North Korea eyes computer software, military hardware (aim high?)

SEOUL – North Korea unveiled a new economic blueprint this week that sets the impoverished Stalinist state the target of becoming a high-technology powerhouse within two decades. Military spending remains the biggest budget item and a top priority for North Korea, one of the world's poorest countries that fields the fifth biggest army.

Next comes agriculture and the goal of feeding its people, a target that North Korea has missed every year for more than a decade, during which it has relied on handouts from the outside world.

Adding a new priority, scientific and technological development was adopted Tuesday by North Korea's rubber-stamp legislature as one of the country's top three key national goals for the future.

Choe Thae Bok, chairman of the Supreme People's Assembly, or parliament, called for a long-term strategy to turn the world's most isolated country into a software superpower by 2022.

Choe was speaking during a special session of the parliament in which the 2006 budget was unveiled.

State revenue is expected to rise 7.1 percent while expenditure for the year is expected to be up 3.5 percent from 2005.

Defense spending takes the lion's share at 15.9 percent of the total, so as to "thoroughly implement the party's policy to put all the people under arms and convert the whole country into a fortress," according to Vice-Premier of the Cabinet Ro Tu Chol, who delivered a report at the session.

But high-tech is clearly the new priority in North Korea and software development seen as a potential market.

"It is urgent to build a nationwide information network and develop programming technology rapidly and thus turn our country into a power in software development," Choe said in a speech published by the official Korean Central News Agency.

He urged North Koreans to create "a social habit and tendency whereby everyone works hard to learn science and technology and become a scientist and a technician."

North Korea launched a five-year campaign to elevate computer technology in 2003 after leader Kim Jong-Il declared the 21st century the era of the IT revolution.

North Korea's IT industry is still in its infancy. A small number of North Koreans have computers at home, with only selected people in the leadership allowed direct access to the Internet.

Choe, however, said North Korea had to move fast to seize on the potential of high technology.

"We are faced with the important tasks to develop ultra-modern science and technology rapidly, put the nation's science and technology on an advanced, high level in a short span of time by our own efforts in reliance on the existing foundations and potentials."

The drive to develop the IT industry comes amid a tense stand-off with the outside world over its nuclear weapons drive which has complicated Pyongyang's efforts to recover from near economic collapse.

Outside experts agree North Korea has made tangible progress since a decade ago when the entire country was in the grip of a famine.

At Tuesday's meeting, Premier Pak Pong-Ju said the government would bring a "radical" turn in attaching importance to science and technology this year while holding fast to the principle of giving top priority to the increase of military capabilities.

Park conceded the tasks facing the country "are vast and difficulties and ordeals are still lying in the way of its activities this year."

One of this year's main economic tasks is to "fully solve the food problem," he said.

North Korea took reform measures in 2002, freeing prices, wages and exchange rates from central control. It has also eased government controls over businesses and individuals.

However, the reforms failed to improve living standards, while a drop in food aid from the international community has resulted in a severe food shortage.

This reminds me of Soviet Union under Gorbachev. They figured that, with some crash reform, their military technology can be transformed for civilian use, and they could also create efficient corporation overnight. In a short time, they could become another Germany!! In hindsight, we can see how absurd such an idea was. However, many in Soviet Union as well as in the West bought this nonsense. Actually many in Ivy college dreamed of working in Soviet Union after they had crash course in Russian, hoping to get a head start in Perestroika gold rush. I can still remember all those liberals hoping desperately Gorbachev revives communism, so that their ideological homeland could alive. They hated to see unequivocal defeat of socialism.

N. Koreans are having same ludicrous dream. Actually, theirs is much worse. Nobody outside even believes that they can have overnight transition to economic powerhouse. No useful idiots share N. Korean's vision except some deluded Juche left in S. Korea.

If they keep on going like this, and pretty soon, their regime will crumble spectacularly. The first big bang of E. Asia in 21st century, probably followed later by the far bigger bang in China. Well the latter could drag Japan and U.S. into it.

There is a website around that has the travelogue of 3 Americans who snuck their way on to one of the Korean cross border student exchange trips because they were full time enrolled students at Korean universities.

The country is so far behind they might never catch up to the rest of the world. Only the grace and charityof South Korea after the N.Korean regime collapses, will bring hi tech to N. Korea.

http://1stopkorea.com/index.htm?nk-trip9-myohyang-mountain.htm~mainframe

Kim Jong-il Museum/Shrine

After that we were taken to see the gifts to Kim Jong-il. This was actually more interesting than his dad's place, mainly because everything was more recent (Kim Jr. having taking over only in the mid-90s). The first room we were taken contained gifts presented by prominent South Korean industrialists during their visits in the late 90s. Sitting side-by-side were top-of-the-line LG, Samsung and Hyundai entertainment systems, complete with large screen TVs, stereos, VCRs and plenty of speakers. Some of the same equipment you might have sitting in your living room, here sitting in a museum showing off the glorious gifts received by the Dear Leader.

The next room contained more gifts from the South, including a Hyundai Grandeur donated by the former chairman of Hyundai (whose family is originally from the North). Mr. Huk asked me if I had ever seen one of these cars during my time in the South. When I said, "sure, my neighbor has one just like it," he gave me another one of his 'you have to be lying' looks. How could such a great gift, a gift implying so much respect, belong to some normal person like my neighbor? This was obviously a car reserved for the elite, capitalist oppressors, not some common car for the masses. When I told him I wished the chairman had given away a lot more so there'd be less traffic in the South he got fed up with my obvious lies, gave me a disgusted look and moved on to talk to someone else.

Ever wonder why CNN seems to be the only Western news organization regularly allowed into North Korea? The next room perhaps offered a clue. In the 'Gifts from America' room a whole section of one wall is taken up by gifts from CNN. A few engraved plaques, a coffee cup (yeah, a freaking coffee cup!), a logo ashtray, etc. Probably at most a couple hundred bucks worth of crap that nonetheless get pride of place in the museum - for they reveal obvious signs of respect from a world famous news organization. The people at CNN are certainly using their heads and showing they know how to play the game. Though one wonders how that fits in with journalistic integrity . . .

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