Selling to survive

 
By Anna Fifield
Monday, December 10, 2007
 
 
Pak Hyun-yong was, by North Korean standards, an entrepreneur. Too much of an entrepreneur. During the famine that ravaged the country in the late 1990s, Mr Pak watched his family die of starvation - first his younger brother, then his older sister's children. Then, eventually, his sister too.

Somehow he pulled through this period, dubbed by the regime as "the arduous march", and was spurred into taking some very non-communist, almost subversive action. He began selling noodles.

Every day he would take 10kg of "corn rice" - a poor North Korean imitation in which dried kernels are fashioned into grains - and turn it into noodles. Then he would get on his bicycle and pedal around his home town of Hamhung on the east coast, bartering the noodles for 12kg of corn rice: 10kg for tomorrow's noodles and 2kg for his remaining family.

"The police would come by and try to persuade me not to sell the noodles, saying that I should not succumb to capitalism and that the Dear Leader would resolve our food shortages," says Mr Pak, who escaped from North Korea a year ago and is upbeat and energetic considering the hardships he has endured.

Now 32, he is in hiding in a bleak, remote village in northern China not far from the North Korean border, together with his wife, with whom he escaped, and their new baby. They live in a one-room house with no bathroom - protected by locals who are helping them settle.

"The [North Korean] police even threatened to imprison me if I didn't stop selling. Suddenly I realised that North Korea was a country where they would stop people's efforts to survive," he says, sitting on the warm floor of his house, still dressed in the apron he wears to work in a nearby butchery.

"I heard that China was a rich and modern country - that they had tractors and that people could eat rice every day, even in rural areas," he says, shaking his head. "Chinese dogs wouldn't eat our rice - they would ask for better."

In almost 20 interviews along the border with China, ethnic Koreans born in China and North Korean escapees, some of whom had been in the isolated state as recently as two months ago, describe a country where change is taking place from the ground up rather than under the direction of its leader, Kim Jong-il.

North Korea remains the most tightly controlled state in the world. But recent escapees tell of the changes that are being driven by necessity in areas near China, especially in the cities of Rajin and Hoeryong in the north and Sinuiju at the southern end of the border.

While it would be an overstatement to say that this represents the type of nascent transition to free-market reforms that has occurred in countries such as Russia and China, the worsening state of the North Korean economy is leading to widespread trading and the emergence of a fledgling merchant class crossing into China, the escapees say.

Some agricultural markets - rather than just state markets - were permitted during the "economic improvements" of 2002, but ad-hoc markets have since sprung up around the country with the tacit approval, if not the encouragement, of the regime. These markets are now the backbone of North Korea's creaking economy as the regime provides almost nothing by way of rations any more.

The parlous state of the economy is probably the driving factor behind Mr Kim's decision to roll back his nuclear programme. The six-party denuclearisation talks are making surprisingly good progress, analysts say, as his regime seeks heavy fuel oil for its rusting industries and an end to economic sanctions.

Certainly, recent escapees from North Korea describe a desperate situation inside the country. Somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 North Koreans are thought to be living in hiding in the north-eastern provinces of China, especially in Jilin and Heilongjiang, areas considered backward by Chinese standards.

The Financial Times travelled throughout this region to meet North Koreans while seeking to avoid endangering their lives. (North Koreans who are repatriated from China face detention in labour camps or worse, and even those who are not caught put the lives of family members at risk by talking to journalists. For that reason, names have been changed.)

"In Rajin, all the factories have stopped," says Oh Man-bok, a 22-year-old who escaped in September from the city near the borders with Russia and China, considered relatively prosperous because it is one of the North's main trading channels. "The men still have to go to work and have their name checked off but there is nothing to do. Sometimes they sit around and sometimes they go home. They don't get paid but sometimes, in a good month, they get 15 days' worth of corn in rations," he says.

