North Korea

[KimJongilia]

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[KimJongilia]

Two soldiers escape, one arrested in home invasion attempt

Kim Chae Hwan | 2016-06-21 15:05

Earlier this month, three armed soldiers broke into a civilian home and two fled the site after a failed home invasion attempt in Pungsan County, Ryanggang Province. The remaining soldier was arrested on site, Daily NK has learned.

“Three soldiers from the 12th Brigade, 43rd Corps, broke into a civilian home and threatened the inhabitants with weapons while trying to steal their possessions. But they ran off after security agents were alerted,” a source from the province told Daily NK in a telephone conversation. “One of the soldiers was apprehended, but the remaining two ran back to their base.”

This news was corroborated by additional sources in Ryanggang Province.

Civilian patrol members who were policing the area detected odd behavior and quickly reported it to local Ministry of People's Security [MPS] agents who stormed the site, preventing any serious harm, reported the source.

Violent crimes perpetrated by soldiers have been on the rise, prompting residents to organize their own patrol units to deal with such incidents. However, it has only had limited results in preventing soldiers from the so-called “People’s Army” from committing violent crimes against civilians, the source explained.

The soldier who was arrested on site was also immediately handed over to his base. According to the source, although the MPS is well aware the military will not appropriately penalize those involved, if they claim responsibility, the agents have no choice but to send the soldiers back to base.

This dire situation can be traced back to the era of Kim Jong Il, during which heavy priority was given to the military. Kim Jong Il at the time was said to have ordered strong punishment for “civilian pillaging” but would simultaneously emphasize the importance of keeping the troops well fed. Soldiers who attempted to steal from people out of hunger would therefore only face light consequences.

This practice has not substantially changed under Kim Jong Un’s regime. While there have been orders to “improve material supplies and culture in soldiers’ daily lives to ensure they can perform their duties and enhance relationships between the military and civilians,” without specific measures put in place, tangible changes will prove elusive.

“The state does not provide enough food for the soldiers, so they resort to stealing from civilians to fill their stomachs,” the source explained, asserting that robbery and home invasions are an indirect way of soldiers expressing their frustration at the lack of action taken by the state to improve their living conditions.

Soldiers from the 43rd Corps have mostly targeted Pungsan and Pungso counties, as they are rural areas and less heavily protected by law enforcement. “They’ve broken into people’s homes and stolen televisions, batteries, bicycles, cattle, and other assets,” the source added.

Residents have been frightened and angered by these recent developments and have expressed frustration at the ineptitude of law enforcement in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

*Translated by Jiyeon Lee
*Edited by Lee Farrand

 

[KimJongilia]

Sanctions drive trading companies to default on payments

Choi Song Min | 2016-06-21 15:54

A number of North Korean companies are reportedly failing to meet payment deadlines in their trade agreements with China, causing negative repercussions for all cross-border deals involving credit transactions. Companies under the control of Office No. 39, which is tasked with managing Kim Jong Un’s leadership funds, are reported to be particularly struggling to secure foreign currency.

Although market prices in the North have remained stable, active trade directly tied to the leadership’s funds has plummeted, suggesting international sanctions targeting the regime may be proving effective.

“Companies under the Ministry of External Economic Affairs and other trade agencies have recently been experiencing a severe foreign currency crisis,” a source from South Pyongan Province told Daily NK on Wednesday. “Even those under the Central Party’s Office No. 39 have insufficient liquidity (in foreign currency), and this is creating obstacles for trade with China,” he added.

Additional sources in South Pyongan Province as well as North Pyongan Province verified this development.

Cross-border transactions had been proceeding relatively unhindered until just a few months ago. However, an increasing number of conflicts have been arising with Chinese trade companies over payments, reported the source. “A lot of trade companies in Pyongyang and provincial areas have not been able to pay on time after bringing in goods from their Chinese counterparts,” he explained.

“In the past, the principal at least was always paid on time for goods that had been brought in past customs. But foreign currency is drying up, so the settlement dates are being dragged out,” the source said. “Up until early May, payments normally wouldn’t be any later than 15 days, but now there are a lot of cases where companies have been unable to pay even half the amount owed over a month past the due date.”

