ROK JOURNALIST'S OBSERVATIONS ON DPRK TRIP: SHAME

C O N F I D E N T I A L SEOUL 002017 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2017 TAGS: ECON KN KS SUBJECT: ROK JOURNALIST'S OBSERVATIONS ON DPRK TRIP: SHAME ABOUT MARKETS Classified By: POL M/C Joseph Y. Yun. Reasons 1.4 (b/d) -------------- SUMMARY -------------- ¶1. (C) A former JoongAng Ilbo journalist who had covered North Korea for two decades got his first chance to travel to Pyongyang and other parts of North Korea in late June. He observed budding capitalism, including a tailor shop, massage parlor, and Chinese casino in his hotel, but was surprised that his DPRK guides, probably officials in the Korean Workers Party, expressed shame at the emergence of free markets. End Summary. -------------- NOSTALGIA FOR THE PUBLIC DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM -------------- ¶2. (C) A former JoongAng Ilbo journalist, long blacklisted from visiting North Korea because of his articles, was able to join a June 28-30 goodwill trip (in the spirit of the June 15 commemoration of the 2000 North-South summit) to Pyongyang and Mount Baektu organized by a pro-North Korea NGO in Seoul. The group of 100 South Koreans paid USD 2300 each for the three-day trip. The journalist said that on arrival at the small Pyongyang airport, he could see 14 DPRK aircraft: half were propeller-driven and half were jets; three or four appeared to be out of service. ¶3. (C) The journalist, who specialized in covering the emergence of free markets in North Korea, was eager to engage his guides, who he assumed were officials from the Korean Workers Party because of the semi-official nature of the trip and the large size of the group, but their answers suprised him. He said they began by expressing pride at the fact that the DPRK had ensured its security by developing nuclear weapons, and that the focus could now be on economic development. But asked to confirm that economic development would mean the emergence of more free markets -- such as the farmers markets that now function in each district of Pyongyang and in other parts of the country -- his guides appeared uncomfortable and said that the markets were not the right kind of development, and were only temporarily necessary because of the DPRK's difficult circumstances. The guides argued that North Korea should return to the days of the 1970s and 1980s, when people received adequate food through the Public Distribution System and other food and goods could be purchased cheaply. Did the Public Distribution System still function, he asked? Yes, in some areas, but not reliably and it could not be counted in the future, the guides answered. They dodged all political questions. ¶4. (C) At one of the museums they visited, the group was shown a picture said to be then-seven-year-old Kim Jong Il leading a March 1 commemoration parade (commemorating the March 1, 1919 struggle for independence from Japan). When the journalist asked whether it was really true that Kim Jong Il had led the march at such a young age, the guides glared at him and asked whether he was from the KCIA. -------------- SIGNS OF LIFE AT THE HOTEL -------------- ¶5. (C) The journalist was not at liberty to visit markets in Pyongyang, but he observed signs of capitalism on the margins of the Yanggakdo International Hotel. He asked the general manager how he could manage to keep his job since only about 300 (100 from the ROK tour group) of the hotel's 1001 rooms were occupied. That was the government's problem, the manager replied. On the lower floor of the hotel, massages were offered for USD 35 cash. The journalist and several others got massages, but one member of the group told them the next day that he had asked for "something more" and was taken to another room for an assignation with a prositute for USD 100. A tailor shop at the hotel offered to make fitted suits overnight for USD 100. But when most members of the tour group tried to make orders, the staff said that the shop only had material for 20 suits. Even so, many who were on the waiting list managed to get suits made also, by returning to the shop later to offer extra cash. Why didn't the shop get more material and employees for what must be a lucrative niche, the journalist asked the shop's apparent owner? The answer was a vague statement that more material was unavailable. In another part of the hotel, the journalist found a Chinese-style casino with about a dozen slot machines and eight card and blackjack tables. While he was observing the scene, he saw men who all appeared to be Chinese pulling thick wads of USD 100 bills out of their pockets to buy chips and slot machine tokens. ¶6. (C) The journalist was also surprised to see a 20-foot-tall mock-up of a space shuttle and launch rocket, without U.S. insignia, at a museum inside Kim Il Sung University; it was said to stand for the DPRK's space-travel aspirations. At the University, the group also saw a demonstration of a machine that produced antibiotic capsules. Students would not reply to questions about their age or fields of study, looking away shyly. -------------- MT BAEKTU -------------- ¶7. (C) The ROK group also took a one-hour flight to visit Mt. Baektu, landing at a small airport and traveling an hour by bus over a road that was unpaved for half of the distance. In addition to visiting the log cabin that is ostensibly Kim Jong Il's birthplace, the group, which included a Buddhist monk from the ROK, visited a Buddhist temple. The "monk" who received them appeared to know nothing about Buddhism, leading the group to conclude that he was an area resident told to man the temple when tour groups arrived. On another drive to a monument outside Pyongyang, the journalist saw 10 vehicles on the road during a 90-minute drive, including two Mercedes that looked like senior officials' cars, and one other bus. VERSHBOW