That means women are increasingly becoming the breadwinners, going to the mountains to collect edible plants or to the market to sell home-made snacks. "People survive by selling. They do whatever they can to earn money - selling fried dough sticks or repairing shoes and clothes," Mr Oh says. "But it's very difficult to earn enough to survive and even in Rajin, many people have to eat porridge made from the whey left over from making tofu."

Rajin and Sinuiju, as the main thoroughfares for trade with China, have been more open than the rest of North Korea for some time, but the experiment with capitalism that has been taking place in these two cities now appears to be expanding to Hoeryong.

The city of Hoeryong can be clearly seen from the Chinese side of the border, which is marked by a shallow river only 20 metres wide in places. On the bridge between the two countries, the Financial Times watched North Korean trucks trundle into China and dozens of Chinese - and a few North Koreans wearing badges stamped with the image of Kim Il-sung, Mr Kim's late father and founder of the state - lug bags across.

A Chinese border official says that about 100 a day cross the bridge from the Chinese side, mainly going to visit family members, although in summer as many as 300 go on tour packages to the beach on North Korea's east coast. About 10 North Koreans a day cross into China for trading or to see their relatives. "With Rmb1,000 [$135, £65, €2] they can come to China even if they don't have family here. So they often borrow money to come here and buy things for trading in the market in Hoeryong," the official says.

Bribery appears to be becoming more widespread as trade and travel increases - from a few cigarettes needed to pass through internal checkpoints to the few hundred renminbi expected at border crossings. "Everyone wants to be a border guard these days," says one Chinese-Korean trader. "They don't explicitly say, 'Give me money' - they just keep going through your paperwork and asking you questions until you offer them money."

(To be continued)

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朝鲜能否卖出一条生路?
 
作者：英国《金融时报》安娜•费菲尔德(Anna Fifield)
2007年12月10日 星期一
 
 
以朝鲜的标准衡量，潘云勇（Pak Hyun-yong，音译）是位创业者。可这位创业者付出的代价也太大了。在上世纪90年代末肆虐朝鲜的饥荒中，他眼看着家人饿死——先是弟弟，接着是姐姐的孩子。最后，姐姐也饿死了。

潘云勇总算熬过了那段朝鲜当局所称的“艰苦长征”，并开始做一些非共产主义、几乎有些颠覆意味的事儿。他开始卖面条。

那时，潘云勇每天都会拿着10公斤“玉米面”（朝鲜一种用晒干的玉米粒加工成的玉米面），把这种糟糕的仿制面做成面条。然而，他骑上自行车，在位于东海岸的家乡咸兴沿街叫卖。他要用面条换12公斤的玉米面：10公斤用来做第二天的面条，剩下的2公斤养家糊口。

潘云勇表示：“有时警察走过来，劝我不要卖面条，他们说，我不应向资本主义低头，亲爱的领袖会解决食品短缺问题。”一年前，他逃离了朝鲜。虽然潘云勇经历了种种苦难，但他显得乐观而且颇有精力。

潘云勇今年32岁，如今躲在中国北方一个荒凉偏远的村落。这个村子距离中朝边境不远。在当地人的庇护和帮助下，他和一起出逃的妻子和刚出生的孩子，在一间没有浴室的房子里安顿下来。

他表示：“（朝鲜）警方甚至威胁我，如果我还去卖面条，就把我关进监狱。我突然意识到，在朝鲜，他们不让人活下去。” 潘云勇坐在屋里温暖的地上，身上还穿着在附近屠宰厂上班穿的围裙。

“听说中国是个富裕、现代的国家。他们有拖拉机，人们天天都能吃上米饭，甚至在农村也是如此。”他摇着头说道，“中国的狗都不会吃我们的米——它们吃得更好。”

我在中朝边境做了近20次采访，出生在中国的鲜族人和朝鲜难民称，朝鲜的变革是自下而上的，而不是在领袖金正日(Kim Jong-il)的指引下进行的。就在两个月前，我们采访的一些难民还生活在朝鲜这个与世隔绝的国家。