Clear signs of payment difficulties started to become noticeable in mid-April. The North Korean leadership had traditionally secured funds through arms and other illicit trade, but sanctions have made that increasingly difficult, leading to a shortage in money to pay for transactions.

As previously reported by Daily NK, the "70-Day Battle" and "200-Day Battle" are thought to have exacerbated the problems, with the state mounting pressure on trade companies in a bid to create tangible accomplishments.

In response, workers within the industry have been forced to place a greater emphasis on fulfilling the regime’s demands at the expense of international business transactions and meeting state quotas, putting the stability of future trade transactions on a precarious footing.

“Having faced this situation for two months, Chinese companies are now asking for cash payments only and have become extremely reluctant to allow deferred payments,” the source said. “If this lasts for a few more months, all of the previously amicable Chinese traders will start to avoid further business with the North,” he speculated.

Trade banks in Pyongyang have seen their foreign currency supplies dry up, making it particularly challenging for even official trading firms to obtain credit. Trade company heads have been overheard remarking that borrowing from banks is even harder than borrowing money from individuals at exorbitantly high interest rates (loan sharks), said the source.

“Not so long ago, the Cabinet Premier Pak Pong Ju failed to make a payment of 30,000 USD for a Chinese vessel that arrived at Nampo Port with some 1,000 flat screen televisions, thereby forcing him to return to Pyongyang empty-handed,” the source said, explaining that rumors of the incident quickly made the rounds, igniting concerns about the implications for the economy if even the regime’s trading bodies cannot follow through on a prearranged transaction.

*Translated by Jiyeon Lee
*Edited by Lee Farrand

 

[KimJongilia]

http://www.scmp.com/news/asia/east-asia/article/1984095/big-boss-kim-jong-un-gained-40kg-four-years-say-south-korean

 

[KimJongilia]

Three arrested in connection to smuggled phones

Kim Chae Hwan | 2016-07-04 16:27

Two brothers in North Korea’s Ryanggang Province were arrested early last month by State Security Department agents for using smuggled-in Chinese mobile phones. A Ministry of People’s Security (police) permitting this activity in exchange for bribes was also apprehended, Daily NK has learned.

“Around the fourth of last month, anti-espionage agents from the provincial State Security Department [SSD] barged in while the two farmers (brothers) in Ryanggang Province were talking to another sibling in South Korea,” a source from the province told Daily NK in a telephone conversation on July 1. “They were arrested on site on suspicions of espionage, handcuffed, and taken away to the relevant SSD unit.”

“There was an agent from the county’s [name redacted for safety reasons] Ministry of People’s Security office who was also immediately arrested on the same day for allegedly turning a blind eye to the phone calls frequently being placed to the South,” he added.

In light of the incident, state authorities have doubled down on threats of punishment for those caught placing calls to South Korea, "mercilessly equating such actions to international information leaks and therefore deeming them acts of espionage,” according to the source.

“The two brothers have been branded ‘spies and destructive individuals out to obliterate socialism’,” he explained. “It will cost them 30,000 RMB (39 million KPW) to get them out. Their family members have no one to appeal to, driving them to ask other siblings in the South to send them money.”

Speculation is rife about the brothers’ fate among residents in the surrounding area. Most have commented that sufficient funds notwithstanding, the harsh nature of the arrest suggests the case will not be so easily resolved. More specifically, however, opinions are divided: half of those familiar with the case are hopeful that the young men’s diligence in fulfilling Party duties and unwavering loyalty for the Suryong [Great or Supreme Leader] will soften their punishment; the remaining half is of the grim belief that these two young men will imminently find themselves detained in a political prison camp.

A fixture of the Kim Jong Un era, strong orders to ferret out the use of Chinese mobile phones have recently grown in severity. As reported in May by Daily NK, Kim Jong Un ordered law enforcement to penalize those who use Chinese phones to talk to people outside of the country with the crime of espionage in a bid to stem the outflow of internal information and attempts to escape the country.

“That this recent incident occurred under tighter surveillance and restrictions has increased tensions in the area,” an additional source in Ryanggang Province asserted. Complaints, too, are on the rise; the vast majority of residents in border areas rely on Chinese cell phones for their livelihoods.

