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Economy, economic policy, trade, and business
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2020
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Articles on current developments, compiled by Tim Beal.  
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This page also includes
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<LI>Reports on economic policy and sessions of the Supreme People's Assembly
<LI>International training of DPRK officials (eg by Choson Exchange)
<LI> Railways, including N-S rail links (except when overshadowed by the political dimension), ROK rail developments and Trans Siberian Railway

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<LI><A HREF=NK_econ20.htm#august20>August</A>
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AUGUST 2020</FONT>
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http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2020/08/12/2020081202179.html><B>

Korea Falls Behind Rivals in New Industries
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By Shin Eun-jin
August 12, 2020 12:55

Korea faces a serious labor shortage in new industries despite record high youth unemployment, a survey suggests.

The Korea Economic Research Institute on Tuesday said it surveyed policymakers at nine high-tech institutions who focus on future technologies like software, blockchain, robotics and drones and believe that the manpower shortage rate in these areas is 29.4 percent.

The worst shortage is in the drone technology sector with 55 percent, followed by 3D printing and robotics with 35 percent each.

Respondents said the competitiveness of workers in the sectors also lags behind the country's rivals China, Germany, Japan and the U.S.

Assuming that Korea's competitiveness is 100, they put the U.S. at 123.3, followed by Germany (114.4), Japan (107.8) and China (106.7).
[Competition]
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JANUARY 2020</FONT>
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http://english.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2020/01/02/2020010201809.html><B>
Exports Plunge to Lowest in Decade
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    By Choi Kyu-min 


January 02, 2020 12:36

Korea's exports dwindled 5.2 percent in December, in a declining streak lasting for 13 months. In the whole of last year they shrank 10.3 percent, the lowest since just after the global financial crisis in 2009.

According to the Korea Customs Service on Wednesday, exports totaled US$45.7 billion in December, down $2.49 billion on-year. Exports were sluggish throughout the year due to a semiconductor price crash, the trade war between Washington and Beijing, and an economic slowdown in China.


 [Exports] [Trade war] [Collateral]
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https://madmimi.com/p/3514ef?pact=14411-156172530-7672555222-10ce76b82977d98555bbe400213ea1da3092dbf3><B>
Korea Business News 
January 2020
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Roger Barrett - Managing Director, Korea Business Group
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As we reflect on the ‘old and the new’ at the turn of the decade, we may wonder just how strong, and how much more successful, the DPRK could be, if it were released from the shackles of international sanctions, and could truly start to blossom?

This is not just food for thought; it is the reality that the enormous potential of the country, in terms of is people-potential, as well as mining and energy resources, could easily be fulfilled were it to be unshackled from the sanctions burden.

The problem is not just the sanctions themselves, it is the threat of being sanctioned, and that keeps so many western companies away. But there is no ‘law against looking’, or having a 'proper gander’ as they say, or against talking, and even having a plan in place for when sanctions are eased or lifted, (whenever that may be!)

Northern Korea has an army of people, who are chomping at the bit to enter the wonderful world of international trade and commerce, that they have been hitherto excluded from. Although the whole of Korea, north and south, has long been referred to as "The Hermit Kingdom", in reality it is the US government that has systematically sought to isolate the country, and place it under sanctions. People are allowed to travel out; and people are allowed to travel in! We have taken many groups of business-minded people here ourselves. That, together with tourism is what we facilitate.

At the end of 2019, when both China and Russia, the country’s only two proper neighbours, sought to seek the approval of the UN Security Council to relax some of the onerous restrictions of sanctions on the nation, it was only the USA that strongly objected. South-Koreans want to go there to do business too; but for now they are not allowed. Nor are American or Japanese citizens - what an opportunity for the Europeans (Including Australasians, British and Canadians (the ABC) who should not be frightened to go there and have a look for themselves!

The DPRK’s frustration is clear. They want to unleash more of their Mining, Minerals and Metals (MMM) potential, onto international markets like the London Metals Exchange, as well as their renewable-energy potential. The wind off Rajin on the northeast coast, is said to be "strong-enough to break an oxen’s neck'’, and the world’s largest wave-project is just off the east coast next to the DMZ in south-Korea.

As can be seen elsewhere in this special 20th Anniversary edition of KBN, the concerted effort to move renewable-energy production ahead of coal has worked, and the ‘Hydro-Energy’ serge in capacity has led renewables production into the number one slot ahead of the coal-production which used to account for more than 50% of electricity production; now hydro is the top producer.

Combining the mining and energy sectors to enhance the manufacturing-sector, with the addition not just of ‘battery metals’, but adding real people, and managerial-skills
into the equation, may produce a different kind of ‘boom’ from the one the US politicians are always banging-on about.

[Sanctions] [Economic growth]
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