朝鲜仍是全球管控最严的国家。但朝鲜难民近来谈到，在一些靠近中国的地区，特别是北部城市罗津和会宁以及中朝边境南端的新义州，求生的需求正推动着变革。

如果说这代表着朝鲜开始像中国和俄罗斯等国一样，向自由市场改革过渡，那是夸大其词。但一些朝鲜难民表示，随着经济状况恶化，导致朝鲜各地开始经商，并出现一批新兴的、与中国做生意的商人。

在2002年“经济改善”时期，朝鲜不仅只有国有市场，并容忍一些农贸市场存在。此后，在政府的默许下——如果说不是鼓励的话，农贸市场在全国范围内兴起。目前，农贸市场支撑着朝鲜摇摇欲坠的经济，因为按照定量配给制度，政府几乎什么都提供不了。

朝鲜经济陷入困境，可能是金正日决定放弃核武计划的推动因素。分析人士表示，六方去核会谈正取得令人意外的进展，金正日政府希望为其陈旧的工业寻求重油，并结束经济制裁。

根据最近逃离朝鲜难民讲述，朝鲜国内状况令人绝望。据悉，有1万至3万朝鲜难民逃到中国东北，特别是吉林和黑龙江。以中国的标准来衡量，东北是落后地区。

英国《金融时报》走访了东北，采访了一些朝鲜人。为了避免因采访危及他们的生命，记者对他们的名字做了改动。（从中国遣返的朝鲜人，会面临进劳改营或更为严重的惩罚。那些没有被抓获的朝鲜难民与记者交谈，则可能会使家人面临危险。）

今年22岁的吴万福(Oh Man-bok,音译) 9月份逃离朝鲜，他表示：“在罗津，所有工厂都已停产。” 罗津位于朝俄和朝中边境附近。人们认为这个城市相对繁荣，因为它是朝鲜主要贸易通道之一。他表示：“人们还要去上班、点名，却无事可做。他们有时闲着，有时回家。他们拿不到工资，在好的月份里，有时可能会分到15天的玉米配给。”

这意味着，女性越来越成为养家糊口的人。她们进山采野菜，或者去集市卖些家里做的小吃。“人们靠小生意维持生计。为了赚钱，她们卖油条、修鞋、或者补衣服，什么事都做。”吴万福表示，“要赚够维生的钱很难，即便在罗津，许多人也要吃豆渣熬的粥。”

作为与中国贸易的主要通道，罗津和新义州一度比朝鲜其它地区更为开放。目前，罗津和新义州的资本主义试验似乎在向会宁蔓延。

从边境线的中国一端，人们可以清楚地看到会宁市。中朝两国之间的分界线是一条浅浅的江，有些地方仅有20米宽。英国《金融时报》记者看到，在连接中朝两国的桥上，几辆朝鲜卡车开往中国，还有很多中国人和一些佩戴金日成(Kim Il-sung)像章的朝鲜人拖着大包走过。金日成是金正日已故的父亲，是朝鲜缔造者。

一位中国边防官员称，每天约有100人从中国这边过桥。他们主要是去探望家人。在夏季，每天随团到朝鲜东海岸海滩度假的人会多达300人。每天约有10个朝鲜人进入中国境内，他们做生意，或探望亲戚。这位中国官员表示：“即便他们在这里没有家人，只要带上1000元人民币也能过关。所以，他们经常借钱来这边买东西，然后到会宁市场做交易。”

随着贸易和旅行增加，贿赂现象似乎越来越普遍，从上供几颗烟通过国内检查站，到过境交几百元人民币不等。“现在谁都想当边防卫兵，”一位中国鲜族商人表示：“他们不会明说‘给我钱'，而是没完没了地查你的文件，问你很多问题，直到给他们钱才行。”

（待续）

SELLING TO SURVIVE

 
By Anna Fifield
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
 
 
Again, Pyongyang seems to be aware that this is happening and allows it as a way to keep people happy - rotating border guards every six months to give officials from around the country a chance to earn extra money, according to escapees.