*Translated by Jiyeon Lee

 

[KimJongilia]

The future of accountability in North Korea

Lizzie Buehler, intern | 2016-07-04 14:15

A group of North Korea scholars and legal experts met on June 27 at the Seoul Global Center to discuss the future of accountability for North Korea’s human rights violations and options to pursue such accountability. The conference, entitled “North Korean Human Rights: Shifting Gear on Accountability,” was organized by the Yonsei Center for Human Liberty and the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK). The conference also commemorated the one year anniversary of the opening of the UN Seoul office and the launch of the Sages Group on North Korean Human Rights.

Jung-Hoon Lee, ROK Ambassador for Human Rights, opened the event with a call for a “global campaign on accountability” in North Korea, stating that international cooperation would be necessary to assign appropriate blame to perpetrators of human rights violations. He was followed by Sang Hyun Song, former President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), who similarly stated that countries must work together to “strengthen the global system of accountability” as it applies to North Korea.

The conference’s first panel, “Who’s Accountable for What?” was led by Marzuki Darusman, UN Special Rapporteur on the DPRK. Darusman stated that the 2014 report of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK determined that the ongoing human rights violations are crimes against humanity and asked panelists to explain “what sort of justice” they believe is necessary in North Korea.

Panelists agreed that thorough investigative evidence in the form of photos, videos, and defector testimonies would be necessary to assign blame to specific perpetrators and to separate the various segments of North Korea’s system of human rights abuse. Sung-ho Jhe, professor of law at Choong-Ang University, called for a combination of institutional responsibility and individual responsibility, citing prison camps as an example of an institution in which high-level officials hold responsibility for commands just as much as for direct actions. Remko Breuker, professor of Korean Studies at Leiden University, agreed, adding that although international understanding of North Korea’s organizational structure has improved in recent years, closer investigation is necessary to determine the “architects of the system” of abuse.

Joanna Hosaniak, Deputy Director General of the Citizen’s Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, suggested looking at the former communist systems of Eastern European countries in order to better understand links between North Korea’s State Security Department and Workers’ Party that may be facilitating human rights abuses.

Young Hwan Ho, Vice President of the Institute for National Security Strategy, offered a differing opinion, emphasizing the responsibility of Kim Jong Un and arguing to “narrow the scope of who’s being held responsible” in order to avoid prolonging inaction.

The second panel, “Accountability: Feasible Options and Instruments,” was led by Vivit Muntarbhorn, former UN Special Rapporteur for the DPRK. Contrasting with the first panel’s urgent calls for action, speakers cautiously noted that prosecution for human rights violators in North Korea would be limited at best, even in the case of an ICC referral. Christine Chung, senior advisor to the Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, noted as a historical precedent that none of the orchestrators of Soviet gulags were prosecuted and that the same could be the case for North Korea.

Jared Genser, founder of the NGO Freedom Now, pointed out a often-overlooked shortcoming of discussions of North Korean policy: that in spite of international cooperation and the important awareness that it raises about North Korea, justice and accountability alone are not enough to end the suffering of the North Korean people.

The conference ended with a introductory panel by the Sages Group on North Korean Human Rights, a group of policy experts formed provide recommendations on international policy towards North Korea. The group consisted of Lee, Song, and Muntarbhorn; as well as Michael Kirby, former Chair of the UN COI on the DPRK; Robert King, U.S. Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights; and Sonja Biserko, former member of the UN Committee of Inquiry.

 

[steffychun]

Don't worry North Koreans and their money are already here in Singapore.

 

[KimJongilia]

http://www.dailynk.com/english/read.php?num=13976&cataId=nk00100

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[KimJongilia]

Hallyu eases burden of '200-Day Battle'

Choi Song Min | 2016-07-06 17:29

Read in Korean


As North Koreans struggle under the weight of the ongoing "200-Day Battle," many are harnessing the boost in power provision, allotted by the state to "galvanize production," to instead indulge in cultural content from below the border more frequently.

“The arduous labor involved in the ‘200-Day Battle’ takes a major physical and mental toll on people.” a North Pyongan Province-based source reported to DailyNK. “Those with the necessary means either watch dramas or listen to pop music from South Korea to recharge and escape.”

The monotonous repetition of political slogans and propaganda day and night is “mind-numbing,” she said. “Home becomes a sanctuary where watching dramas or listening to music provides great comfort to weary bodies and minds.”

