions 
related to alleged DPRK counterfeiting and money laundering, the current 
stumbling block in the resumption of Six Party Talks. In a separate 
development, the DPRK for the first time voices its willingness to cooperate 
with international actions against money laundering, saying that the 
government has consistently opposed "all sorts of illegal acts in the 
financial field."

The two Koreas once again march under the same white-and-blue banner at the 
opening ceremonies of the Turin Winter Olympics, although they continue to 
field separate athletic teams.

Unidentified gunmen attack several DPR Korean posts along the Sino-DPRK 
border, resulting in one casualty. Rumors are spreading that the attacks 
were launched by a dissident organization composed mainly of defectors.

In this week's RESOURCES section, CanKor reproduces the summary of an 
updated Congressional Research Service report on US aid to the DPRK.

The USA has just informed the ROK that goods produced in the Kaesong 
Industrial Park will not be considered as part of the Free Trade deal 
currently being negotiated between the USA and the ROK. This is the latest 
of many hurdles faced by the inter-Korean project, as illustrated in this 
week's CanKor FOCUS: Challenges of the Kaesong Industrial Project. As the 
fifteen companies now operating there begin to educate their work force, 
doubts rise about the ability of the DPRK to deliver hundreds of thousands 
of competent but cheap workers that will be required when the industrial 
park is in full swing. Added to this is the threat of labour disruption once 
DPR Koreans become aware of the rapidly increasing wealth gap between North 
and South.
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Contents:
1.   DPRK-JAPAN TALKS INCONCLUSIVE
     http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/08/AR2006020800475.html

2.   DPRK TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING DRIVE
     http://mdn.mainichi-msn.co.jp/international/asia/news/p20060209p2g00m0in029000c.html

3.   KOREAS MARCH TOGETHER AT OPENING OF TURIN OLYMPICS
     http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/200602/kt2006020817285010160.htm

4.   A SERIES OF ARMED ATTACKS ON DPRK BORDER POSTS
     http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?bicode=060000&biid=2006020707668

RESOURCES
5.   FACT SHEET ON US AID TO DPRK
     Congressional Research Service, direct to CanKor

FOCUS: Challenges of the Kaesong Industrial Project
6.   US REJECTS FREE TRADE IN GOODS PRODUCED IN KAESONG
     http://joongangdaily.joins.com/200602/08/200602082141182639900090309031.html

7.   CAN THE DPRK SUPPLY 100,000 WORKERS?
     http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2005122243228

8.   WEALTH GAP WIDENS: SOUTH RICHER, NORTH POORER
     http://times.hankooki.com/lpage/nation/200512/kt2005121518503511980.htm

QUIDNUNC: Readers ask and respond to common and uncommon questions.
THIS WEEK: How can the DPRK, with no technological infrastructure and 
limited Internet connection, possibly produce a team of hackers capable of 
posing any credible threat? (See CanKor #167 and #174)
*************************************************

1.   DPRK-JAPAN TALKS INCONCLUSIVE
     by Audra Ang, Associated Press, 8 February 2006

North Korea and Japan on Wednesday ended five days of high-level talks aimed 
at establishing diplomatic relations without any agreements, citing major 
differences on the North's abduction of Japanese nationals and its nuclear 
program. Song Il Ho, the North's chief envoy to the talks, also publicly 
appealed to Japan to urge the United States to lift economic sanctions on 
Pyongyang, saying the North won't return to nuclear disarmament talks until 
that happens. The two sides agreed to meet again to "narrow our differences" 
but did not set a date, Song said. The discussions, which began in Beijing 
on Saturday, were the highest-level contacts between the two sides in three 
years on possible diplomatic ties.

"For the last five days we discussed the issue of normalization, abductions 
and security," Song said. "We got to know each other's positions more 
clearly. At the same time, however, we discovered that there's a big 
difference of opinion."

Song's Japanese counterpart, Koichi Haraguchi, said the two governments 
understood each other better but "we discovered that there's a big 
difference of opinion." Tokyo says it won't agree to form relations unless 
the North settles disputes over its nuclear and missile programs and 
divulges information about its abduction of Japanese nationals in the 1970s 
and '80s. Haraguchi said there were "still lingering doubts about what kind 
of efforts have been put in, and when concrete steps will be taken" to 
resolve the issues.