In Hoeryong, the market used to be beside the bridge on the outskirts but this year it was moved to a school building right in the centre of town. Its 180,000 residents enjoy a relatively privileged existence because Kim Jong-il's late mother was born there.

The market has become central to the city and to people's lives, driven by grassroots demand, says Song Mi-ok, an ethnic Korean living in China who has made several trips to the city recently. She has gained access by visiting fake relatives, a family to whom she pays Rmb1,000 every time she pretends to visit them.

"You can find everything there," she says of the market, which opens at 7.30am and closes at dusk. "People usually start by selling food that they have grown or made, using the profits to move into goods trading."

North Koreans say one can buy everything in the markets "except cat horns", as their expression has it. Rice given as aid from South Korea is on sale and people even display the bag - even though they risk having it confiscated by the authorities - because people know that South Korean rice is of high quality, Ms Song says.

One kilogram of rice in Hoer-yong market costs 900 North Korean won - a huge amount in a country where the average wage for a government employee is about between 3,000 and 4,000 won a month, or slightly more than one US dollar.

"There are a lot of people buying and it's all money trade; there's no bartering now," Ms Song says. "North Koreans are poor, so it's quite surprising to see people with a lot of money. They don't receive money from the state - it's all money they have made themselves."

One Korean-Chinese man who visited relatives in Hoeryong last year also describes an increasingly active drug trade. It is not uncommon, he says, to be approached by people in their twenties or thirties selling a white narcotic called "ice" - probably a form of crystal methamphetamine. The drug fetches 20 times the North Korean price in China, making smuggling a lucrative business, but the punishment for drug trafficking in China is so severe that Hoeryong dealers try to sell it to visiting Chinese.

The markets are thriving thanks to new border regulations. While the number crossing illegally has dropped because of tighter restrictions in both countries, the number of North Koreans who are allowed to cross into China legally has steadily increased, according to several Korean-Chinese who help those who make it across the border.

North Koreans with relatives in China but not in South Korea are allowed to apply for passports to cross the border. This is creating a new group of migrant workers - those who are legal but working for themselves and their families rather than for the state. "Young people come here to work for one or two months and earn some money - they're coming from Pyongyang as well as the regions," says Ri In-chol, an ethnic Korean missionary from China who supports border crossers, legal or otherwise.

"They pay Rmb300-Rmb400 to get a passport and then they can cross. There is now a much freer flow because Kim Jong-il realises that this is the only way to keep the people alive. They take back money, used sewing machines and used clothes from their relatives that they can sell in the markets," Mr Ri says.

Although Chinese clothes are most prevalent, North Koreans prefer South Korean products for their higher quality. "The labels have to be cut out of South Korean clothes, so if they don't have a label then people assume that they're South Korean and they like them more," says another Chinese-Korean who has recently visited Rajin.

Indeed, Mr Ri says that North Korean officials are picky about what they will let through. "When North Koreans come to China they are allowed to take used clothes back. But when Korean-Chinese people want to give clothes to their relatives in North Korea, they have to be new because otherwise the officials think they are being looked down on," he says. (Jeans and short skirts, seen as representative of American immorality, are still not allowed.)

The economic changes - particularly the lessening dependence on the state - are potentially destabilising for Mr Kim's regime because they weaken the tools of control. That means that there is a fine line between what is permissible and what is not. "Kim Jong-il is tolerating t*his much openness because people need to survive, but if he wakes up one morning and sees capitalism is spreading too far, he will order it all to be stopped," says Gao Jing-zhu, professor of Korean studies at China's Yanbian University, near the border.

"North Korea is small, so if there is too much change it will threaten the sustainability of the regime and it will collapse," Prof Gao says. "North Korea is in a dilemma."