The authorities, for their part, have doubled down to make this harder by halting imports of portable media players referred to as notetel in North Korea. However, such efforts do little, if anything, to stymie illicit media consumption. For those without a notetel already in their possession, an array of other methods prevail to satiate their appetite for entertainment.

“As soon as the power comes back on following a blackout, people jolt up from sleep to pick up where they left off with the show they were watching. Like clockwork, kids press the power button on the [non-portable] DVD player and parents insert the flash drive with loaded with contraband content,” the source explained.

Recently, just as in other parts of Asia, namely China, the South Korean blockbuster hit "Descendants of the Sun" is a popular selection in North Korea, thanks in large part to the younger demographic, who have fueled the show’s popularity through word of mouth.

“They’re so into that program they don’t even know if it’s day or night while they’re watching it,” the source joked, adding that ‘official’ copies manufactured in China sell for 50,000 KPW [6 USD]; ‘unofficial’ copies go for half of that.

Added a source in South Pyongan Province, “These days, when eager customers gingerly approach the ‘runners’ [who obtain products from wholesalers and travel the different regions of North Korea and sell them to booth retailers] loitering on the outskirts of official marketplaces and inquire about products from ‘the neighborhood below (South Korea),’ the answer is invariably: ‘Check out 'Descendants of the Sun.'"


*Translated by Phillip Kim

 

[KimJongilia]

Sanctions galvanize train smuggling operations

Seol Song Ah | 2016-07-07 14:03

Cross-border trains are currently one of the most durable conduits for contraband goods in the face of heightened global sanctions targeting North Korea. For this reason, train attendants are actively leveraging their position within the current political climate to accumulate massive profits by turning a blind eye to smuggled products.

“The Pyongyang-Beijing cross-border trains, which make stops in Sinuiju and Dandong, have emerged as an extremely reliable vehicle for the distribution of smuggled goods, thereby conferring a corresponding degree of influence to train attendants,” a source from North Pyongan Province told Daily NK in a telephone conversation.

The attendants typically charge traders anywhere from 300 to 600 RMB (390,000 to 780,000 KPW) per box of goods, tailoring the price points to reflect the cargo’s significance. “Sometimes this means traders find themselves paying hundreds of dollars,” she explained.

Certainly, train attendants were engaged in smuggling operations long before the UN adopted the strongest-ever sanctions against North Korea followed by standalone packages levied by individual nations. Such pressure has merely motivated them to build on their past experience ushering in forbidden imports for significant financial rewards.

The higher stakes and therefore bigger gains means competition to land a railroad attendant position is heated; many are rejected in spite of the significant sums of money they offer high-ranking managerial cadres to bring them into the fold.

And business is booming. As the list of banned products grows longer, so do the number of trade workers scrambling to sidestep the regulations by lining the pockets of train attendants, who grow “bolder by the day,” according to the source.

“Now they’ll pocket fees offered up by middlemen to distributing dollar notes, top-shelf liquor, and other restricted items,” she said, explaining that this process is enabled by the fact that often times these ‘customers’ include cadres, the most powerful of whom are said to use intimidation to bypass fees altogether.

Team managers stand to make the most from these illicit transactions, the source asserted, noting, “Attendants must get the green light from managers on which goods to let slide through and then kick back a portion of the profits."

However, the profit window for attendants is limited. These coveted positions are swapped out every two to three years to hedge against losing well-oiled smuggling systems to a law enforcement clampdown.

Nevertheless, the duration is “sufficient enough to provide them with enough money to live on for the rest of their lives,” said a source privy to North Korean affairs in China.

*Translated by Jiyeon Lee

 

[KimJongilia]

New China-NK deal has devastating effects for ordinary fisherman

Choi Song Min | 2016-07-11 18:05

On the heels of a new bilateral fishing rights deal, state-run companies in the North are bringing in scores of cutting-edge fishing vessels from China, undermining the livelihoods of ordinary fisherman in the North.

“A fleet of new fishing vessels have emerged in the East Sea waters off of Sinpo, South Hamgyong Province,” a source from the province told Daily NK on July 6. These Chinese ships, outfitted with small refrigerating facilities, state-of-the-art fish-finding equipment, and high-performance GPS and radar systems, are under three-year contracts, which stipulate the entirely of any catch be handed directly over to China in exchange for cash-- save the costs of the ship lease.

