Can you believe it? Trade between South Korea and China now exceeds trade between Korean and U.S.!
...What about North Korea?
...What about North Korea?
WORST: The worst website for economic and business news on N. Korea is simply the government's own official website. It looks more basic than a 7th grader's school project! The website won't even let me cut and paste text -- what? Is that on purpose, because they know the text on their website doesn't make sense and they don't want people to easily replicate content in order to make fun of it? Now I'm going to have to manually re-type their propaganda, soon to come below.
http://www.korea-dpr.com/
BEST #1: Interestingly enough, the same website is simultaneously the best source of N. Korean business news. Allow me to explain. Since some of gathering information from media sources involves reading between the lines, the website is great at showing (demonstrating through its juvenile, unsophisticated contact and formate) how stagnant -- really nonexistent -- N. Korean economic development and business are. In other words, it's a joke(!) because:
1. It contains non-truths. I won't call them "lies" for the sake of unbiased commentary (don't want to knee-jerk react!), but the site states that "only a few people in the world know that Korea is divided by a big concrete wall in the Parallel 38 that was built by the United States when the Korean War was finishe
d." Prof. Tom knows this, I know this, and the guy sitting next to me know this; I think the website is truly deluding itself. (Although since many Americans are so ignorant of geography and international relations, the N. Koreans do have somewhat of a point.)
2. It contains silly links. "Korean trade" contains links to souvenir purchase sites: "KFA webshop," "DPRK souvenirs," and "KFA shop e-business" all link to the same site featuring posters and other memorabilia. These are three of the four links under "Korean trade." Does not provide any helpful information about the country's economy; maybe accurately portrays DPR Korea, because there is indeed nothing going on there?
3. The business section is also unsatisfying. The link express that the government is open to mutually beneficial joint ventures and "company brochures." It gives an example of a "fiparam (whistle) car" produced as a joint venture with Pyonghwa Motors, and doesn't explain its significance. The link to patents is equally unimpressive, featuring the "multi-compass" (from what I can tell from an unintelligible description, sounds like an advanced, high-tech version of a kid's drawing) and instrument) and "toothed wheel auto gearbox adapted without step" ("this device has distinguished characteristics than others" and interacts "dinamically."
BEST #2: But to be fair, because the government website is so uninformative, making me feel like there was really nothing happening in N. Korea, that I was surprised to find other sources on N. Korea that are incredibly interesting. That is, I found out there are people investing in N. Korea?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3558283.stm
The author's tone in the article subtly expresses the same incredulity that I am feeling right now!
"Roger Barrett says North Korea is the next Asian tiger... 'Got any nuclear weapons for sale?' is the response Briton Roger Barrett usually gets when he tells people at Beijing cocktail parties that he invests in North Korea."
In fact: "It's like China in the eighties... The market reforms are very evident. It's an exciting time to join the market," he says.
This article is extremely helpful to businesspeople -- after all, you want to be the first to get into the market, not a late bandwagoner. That's where the profits are!
Here's more: "An Austrian company is reportedly buying pianos from the North Koreans, a French television station uses North Korean artists to produce cartoons, while a Singapore-based firm is developing forestry and tourism."
For the lack of information on NK, this kind of reporting is admirable. Perhaps NK is worth some attention. Think about it: lack of information about NK means that we know conditions are definitely dire on one hand, but on the other hand, we also don't find out about about improvements.
The DPRK News Bulletin is where I'd go to next, which is recommended in the above article. It's Roger Barrett's, who recently opened a branch of his consultancy firm, Korea Business Consultants in Pyongyang, started this publication: N. Korea's ONLY business publication!
BEST #1: Interestingly enough, the same website is simultaneously the best source of N. Korean business news. Allow me to explain. Since some of gathering information from media sources involves reading between the lines, the website is great at showing (demonstrating through its juvenile, unsophisticated contact and formate) how stagnant -- really nonexistent -- N. Korean economic development and business are. In other words, it's a joke(!) because:
1. It contains non-truths. I won't call them "lies" for the sake of unbiased commentary (don't want to knee-jerk react!), but the site states that "only a few people in the world know that Korea is divided by a big concrete wall in the Parallel 38 that was built by the United States when the Korean War was finishe
d." Prof. Tom knows this, I know this, and the guy sitting next to me know this; I think the website is truly deluding itself. (Although since many Americans are so ignorant of geography and international relations, the N. Koreans do have somewhat of a point.)2. It contains silly links. "Korean trade" contains links to souvenir purchase sites: "KFA webshop," "DPRK souvenirs," and "KFA shop e-business" all link to the same site featuring posters and other memorabilia. These are three of the four links under "Korean trade." Does not provide any helpful information about the country's economy; maybe accurately portrays DPR Korea, because there is indeed nothing going on there?
3. The business section is also unsatisfying. The link express that the government is open to mutually beneficial joint ventures and "company brochures." It gives an example of a "fiparam (whistle) car" produced as a joint venture with Pyonghwa Motors, and doesn't explain its significance. The link to patents is equally unimpressive, featuring the "multi-compass" (from what I can tell from an unintelligible description, sounds like an advanced, high-tech version of a kid's drawing) and instrument) and "toothed wheel auto gearbox adapted without step" ("this device has distinguished characteristics than others" and interacts "dinamically."
BEST #2: But to be fair, because the government website is so uninformative, making me feel like there was really nothing happening in N. Korea, that I was surprised to find other sources on N. Korea that are incredibly interesting. That is, I found out there are people investing in N. Korea?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3558283.stm
The author's tone in the article subtly expresses the same incredulity that I am feeling right now!
"Roger Barrett says North Korea is the next Asian tiger... 'Got any nuclear weapons for sale?' is the response Briton Roger Barrett usually gets when he tells people at Beijing cocktail parties that he invests in North Korea."
In fact: "It's like China in the eighties... The market reforms are very evident. It's an exciting time to join the market," he says.This article is extremely helpful to businesspeople -- after all, you want to be the first to get into the market, not a late bandwagoner. That's where the profits are!
Here's more: "An Austrian company is reportedly buying pianos from the North Koreans, a French television station uses North Korean artists to produce cartoons, while a Singapore-based firm is developing forestry and tourism."
For the lack of information on NK, this kind of reporting is admirable. Perhaps NK is worth some attention. Think about it: lack of information about NK means that we know conditions are definitely dire on one hand, but on the other hand, we also don't find out about about improvements.
The DPRK News Bulletin is where I'd go to next, which is recommended in the above article. It's Roger Barrett's, who recently opened a branch of his consultancy firm, Korea Business Consultants in Pyongyang, started this publication: N. Korea's ONLY business publication!
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