Good Friends, a Seoul-based civic group that monitors life inside North Korea, this month said Pyongyang was cracking down on women working in street markets. "The authorities have judged that female merchants have reached a point that threatens the country's government," Good Friends quoted a North Korean official in China as saying.

"The men are tied to their workplaces but they don't receive proper rations," the official reportedly said. "This has shifted the men's burden of supporting their families on to the women. With trade directly linked to the people's survival, the crackdown isn't going well."

Indeed, it may already be too late. The increased economic interaction with China means that the flow of information to North Koreans is steadily increasing. "People's awareness and illusions have changed," says one ChineseKorean who drives trucks into North Korea.

This is just the kind of contact that threatens Mr Kim's regime, which has kept the 23m-strong population under control by cutting off access to the outside world and telling them they live in a socialist paradise. Mr Ri, the missionary, says: "People living in open areas like Rajin and Hoeryong are more exposed to the outside world but that is not the case when you go further into North Korea. So even if it is becoming more open, you never know when that is going to change. They will still come after you if you are involved in political activities."

But recent escapees from North Korea say that people are increasingly discussing - in private - one topic that they say would have been unimaginable until very recently: the eventual death of the Dear Leader. "State control is still as strong as before but now, when people gather together as families, they say that the system is really wrong. That never used to happen before," says Mr Pak, the man who left Hamhung last year.

"Kim Jong-il always says he will feed the people and make them happy, but that has not happened. There are many people who hope that Kim Jong-il will die soon," he says, shrugging his shoulders. "I have to admit it: the state is already kind of breaking down."

朝鲜能否“卖”出一条生路？(下)
 
作者：英国《金融时报》安娜•费菲尔德(Anna Fifield)
2007年12月11日 星期二
 
 
据出逃的朝鲜人说，朝鲜政府似乎了解边防贿赂的事，对此默许并每半年换一次边防，让全国官员都高兴一次，有机会捞点外快。

以前，会宁农贸市场就在边境的桥旁，但今年则搬到市中心一栋教学楼。会宁市人口有18万，由于金正日已故的母亲生在此地，这里居民的生活相对好一些。

宋美玉（Song Mi-ok，音译）表示，在老百姓需求的推动下，农贸市场已成为会宁市和人们生活的中心。宋美玉是中国鲜族人，她最近去过会宁几次。她以探亲（是假亲戚）为名过境，每次假装去探亲时，都会给这家人1000元人民币。

会宁农贸市场早晨七点半开放，黄昏时关闭。“那儿什么都有，” 宋美玉谈到会宁农贸市场时说。“通常，人们先是卖自己种的或做的食物，然而靠利润去做货物交易。”

朝鲜人说，市场上什么都能买到，只有“猫角”买不到（注：猫角是朝鲜人的一种说法，类似汉语中的麟角之意）。宋美玉说，市场上还卖韩国援助的大米。即使冒着韩国米被官方没收的风险，商贩也会把米袋拿给人看，因为人们知道韩国米质量好。

在会宁农贸市场上，一公斤大米要价900朝元。鉴于政府工作人员每月平均薪金约为3000至4000朝元，这个价钱相当贵。

“（市场上）做买卖的人很多，全是货币交易；现在没有实物交易了。”宋美玉表示，“朝鲜人很穷，看到人们有这么多钱感到很吃惊。国家不给他们钱，这些钱都是自己赚的。”

一位中国鲜族人去年曾到会宁探亲，他谈到了日益猖獗的毒品交易。他说，二三十岁的人会走到你跟前，卖一种叫做“冰”的白色麻醉药（可能是一种结晶状脱氧麻黄碱），这种现象并不少见。在中国，这些毒品的价格是朝鲜价格的20倍，使走私成为一项有利可图的买卖。但中国对毒品走私的惩罚措施非常严厉，毒品贩子会竭力把它卖给到会宁来的中国人。

鉴于朝鲜推出新的边界规定，上述农贸市场日益繁荣。几个助人跨境的中国鲜族人称，由于中朝两国加强边境监管，非法越境的人数有所降低；同时，合法进入中国的朝鲜人数量则稳步上升。