Such an agreement seemingly bears out claims by South Korea’s National Intelligence Service via a parliamentary committee on June 30 that North Korea sold its fishing rights to China this year to the tune of 30 million USD.

The pact has spurred frenetic fishing expeditions by North Korean state companies to amass the highest possible amount of funds. China, on the other hand, “is simply sitting back and collecting on this deal,” the source said.

Therefore, the livelihoods of people living in adjacent fishing villages are on the line, which is of “entirely no concern to the [North Korean] leadership,” the source asserted, adding that while many see the season’s squid catch as their “year’s harvest,” but with their backs against the wall to pay loyalty funds, “state companies couldn’t care less about their troubles.”

These hulking vessels are north of 100 tons, highly mobile, and their operators unsatisfied to confine their expeditions to the deep sea, instead pillaging the shallow, coastal waters as well. Bottom trawling, an environmentally destructive fishing method that drags vast nets across the seabed, is also common.

Coupled with the fact that China supplies them with diesel and other fishing instruments, these smaller boats “don’t stand a chance,” the source noted, and “with little in the way of recourse, many [fisherman] are staging armed dissent.”

“Denouncing the vessels as ‘pirate ships,’ people hurl stones at them as soon as they spot them. The anger is so intense, in fact, that many of the [North Korean] fishermen stand guard at the ports armed with clubs to prevent them from docking,” he concluded.

*Translated by Jiyeon Lee

 

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[KimJongilia]

North Korea criticizes recently formed human rights group

Renowned experts on North Korean human rights targeted and denounced by the North

JH Ahn
July 7th, 2016

North Korea on Thursday condemned the recently formed “Sages Group”, a North Korean human rights initiative consisting of numerous well known experts.

The group was formed in Seoul on June 27. Its membership includes Michael Kirby, Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the DPRK, UN Special Rapporteur Marzuki Darusman, South Korean Human Rights Ambassador Lee Jung-Hoon and former President of the International Criminal Court Song Sang-hyun.

But an article in the North’s foreign news service Uriminzokkiri targeted several members of the group with offensive rhetoric and in Kirby’s case, homophobic slurs.

“Chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on human rights in the DPRK, Michael Kirby, disgusting old lecher with a 40-odd-year-long career of homosexuality, is the morally depraved atrocious warmonger, infamous for his international fuss about ‘North Korean human rights,’” Uriminzokkiri wrote, repeating insults first made in April 2014.

“That jerk Darusman is a criminal, implicated in the CIA-backed-murder of half million left-wing and labor activists in Indonesia in 1965 … (he) is the dog of America who has injected the ideology of submission to many countries in Europe and Southeast Asia,” the article continued.

One day after the group was formed, South Korean President Park Geun-hye invited the members to the presidential residence, hoping for the group to play a major role in improving human rights for North Koreans in the future.

Park’s invitation meant that she was also criticized in the Uriminzokkiri article.

“The world’s worst demonic woman Park Geun-hye has invited those wretched members to the presidential residence and played the coquette, urging them to ‘play a major role,’”

The defector writer Shin Dong-hyuk who was called “wicked” in the editorial, told NK News Pyongyang’s insults are a cowardly and childish act.

“Verbal attacks like this only helps North Korean human rights activists, as it shows Pyongyang has not learnt anything after all,” Joanna Hosaniak, deputy director general from Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights who was present at the group’s formation told NK News.

The rhetoric came only few hours after the U.S. government announced the first set of sanctions targeting the North’s human rights abuses. The new measures also designate North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Featured image: Flickr U.S. Mission Geneva/ Eric Bridiers

 

[KimJongilia]

Mixed messages on smoking restrictions in North Korea

Pyongyang pushing anti-smoking measures, however in-country sources see mixed applications

Hamish Macdonald
July 6th, 2016

Conflicting reports are emerging from North Korea regarding the enforcement and application of new smoking restrictions as part of a nationwide anti-smoking campaign launched earlier this year.

North Korean state media announced in May that a non-smoking campaign was under way, with headlines such as “No-smoking Campaign Brisk in DPRK” featuring on the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Choson Exchange, a Singaporean based NGO that operates workshops on business development and economics with North Koreans, has seen signs that some restrictions are becoming noticeable.