North Korea pledged in September to give up its nuclear program in exchange 
for aid and security assurances. But progress has stalled since then, in 
part because of North Korean anger over financial restrictions that 
Washington imposed over alleged North Korean counterfeiting and weapons 
proliferation. China is trying to restart six-nation talks aimed at 
persuading the North to give up its nuclear development. Japan also is 
taking part in those talks, along with South Korea, the United States and 
Russia.

"We are ready to return to talks under one condition, and that is that the 
United States lift its sanctions," Song said. "The United States won't hear 
this from us. But if Japan tells the United States, if a friend tells a 
friend, they might listen."

The most contentious dispute between Japan and North Korea remained the 
abductions, with no breakthroughs reported after two rounds of talks on the 
issue. Japan has been pushing for information on Japanese citizens who were 
abducted by North Korean agents to teach spies language and culture. The 
North in 2002 acknowledged abducting 13 Japanese and allowed five to return 
home. It said the other eight were dead, but Japan is demanding proof. 
Negotiators have also been discussing whether North Koreans who were 
involved in the kidnappings will be brought to justice.

"One achievement of the dialogue is that we were able to make clear our 
concerns and demands to the North Korean side," Chief Cabinet Secretary 
Shinzo Abe said in Tokyo. "However, as for the abduction issue, the North 
Korean side unfortunately did not respond to our demands. I find this 
extremely regrettable."

On Tuesday, the North said it wanted Japan to hand over members of Rescue 
the North Korean People, a Japan-based activist group that has reportedly 
helped North Korean refugees in China's northeast. But it wasn't clear 
whether the North was making that a condition of forming diplomatic 
relations. Thousands of North Koreans have fled into China to escape 
Pyongyang's repressive leadership and widespread hunger. The North's 
government has accused foreign activist groups of abducting North Koreans 
and has demanded that they be brought to justice. Envoys also talked about 
the North's missile program, possible reparations by Japan for its 1910-45 
colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula and the return of cultural relics.
*************************************************

2.   DPRK TO JOIN INTERNATIONAL ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING DRIVE
     Mainichi, 9 February 2006

North Korea said Thursday it would join international efforts to fight money 
laundering amid accusations the communist regime is directly involved in 
financial crimes. A spokesman from the North's Foreign Ministry made the 
announcement, denying US allegations that the country has engaged in 
counterfeiting and money laundering -- an issue that has deadlocked talks on 
the North's nuclear programs. It was apparently the first time the North has 
publicly voiced its willingness to cooperate with international efforts to 
crack down on such crimes.

"There is no evidence proving (North Korea's) issue of counterfeit notes or 
money laundering," said the unnamed ministry spokesman, according to the 
North's official Korean Central News Agency. The country will "actively join 
the international actions against money laundering," he said.

The six-nation talks on eliminating the North's nuclear program haven't been 
held since November as Pyongyang has refused to attend, demanding Washington 
lift recent sanctions imposed for its alleged illicit activities. The USA 
has rebuffed the demand, saying the sanctions are a law enforcement matter 
unrelated to the nuclear talks, which include the two Koreas, China, Japan, 
Russia and the United States.

"A peaceful negotiated settlement of the nuclear issue can never be 
possible" unless the USA switches its policy, the spokesman said. Pyongyang 
has claimed the sanctions are a sign that the USA sticks to what it terms 
Washington's "hostile policy" aimed at overthrowing the regime. Washington 
has slapped sanctions on a Macau bank and North Korean companies believed to 
be fronts for weapons proliferation to halt the alleged illegal actions, 
which the USA says include drug trafficking. North Korea, which had used the 
Macau bank for decades as a main channel for outside funds, has reacted 
angrily to the sanctions, calling them a "sheer lie."

