Remembering the RAC, by Justin Rohrlich

[CanKor Editor Erich Weingartner talks to New York City based journalist Justin Rohrlich about the early days of the RAC, an expatriate bar and social club that attained a surprisingly worldwide reputation as a must-visit venue for foreign visitors in Pyongyang. This article was published on 23 April 2013 in NKNews.org. –CanKor]

Remembering North Korea’s ‘Random Access Club’

Canadian Erich Weingartner recounts how he helped set up an exclusive foreigner only bar in Pyongyang

“This was the T-shirt we produced back then,” Weingartner says. “As you can see, no reference to ‘Random Access Club,’ haha. On the back of the shirt were the names of the agencies, both UN and NGO, that were resident in North Korea at that time. 20 in all.”

Mirroring the experience of other expats that have lived in North Korea, Erich Weingartner says that when he arrived in Pyongyang in 1997 to head the Food Liaison Unit, a division of the UN World Food Programme, “there was literally nothing for foreigners to do” outside the Munsudong compound within which virtually all of them reside while in-country.

“In those days, they had a bowling alley, which still exists, and we used — we had our daughter’s birthday party there,” Weingartner tells me. “They had a couple of amusement parks in the city; there were some classical concerts you could go to; they had a zoo. I never went, it was apparently pretty sad to see the animals there, but it was available. Other than that, we mostly played volleyball and soccer and so on in the diplomatic compound.”

“The Russians had more access, for example, to a golf course, occasionally some hunting,” he remembers. “They’ve been there so long and have such a huge embassy, they have extra privileges in certain areas.”

But even though Weingartner, now Editor-in-Chief of CanKor, an Ontario-based initiative “seeking rational North Korea policy,” managed to obtain a North Korean driver’s license (the saga involved an interpreter who “sweetened” Weingartner’s incorrect answers to ensure he passed the oral portion of the exam and a road test that tested his ability to drive up a winding hill and halfway into a circular driveway, then back down to the bottom of the hill in reverse), his movements were still restricted.

DPRK Business Monthly Volume IV, No.1

The DPRK Business Monthly, an international business report edited in Beijing, has been made available to CanKor readers by its editor, Paul White. Please check the  current February 2013 edition here: DPRK Business Monthly Volume IV, No.1

Solar-powered streetlamps in Pyongyang

Titles of articles found in this issue include:

• PRC Firm to Invest in NK Gold Mine, Hotel
• Russia to Go Ahead with Pipeline
• Phoenix regains Sinji brand name
• Short-sighted Sanctions Hurt Ordinary People
• NGO Initiatives in the DPRK: Waves 4 Water
• Most ROK Firms Interested in Inter-Korean Economic Ties
• Inter-Korean Trade Hits Record High in 2012
• Internet Access for Visitors
• Pyongyang Stores Selling More NK-made Goods
• Pyongyang Gets Solar Street Lamps
• NK’s Intranet Increases Cyber Courses
• JV Pharmacy Open 24 Hours in Pyongyang
• DPRK Eyes “World-class Tourism Resorts”
• China to Start Electricity Supply to Rason

…plus a number of other items, including a selection of North Korean tours by various tour operators.

DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.12

The DPRK Business Monthly, an international business report edited in Beijing, has been made available to CanKor readers by its editor, Paul White. Please check the  current January 2013 edition here: DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.12

Former New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson (left) and Google chairman Eric Schmidt (Photo by AP)

Titles of articles found in this issue include:

• Google Head Visits Pyongyang
• Virtual Suggestions: Google and North Korea
• DPRK Never Has Been Hermetically Sealed
• Another US Entrepreneur Honorary Pyongyang Citizen
• NK Relaxes Cell Phone Rules for Foreigners
• NK Eyes More Foreign Media Outlets: AP Vice-president
• Grain, Fertilizer Imports from China Fall Sharply
• Western Instructors Train N. Koreans in Statistics
• NK Seeks German Help to Open Economy
• Pyongyang Wants Private Sector Cooperation with ROK
• ROK Civic Groups Call for Kumgang Tours Resumption
• DPRK Tablet PC Can Receive TV Broadcasts
• Kaesong Production Up 17.5%
• Row Brews Over Kaesong Holiday Move

…plus a number of other items, including a selection of North Korean tours by various tour operators.

Comment by the Business Monthly Editor:

“LinkedIn blocked me when I listed my North Korean address — and I was not the only one,” Felix Abt, a Swiss entrepreneur who spent seven years living and doing business in North Korea, said.

