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(Yonhap Feature) N. Korea promotes its exports through up-scale Web site
By Sam Kim
SE0UL, Dec. 31 (Yonhap) -- Investing in North Korea, a communist country with the world's tightest border security, is just a few clicks away on its newest Web site promoting its cream-of-the-crop industries and products.
The site, www.dprk-economy.com, is the latest effort the fortress state is making to revitalize its broken economy as it slowly moves toward denuclearization under a six-nation deal.
The deal promises fuel and other incentives in exchange for the North's commitment to nuclear dismantlement. Pyongyang detonated in a test its first atomic device in October last year, rattling regional stability.
Despite being accused of failing to disclose all its nuclear programs by year's end, Pyongyang is expected to follow through with its landmark accord with South Korea, the United States, Japan, China and Russia, experts say.
North Korea appears to have interest in adopting capitalist ideas in a manner that keeps its system intact and safe from a sudden inflow of outside influence.
A North Korean delegation, led by Finance Ministry officials, arrived in New York last month to hold talks with U.S. officials and attend seminars on the international financial system.
But the regime continues to show signs of anxiety and fear, constantly warning about "outside forces trying to penetrate" and vowing through its official media to deal harshly with any dissent.
The Web site, monitored here Monday, is named "Cheollima" (horse that runs thousands of miles) and declares on its front page that it is running to "pay the utmost attention to ensuring the decent well-being of its people."
But it notes that "self-reliance and autonomy" are essentials that North Korea's economic activities are based on and should stick to.
The site introduces dozens of North Korea-based companies, many of them in heavy and light industries, complete with contacts and pictures of their facilities. The site insists North Korea has invested heavily in construction and heavy utilities despite its failure to properly feed its 23 million people.
In a section that apparently allows visitors to use credit cards, the site exhibits products ranging from kimchi, cosmetics and movies to a four-wheel drive vehicle, a speedboat and even a high-tech medical device capable of detecting heart and brain abnormalities.
These products -- for just about everything one needs to lead a normal, if not plush, lifestyle -- can be purchased in U.S. dollars, the site said, despite the fact most of the written information is in Korean.
The site uses the latest Internet devices such as banners and an eye-catching design that employs sophisticated animation script, even allowing visitors to make inquiries online. However, an attempted inquiry from South Korea was not processed due to what appeared to be a technical glitch.
The site lauds North Korea's leader Kim Jong-il. In one of the latest promotions, dated Nov. 29, the site reports a military performance that praises "dear leader and comrade Kim Jong-il who has embraced his undefeatable army in his loving bosom" - information that has no relation to the products being advertised.
Despite ongoing discussions, North Korea and the U.S., which fought against each other in the 1950-53 Korean War, have no diplomatic relations. North Korea has also been under United Nations sanctions because of its missile and nuclear tests.
North Korea's interest in capitalism is not new but it is increasing as the six-nation denuclearization talks continue to progress. In 2000, the Ministry of Foreign Trade established the Centre for the Study of the Capitalist System, and the Pyongyang Business School.
South Korea has also been urging North Korea to open up. Early this month at inter-Korean talks in Seoul, the South's deputy premier Kwon O-kyu told his North Korean counterpart Jun Sung-hun that Pyongyang should "develop competitiveness to raise exports and foster a mood in which South Korean and other foreign firms can invest more easily."
The talks followed on the heels of the second inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang that produced a wide-ranging economic cooperation pacts. The two Koreas held their first summit in 2000, resulting in a joint industrial complex in the North Korean border city of Kaesong.
Despite growing reconciliation, the two Koreas remain technically in a state of war as the Korean War ended in a truce not a peace treaty.
samkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
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