"It is the consistent policy of the (North Korean) government to oppose all 
sorts of illegal acts in the financial field," the North's spokesman said 
Thursday.
*************************************************

3.   KOREAS MARCH TOGETHER AT OPENING OF TURIN OLYMPICS
     by Kim Hyun-cheol, Korea Times, 8 February 2006

It's not the first time for them to make it side-by-side, but this time they 
extended the remarkable move to the Winter Olympics where athletes from both 
Koreas will march in the opening ceremony. Representatives from the two 
Koreas will march together at the opening ceremony of the Turin Winter 
Olympics, which will begin on Friday, Kim Jung-kil, president of the Korean 
Olympic Committee, announced on Tuesday in Turin, Italy. Under the banner 
"Corea," the teams will march under one flag at the Stadio Olimpico. South 
Korean women's speed skater, Lee Bo-ra, will carry the unification flag 
along with a North Korean men's figure skater, Han Jong-in.

Starting with the 2000 Sydney Summer Olympics, the two Koreas have made six 
joint entrances at openings of international sports events, including the 
2002 Pusan Asian Games and the 2004 Athens Summer Olympics. A total 83 
athletes and officials from the South and North are participating in the 
Winter Olympics - 69 from the South in nine categories and 14 from the North 
in two. South Korea won two gold and two silver medals at the 2002 games in 
Salt Lake City, while North Korea hasn't competed at a Winter Olympics since 
the 1998 edition in Nagano, Japan.

IOC president Jacques Rogge welcomed the action, describing it as a very 
important, symbolic gesture. "We are working with the national Olympic 
committees not only to have a joint march but to have a joint team in the 
future," he said. It is highly likely that his comment will be realized 
soon, as the Koreas are also promoting the formation of a combined team for 
the Asian Games in Doha, Qatar, later this year, and also for the 2008 
Beijing Olympics.
*************************************************

4.   A SERIES OF ARMED ATTACKS ON DPRK BORDER POSTS
     Donga Ilbo, 7 February 2006

Unidentified armed men carried out a series of attacks on North Korean 
border guards along the country's border with China right before the lunar 
New Year, according to North Korean sources. The sources also claimed that 
some of the unidentified armed men who conducted the attacks carried 
firearms and showed signs of organized movement, which has piqued curiosity 
as to their identity.

According to North Korean sources, on the night of January 28, a border 
guard in Onsong County, North Hamgyong Province, spotted several men 
crossing the Tumen River from Kaishantun, China, and tried to arrest them. 
However, there was a scuffle between the border guard and the unidentified 
men, ending in the death of the guard who was stabbed 38 times.

Although it is a rule to stand guard in pairs, the senior guard apparently 
went to have a drink alone, leaving the other to his fate. When the scuffle 
grew loud, guards from other posts several hundred meters away dashed out 
and a chase ensued. The panicking men jettisoned their bags and started 
running back to China. Three disassembled rifles, ammunition, a camcorder, 
and a cell phone were found inside the abandoned bags, North Korean sources 
claim. Specific details such as the types of rifles are unknown.

At around the same time, in Hoeryong City, 40km away from the above 
incident, several unidentified men crossed the Tumen River, fired their 
weapons at a North Korean border guard post, and returned to China. It is 
reported that North Korean border troops did not return fire. Similar cases 
have also been reported in neighboring Musan County and one other unnamed 
location.

In the past, there have been cases of armed North Korean soldiers crossing 
the border into China and engaging in robbery. Last January 17, eight armed 
North Korean soldiers attacked the Yangsujin mine in Tumen City inside 
Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture, resulting in one dead soldier and 
three arrests. Nevertheless, it is unprecedented to have armed men 
infiltrating and attacking the heavily defended North Korean territory. A 
North Korean response is predicted.

North Korean sources say that North Korean authorities consider this the 
work of a dissident organization composed mainly of defectors who are 
emulating the June 1937 Battle of Pochonbo. In his memoirs titled: "With the 
Century," former North Korean Leader Kim Il Sung wrote, "The goal of the 
Pochonbo battle was to create the sound of gunshots in Korea and let 
everyone know the existence of an armed struggle."

Inside North Korea, rumors that the attacks were launched by defectors who 
went to South Korea are already spreading. Some claim that they were 
launched by defectors unable to live well in South Korea. Other rumors claim 
the attacks are the work of forces trying to strain North Korea-China 
relations after Chairman Kim Jong Il's visit to China.
*************************************************

RESOURCES

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5.   FACT SHEET ON US AID TO DPRK
     by Mark Manyin, Congressional Research Service, 31 January 2006

This report summarizes US aid to the Democratic People's Republic of North 
Korea (DPRK, also known as North Korea). It will be updated periodically to 
track changes in US provision of aid to North Korea. A more extended 
description and analysis of aid to North Korea, including assistance 
provided by other countries, is provided in CRS Report RL31785, Foreign 
Assistance to North Korea.

