[Opinion] N. Korea’s Bid to Become Northeast Trade Hub

“North Korean workers ate three to four times more than their counterparts in South Korea. When they returned to work after two weeks of lying idle due to a lack of work, they had a haggard look. But after wolfing down food at mealtimes, they gained weight and looked bloated. The women working in the cafeterias had gaunt faces with dark complexions at first, but after taking three meals a day, they looked healthy,” recounted a public official who witnessed how North Koreans ate and changed at a light water reactor construction site in Shinpo, Hamgyong Province for one and a half years starting in 2003.

Similar things are being seen at the Gaesong Industrial Complex. South Korean staffers are surprised whenever they take pictures of North Korean workers to renew their identification cards. The workers’ initial dark and pale faces have turned healthy. But they also said it makes their heart ache to see the workers grow healthy in a few months after eating heartily. That North Korea, which lets its people live in a perennial poverty, is giving an indication of change.

North Korean leaders at the two-day National Intelligentsia Competition, which was held for the first time in 15 years on November 30, set a goal of turning their nation into a great power in a material aspect by 2012 when it celebrates the 100th anniversary of the birth of the late leader Kim Il Sung. One North Korean official reportedly said, “The urgent need the nation faces is to recover its economy and improve people’s living standards.” The Workers’ Party of North Korea recently made a commitment that it would be devoted to the economic development and improvement of people’s living conditions,” a report said.

That said, it is ludicrous for the North to present itself as a future trade hub of Northeast Asia. It seeks to induce foreign investment by encouraging foreign invertors to exploit its low-cost and high-quality labor, and says, “We will become the most important trade center in Northeast Asia in the near future,” on its official website (www.korea-dpr.com).

It is true that North Korea has a competitive edge in terms of labor costs. North Korean workers are paid a monthly salary of less than 60 dollars. However, even foreigners are aware that North Korea is not a good choice for investment. Its infrastructure is poor and its closed communist regime poses many obstacles for foreign investors. The most urgent thing for North Korean leaders to do is to seek ways to lessen their people’s suffering at this point not run a bluff.

Editorial writer Bahng Hyeong-nam, hnbhang@donga.com