“The DPRK has one of the highest smoking rates in the world, among males…however, now it seems a strict rule against smoking in public places and buildings is in effect, at least in Pyongyang,” a Chosen Exchange blog post, published on Thursday, reads.

Choson Exchange cites workshop attendees having to travel further during their breaks to find acceptable smoking locations as an indication of such restrictions.

Restrictions on smoking in certain locations is not a new development and they are currently in place in hotel lobbies and locations of import, such as monuments dedicated to North Korea’s former leaders.

However an in country source, speaking to NK News on the condition of anonymity, also said there is evidence that new restrictions on smoking in public places are having an effect.

“I have recently seen people who leave a restaurant, who had been smoking inside restaurants in the past, so there seems to be a change of rules,” the foreign source who regularly works in North Korea told NK News.

However, new non-smoking signs or the implementation of designated smoking areas common in cities with smoking restrictions, have yet to be seen and the source also said that enforcement is, so far, not uniform.

“Local contacts told me that in many places, you have to be outside of public buildings to smoke, you cannot be inside. But they also said new rules are not enforced everywhere yet,” the source told NK News, adding that some locations still tolerate smoking indoors.

While officially it seems that the North Korean government is trying to get its population to smoke in reduced numbers, there have been similar campaigns in the past that have had little impact on the practice.

Anti-smoking campaigns have been present in the country previously and have appeared more frequently in recent years including in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2015.

There are further indications that the North Korean government is perhaps taking this campaign more seriously with the Associated Press filing a story on the push for reduced rates of smoking from Pyongyang this week.

The story included interviews with North Korean citizens, a practice that occurs with North Korean government facilitation.

Multiple sources within the tourism industry however have yet to see substantial evidence of the current campaign being fully enforced and even provide accounts suggesting little to no change.

“It’s sort of funny because the only fuss I’ve been hearing about this smoking ban has been in the international media. Locals inside the country are aware of the campaign but haven’t paid any real attention to it,” Rowan Beard of Young Pioneer Tours told NK News.

“From what I’ve also seen the smoking bans haven’t really changed a thing. The smoking laws are still very relaxed. You can continue smoking inside restaurants, at bars, at bus stops, entrances to buildings, etc,” he added.

This sentiment was also shared by Jessica Mader, a Koryo Tours guide who is currently in the country, however with some small differences on enforcement for North Koreans.

“I have heard about new smoking restrictions in offices, meaning that new regulations have been put in force to stop smoking inside office buildings. It’s possible to smoke outside though,” Mader said.

“From what I was told and what I have seen, other areas are not affected for now, but it could be that more restrictions are to follow.”

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is also commonly seen smoking in state media and after the launch of the antismoking campaign in May, including during public appearances in June and July.

Defector run news organization the Daily NK recently published an article citing disquiet among some citizens regarding the contradictions between Kim smoking in public and the alleged restrictions on smoking for North Korean citizens.

While North Koreans are extremely unlikely to convey negative messages about Kim to foreigners, a discussion about the contradiction between the anti-smoking campaign and images of Kim smoking on state media has, at least in part, been discussed.

“I was having a discussion with one of my close Korean friends about the Marshall being unable to kick the habit. It wasn’t a big deal for him to find this out. He simply replied with ‘it’s a hard thing to give up’,” Beard said.

While speaking about North Korean’s negative reactions to the ban, the Daily NK article does also note its perceived limitations among the population.

“Multiple attempts at non-smoking movements have been initiated across the generations, but none have been enforced in full. Many expect the latest iteration to meet with the same fate,” the article reads.

While the campaign is somewhat new and mixed messages regarding the application of the restrictions are emerging, it may be a matter of time before the North Korean government’s appetite for full implementation becomes apparent.

“I think in a place like the DPRK a smoking ban in certain places would take a while to come into effect they have been very permissive for so long about things like smoking in restaurants, bars, etc that it would take time for this to change,” Simon Cockerell of Koryo Tours told NK News.

“I think this is all a matter of enforcement…I think it is a slow process that involves education as much as legislation.”

Featured Image: cigarettes by xvaughanx on 2009-07-22 11:26:48

 

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...art-of-north-korea-s-illicit-cash-flow-funnel

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