Since 1995, the United States has provided over $1.1 billion, about 60% of 
which has paid for food aid. About 40% was energy assistance channeled 
through the Korean Peninsula Energy Development Organization (KEDO), the 
multilateral organization established in 1994 to provide energy aid in 
exchange for North Korea's pledge to halt its existing nuclear program. US 
assistance to North Korea has fallen significantly over the past three 
years. The KEDO program was shut down in January 2006.

Food aid has been scrutinized because the DPRK government restricts the 
ability of donor agencies to operate in the country. Compounding the problem 
is that South Korea and China, by far North Korea's two most important 
providers of food aid, have little to no monitoring systems in place.

This may help explain why, in the summer of 2005, the North Korean 
government announced it would no longer need humanitarian assistance from 
the United Nations, including from the World Food Program (WFP), the primary 
channel for US food aid. Part of Pyongyang's motivation appears to be a 
desire to negotiate a less intrusive monitoring presence. In response, the 
WFP shut down its operations and the United States has suspended its food 
aid shipments. The WFP is negotiating a scaled-down "development" assistance 
program with the North Korean government. It plans to present its plan to 
its Executive Board members in February 2006. The WFP says that food 
conditions have worsened for some groups since North Korea introduced 
economic reforms in 2002. US officials, including President Bush, have 
indicated that United States development assistance might be forthcoming if 
North Korea begins dismantling its nuclear programs.
*************************************************

FOCUS: Challenges of the Kaesong Industrial Project

*************************************************

6.   US REJECTS FREE TRADE IN GOODS PRODUCED IN KAESONG
     Joong Ang Ilbo, 9 February 2006

A US official said yesterday that Washington would not consider goods 
manufactured at an industrial park in the North Korean border city of 
Kaesong as South Korean products in its free-trade negotiations with Seoul. 
"In our view, the agreement applies to goods produced only in South Korea 
and the United States," a senior economic official at the US Embassy in 
Seoul said at a background press briefing. Asked if that position was 
negotiable, he said, "We hope that the Kaesong issue won't be a major hurdle 
in reaching the comprehensive goal of signing the free trade agreement." 
South Korea has been attempting, with mixed success, to induce its trade 
partners to consider goods from the complex as domestic South Korean 
products. About 15 South Korean companies operate there.
*************************************************

7.   CAN THE DPRK SUPPLY 100,000 WORKERS?
     by Myoung-Gun Lee, Donga Ilbo, 22 December 2005

December 15 marked the one-year anniversary of the Kaesong Industrial 
Complex, the symbol of inter-Korean economic cooperation. Unification 
Minister Chung Dong-young, who is visiting the USA, met with US Secretary of 
State Condoleezza Rice on December 20 and said, "Next year's core business 
will be the development of the main section of the Kaesong Industrial 
Complex." Chung also asked Deputy Secretary of Commerce David Sampson for a 
US corporate presence in the industrial complex.

This article deals with the potential and the problems of the Kaesong 
Industrial Complex, and will evaluate whether the combination of South 
Korea's technology and capital and the North's manpower will be able to open 
a new era in which the two Koreas can prosper together.

"You can't sit on the production line like that," said a South Korean 
technology supervisor. "Sorry. I'm not accustomed to this," responded a 
North Korean worker.

The training room of "A" company in the pilot complex in the Kaesong 
Industrial Park has recently been filled with non-skilled North Korean 
workers receiving technology training. As only 10 percent of workers from 
the North have work experience in this field, the company is spending a lot 
of time and resources in giving technology training to the remaining 
workforce.

The biggest strength of the Kaesong Industrial Complex is cheap labour. An 
average North Korean worker receives $57.50 (approximately 58,000 won) in 
monthly wages. But the problem is the quality of the labour. North Korean 
workers still lack technological skills. A total of 11 companies are 
operating in the 28,000-pyeong pilot complex. Four other companies are 
preparing for operation or building plants. The South Korean government is 
planning to develop a one-million-pyeong main complex by late next year to 
attract 300 companies, but it is still uncertain whether the North could 
provide sufficient quality labour. Also, nobody knows how long labour costs 
would remain low.

