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.

Virtual Suggestions: Google and North Korea, by Peter Hayes and Roger Cavazos

[Long-time friend of CanKor, Peter Hayes is Director of the Nautilus Institute and a member of the Editorial Board of Global Asia. He is also Adjunct Professor of International Relations at RMIT University. Roger Cavazos is an Associate at the Nautilus Institute focusing on North Korea and China. The following article is is taken from PacNet #4 published on Thursday, 10 January 2013. The PacNet Newsletter is a weekly publication of Pacific Forum CSIS, generated from a network of policy research institutes designed to facilitate communication on timely events in the region and to serve as a vehicle for sharing research results and analyses. –CanKor]

Google Executive Eric Schmidt visits Kim Il Sung University’s “electronic library” (Photo by Reuters)

Despite the media attention paid to Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt during his visit to North Korea, make no mistake, Bill Richardson and Tony Namkung are the driving force behind the visit. Richardson has sojourned to North Korea half a dozen times and Namkung has visited at least 100 times. Eric Schmidt was likely the “juicy bait” to seal the deal with the North Koreans. Even a reclusive North Korea knows a great deal when they see one.

Assuredly DPRK leaders will enjoy chewing the cud with Schmidt about the state of the world’s knowledge economy. Equally obvious is that North Korea will publicly embrace Google and the open Internet, yet maintain or strengthen tight controls over the North Korean intranet.