Books: “A Capitalist in North Korea” reviewed by Leonid Petrov

[CanKor Brain Trust member Dr. Leonid Petrov is a Russian academic teaching Korean History and Language at the University of Sydney. He is also a Research Associate at the Australian National Uuniversity School of International, Political & Strategic Studies. This review is taken from “Leonid Petrov’s KOREA VISION”, a personal website representing his views and opinions about both North and South Korea. –CanKor]

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A CAPITALIST IN NORTH KOREA: My seven years in the Hermit Kingdom, by Felix Abt. Amazon Digital Services, Inc., 2012. ISBN (ePub Edition): 978-1-937572-92-1. Reviewed by CanKor Brain Trust member Leonid Petrov.

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This new book on North Korea is extraordinary. Since the late 1990s the influx of analytical and documentary literature on North Korea can be broadly divided into two categories: those that exhibit the terrors of life in North Korea, and the rest that speculate on what is wrong with North Korea. Felix Abt, a Swiss entrepreneur who lived and worked in the last communist Hermit Kingdom for seven years, attempts to depict life in North Korea as “normal” despite overwhelming ideological pressure from within and the harsh treatment from foreign powers. To date, only a handful of famed historians, such as Bruce Cumings and Gavan McCormack, have succeeded in showing North Korea from such an unusual angle.

As a business entrepreneur, Felix Abt prefers to remain apolitical and impartial when sharing his thoughts and memories of the seven-year sojourn. His writing exhibits his love for Korea and genuine concern for its people. In his assessments of North Korea’s past and present, the author approaches all issues from a human (and humanistic) perspective, attempting to present life in the country sans political or ideological colouring. But documenting everyday life in the DPRK “as it is” is often inherently counterproductive to the goal of presenting North Korea as “normal” or even on the road to normality. Snapshots of life in North Korea, more often than not, exhibit the miserable lives of the common people alongside the growing wealth of the privileged and trusted groups in the capital, Pyongyang.

DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.11

The DPRK Business Monthly, an international business report edited in Beijing, has been made available to CanKor readers by its editor, Paul White. Please check the  current December 2012 edition here: DPRK Business Monthly Vol III, No.11

Titles of articles found in this issue include:

• DPRK-China Trade Up 62%
• German NGO Research Institute of Organic Agriculture
• Kempinski to Manage Ryugyong Hotel
• Mongolia Eyes Rajin Port Access
• Book Review: A Capitalist in North Korea by Felix Abt

…plus a number of other items, including a selection of North Korean tours by various tour operators.

Comment by the Business Monthly Editor:

While blogs and tabloid newspapers had a field day with North Korea’s supposed announcement that it had discovered a “unicorn lair,” more responsible journalists pointed out that “unicorn” is one of many English translations of the word “Kirin.” This is the name of a mythical beast in Asian folklore, along with the dragon and the phoenix. In fact, KCNA itself pointed this out. Calling a cave a “Kirin cave” is no stranger than calling a peak “Dragon Peak” or a valley “Dragon Valley.”

The aim of the report was to offer the inscription “Kiringul” as evidence that King Tongmyong, the founder of the Koguryo kingdom (37 BC-668 AD) set up his capital near Pyongyang. This is understandable given the importance the DPRK and the ROK attach to claiming the allegiance of all Koreans. There are legends associated with the king, including one that he rode a Kirin.

If that was all there was to it, it would be hardly worth mentioning. But it is important to note that much reporting hostile to the DPRK will by accident — or design — pick on a clumsy translation to sneer at the North Koreans and present a misleading picture of the place.

Please feel free to consult the full issue by clicking on this link: DPRK Business Monthly Vol III, No.11

Related articles

• DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.10 (CanKor.ca)
• DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.9 (CanKor.ca)
• DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.8 (CanKor.ca)
• DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.7 (CanKor.ca)
• DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.6 (CanKor.ca)

DPRK Business Monthly Volume III, No.10

The DPRK Business Monthly, an international business report edited in Beijing, has been made available to CanKor readers by its editor, Paul White. Please check the  current October 2012 edition here:  DPRK Business Monthly Vol III, No.10

Titles of articles found in this issue include:

• N. Korea signs air service deal with UAE
• Knowledge Sharing Promotes Growth, Understanding
• NK Missing `Golden Moment’ to Stem TB
• North, South Groups Remember Independence Fighter
• NK Cabinet “Flexing Muscles”
• New Consumer Culture Seen Emerging in NK
• NK Has 1.5 Million Mobile Subscribers
• More Chinese Inroads into Rason?
• ROK May Build 2 More Daycare Centers at Kaesong

…plus a number of other items, including a selection of North Korean tours by various tour operators.