Companies in the pilot complex want workers aged 35 or younger with 
endurance and relatively good ability to acquire skills. An executive of "B" 
company said, "Although we requested the North to fill the factory workforce 
with young workers in their 20s and 30s, people in their 40s and 50s account 
for more than half of the workforce." The president of "C" company said, "If 
one sets the level of a South Korean worker at 100, that of a North Korean 
worker currently stands at 60 to 70."

Nonetheless, companies in the industrial complex and the government 
generally assess that the North's workers are acquiring skills more quickly 
than expected. The government decided to open a job training center in the 
industrial complex by 2007 to offer North Korean workers well-organized 
technology training. An official at "D" company said, "It is worth trying if 
we can improve North Korean workers' skills and eliminate waste resulted 
from a slowed supply of raw materials and exports by streamlining traffic 
and the customs clearance process."

There is prevailing concern that the North would lack the absolute amount of 
labour force if companies begin to enter the main complex in full swing. The 
unification minister expects that 70,000 to 100,000 North Korean workers are 
needed to operate 300 companies in the main complex. The unification 
minister said last month in a lecture on the invitation of Korea-based 
diplomats, "About 1,000 companies will do business in the Kaesong Industrial 
Complex within three years, and the workforce which currently stands at some 
6,000 will grow to 300,000 to 400,000 in three or four years."

Dong Myeong-han, a director of inter-Korean cooperation at Small Business 
Corporation, said, "Although only 11 companies are operating in the pilot 
complex, manpower around Kaesong area is already stretched thin," and 
further pointed out, "The problem is where we can get tens of thousands of 
workers that will be needed in the future." In response, Pyongyang is just 
repeating that it would input "military" or militia organization without 
unveiling a concrete plan.

Seoul does not have a clear alternative either. An official said, 
"Technically, the North should resolve the manpower problem, but it is hard 
to know where and how it would provide it."

The regulation of labour in the Kaesong Industrial Complex states that wages 
for employees shall not be raised by more than five percent of the previous 
year's minimum wage, with the minimum wage being $50 a month. In this sense, 
there is no need to worry about soaring wages.

However, an official at "E" company predicted, "If employees stage a strike 
demanding a raise and the North authorities promote or support it when 
hundreds of companies are operating in the complex, companies would not be 
able to sustain their business there." For sure, there is also an opposing 
view, which says that North Korean authorities will not allow soaring wages 
because they are developing the entire North Korea into an industrial park 
modeled after the Kaesong Industrial Complex.

There is a mixed view of cautious optimism and realistic concerns about the 
future of the Kaesong Industrial Complex. Optimism is mostly based on the 
willingness and necessity of South and North Korean authorities to make the 
industrial complex a success. The issue is to prevent non-economic 
variables, such as the North Korean nuclear problem, from hindering 
advancement of the industrial complex, and to secure better profitability 
than other production bases with cheap labour, including China and Vietnam.
*************************************************

8.   WEALTH GAP WIDENS: SOUTH RICHER, NORTH POORER
     by Kim Sung-jin, Korea Times, 16 December 2005

The gross national incomes (GNI) of South and North Korea showed the widest 
gap ever in 2004. The National Statistical Office (NSO) said that South 
Korea's GNI, the nation's real purchasing power, was 32.8 times larger than 
that of the reclusive communist nation last year. A statistical comparison 
between the two Koreas released Thursday by the NSO showed that North 
Korea's GNI stood at $20.8 billion last year, far smaller than $681 billion 
of the South. Per-capita gross national income of the South reached $14,162, 
about 1,550 percent greater than the North's $914. The gap in per person 
national income widened from $5,005 in 1990 to $10,398 in 1995, $10,084 in 
2000 and $11,902 in 2003.

