SEOUL, Oct. 30 (Yonhap) -- With just one year left before the 2012 deadline set by which North Korea says it will become a "strong and prosperous state," the Pyongyang regime is focused on securing U.S. dollars and gold, a source said Sunday.

   "North Korea is putting all its energies on setting aside finances necessary for large-scale political events, including a ceremony to mark the centennial of the birth of the late North Korean founder and president Kim Il-sung, next year," the source, who is well-informed on North Korea, said.

   The North's government organizations are desperate to purchase U.S. dollars and gold from North Koreans, according to the source.

   The North Korean Trade Bank is buying dollars from its residents at a black market rate of 2,800 North Korean won per U.S. dollar, the source said.

   As they travel around gold mines in Pyongan Province, the North's foreign trade officials directly collect gold unearthed from the mines and try to buy gold owned by North Koreans at above-market prices, he said.

   Pyongyang is also leading a campaign to promote cell phones, which might serve to relax the communist system, to secure dollars.

   The North's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications is making undue profits by importing Chinese cell phones at about US$80 apiece and reselling them for $300 or more.

   The ministry has recently forced each regional branch to sell a certain number of mobile phones, leading a campaign to increase the number of North Korean mobile phone users to 1 million within this year.

   The number of subscribers stood at 660,000 as of the end of June, according to data from Egypt's Orascom Telecom, which has been providing mobile service in the North since 2008.

   North Korea is also known to be demanding tens of hundreds of dollars per person as fees for arranging reunions for overseas Koreans who were separated from their family members living in the communist nation.

   sshim@yna.co.kr
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