对于在中国有亲戚、在韩国没有亲戚的朝鲜人来说，他们可以申请跨境护照。这在造就新一批移民工人，他们合法跨境，为自己和家人工作，而不是为国家工作。李银哲（Ri In-chol，音译）是来自中国的一位朝鲜族传教士，他说：“年轻人来自平壤和其它地区，到这儿工作一两个月，赚点钱。”无论合法跨境，还是以其它的方式跨境，他都对这些人提供帮助。

这位传教士说：“他们花300至400元人民币拿到一个护照，然后就能过境。现在流动更自由了，因为金正日意识到这是让人们活下来的唯一方法。过境的人从亲戚那儿带回钱、旧缝纫机和旧衣服，到市场上去卖。”

尽管中国服装最常见，但由于韩国产品质量较高，朝鲜人更喜欢韩国货。另一位最近去过罗津的中国鲜族人说：“要把商标从韩国服装上剪下来，如果没商标，人们就会假定它们是韩国货，并更喜欢这些衣服。”

李银哲说，朝鲜官员对于过境货物颇为挑剔。他说：“朝鲜人去中国时，允许带回旧衣物。可中国鲜族人想给在朝鲜的亲戚一些衣服时，衣服必须是新的，否则官员会认为有失尊严。”（牛仔装和短裙则被视为美国式道德败坏的象征，仍属被禁物品。）

对金正日政权而言，经济变革（特别是对国家依赖程度的降低）是潜在的不稳定因素，因为它们弱化了统治工具。这意味着，在允许和不允许之间的界限很微妙。中国延边大学(Yanbian University)研究朝鲜和韩国问题的高敬洙教授表示：“由于人们要生存，金正日现在允许这种开放。如果他某天早晨醒来，看到资本主义蔓延过头了，就会下令禁止这一切。”延边大学位于（中朝）边境。

“朝鲜很小，如果变化太多，将威胁政权的持续稳定，从而导致政权垮台。”高教授表示，“朝鲜正处于一种进退两难的境地。”

好朋友(Good Friends)是一个总部设在首尔、搜集朝鲜内部生活情况的市民团体。该团体上个月表示，平壤在打击街头的女商贩。好朋友援引一位在华朝鲜官员的话说：“官方认为，女商贩已达到威胁国家政府的程度。”

据报道，这位官员表示：“男人被拴在工作单位工作，却得不到适当的配给。这把男人养家的负担转移到女人身上。由于贸易直接关系到人们的生计，（对女商贩的）打击并不顺利。”

事实上，这可能已经太迟了。朝鲜与中国的经济交流有所增长，意味着传到朝鲜的信息在稳步增加。一位经常开货车去朝鲜的中国鲜族人表示：“人们的认识和幻想都在变。”

正是这种对华交流，在对金正日政权造成威胁。金正日政权割断了本国人民与外界的联系，借以控制着2300多万朝鲜人，并称他们生活在社会主义天堂。传教士Ri In-chol称：“生活在罗津和会宁等开放地区的人，正在更多地接触外部世界。可你深入朝鲜其它地区时，情况就不一样了。因此，即使朝鲜变得更加开放，你永远也不会知道它何时会变。如果你参与政治，他们就会来抓你。”

最近一些逃离朝鲜的人表示，人们（私底下）越来越多地讨论一个话题，即“亲爱的领袖”总有一天去世的事。他们说，这在以前是无法想象的。去年离开咸兴的潘云勇表示：“国家的控制措施与以前一样严，但如今人们在家中聚会时，会说这种体制是错的。过去，从来没有这种事。”

“金正日总是说，他会养活朝鲜人民，让他们幸福，事实并非如此。如今，有很多人希望金正日早点死。”他说这话的时候耸了耸肩。“我得承认，在一定程度上，这个国家开始瓦解了。”