The widening gap is attributed to a recent surge in the South's per capita 
national income, which jumped to $12,720 in 2003 from $11,499 in 2002, and 
the dwindling income of the North. The North's per capital national income 
shrank to $757 in 2000 from $1,142 in 1990, but recovered slightly to $818 
in 2003. Seoul and Pyongyang revealed greater disparity in gross annual 
trade. The combined exports and imports of the South totaled $478.31 billion 
in 2004, about 167 times greater than $2.86 billion of the North. The gap in 
trade between the South and the North peaked in 1999, when the South's trade 
was 178 times greater than the North's. The North managed to narrow the gap 
down to 139.2 times in 2002 but it again widened to 155.9 times in 2003. The 
inter-Korean merchandise transaction contracted by 3.8 percent from a year 
ago to $697.04 million.

The disparity was also evident in oil demand. The South imported a total of 
825.79 million barrels of crude oil in 2004, 211.7 times as much as 3.9 
million barrels purchased by the North. The South had 60 times as many 
automobiles as the North with the former owning a total of 14.93 million 
units and the latter 249,000 units. Compared with the figures in 1970, the 
number of cars in the North grew only 360 percent in 2004 while that in the 
South increased by over 100 times. In addition, the South had 293 civil 
aircrafts while the North owned a mere 20.

The South's population amounted to 48.08 million, twice the North's 22.71 
million. South Korea ranks 25th in the world by population and North Korea 
47th. When combined, Korea has the 18th-biggest population in the world. The 
male-to-female ratio stood at 101.6:100 for the South, meaning that there 
are 101.6 men per 100 women, while the North's population consisted of 96.7 
men per 100 women. The NSO said the sex ratio balances when combining the 
population of the South and the North, but the male population has been 
growing at a faster rate in both the South and the North since 2000.
*************************************************

QUIDNUNC

In this section of CanKor, we invite readers to send questions, answers, or 
responses. Answers should be under 150 words and may be edited for space.

*************************************************
HOW CAN THE DPRK, WITH NO TECHNOLOGICAL INFRASTRUCTURE AND LIMITED INTERNET 
CONNECTION, POSSIBLY PRODUCE A TEAM OF HACKERS CAPABLE OF POSING ANY 
CREDIBLE THREAT? (See CanKor #167 and #174)
*************************************************

Simple: despite claims to the contrary, they can't. Without a large 
programming community in general or the prerequisites for one, it is almost 
inconceivable that they could identify and develop the elite team being 
ascribed to them. If the cultural requirements of putting together such a 
world-class team of coders existed in North Korea, there would be signs -- a 
number of ancillary activities --visible to those involved in the world's 
programming community. Programming, even "black hat", or destructive 
programming, is a big money field. Why would North Korea, cash starved and 
well known for being willing to do a number of things considered 
unacceptable by the international community, not be taking advantage of 
these potential cash cows, either legitimately or illegitimately? There 
might be 500 North Korean black hats on a team as some reports claim, but 
instead of posing a major threat to South Korean technical infrastructure, 
they are far more likely to constitute a mild annoyance to the experienced 
network security specialists of more technologically developed nations.

John Withers, IT Officer, Nautilus Institute
*************************************************

The nation-wide fad for IT in North Korea was spurred by Kim Jong Il's 
famous adage that "people who don't know how to use computers are the 
greatest fools of the 20th century". Now, the DPRK has a comparatively 
well-developed Intranet infrastructure which consists of three main 
networks: "Kwangmyeong", "Kim Il-sung University Net" and "Kim Chaek 
Technological Institute Net". Faculties, libraries, scholars and students, 
as well as business enterprises and commercial subscribers, are interlinked 
and can exchange e-mail correspondence. Intranet cafes are being opened in 
Pyongyang for anyone paying. Shops and markets sell new and second-hand PCs, 
modems, and other paraphernalia, while young people, devoid of other forms 
of entertainment, spend days and nights mastering their computer skills at 
school and communicating on-line from homes. In such circumstances, it would 
be strange if North Korea had not produced its own home-trained hackers. For 
more information on this subject, see 
http://north-korea.boom.ru/dprk_internet.htm

Leonid A. Petrov, The NORTH KOREAN STUDIES www.north-korea.boom.ru
*************************************************

What Now?

How 'reversible' are economic reforms in the DPRK? Or put another way, what 
constitutes a threshold for 'real' reform in the DPRK, considering that many 
observers don't count it 'real' unless it brings about wholesale political 
change, or control of reforms is devolved from the political sphere?

[Answers should be e-mailed to: editor at CanKor.ca]
*************************************************

End CanKor # 236

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*************************************************