They will have very cheap labor for a long time. But not many skills. This will be a 2 generation investment.
It’s getting harder and harder to find slave labor. Even the mainland Chinese want decent wages and stuff.
Hyundai...... That’s the place to put your money.
Invest in North Korea!
Bring your billions in, enjoy a lovely weekend hosted by the Dear Leader. Watch as everyone treats him like a god, and then watch your money go into his accounts.
Eventually the Dear Leader may gift his worshipers with another statue or host another parade in his honor.
Oh, and maybe you’ll get to sponsor elevators in the big buildings that were created as hulls to provide the image of some great future.
Or invest in any other part of the world, including Venezuela, and actually get a little bit of your money back before the state seizes it.
If they pull it off, I’ll head right over there to setup a Whataburger joint. None of this changing the recipe to suit Asian tastes, like what McDonalds does in China. It’s going to be full on Texas burgers, with a side of onion rings and Dr. Pepper for a drink.
I’ll make millions, even after Whataburger gets their cut!
NK needs everything. It is a multi-trillion dollar investment.
South Korea has been struggling with a below replacement fertility level.
They could easily find population mixing as a solution, where North Korean women would literally love to move into their rural areas and marry the “lonely farmers” and create a whole new generation.
Ditto for those who move into a variety of depopulating small towns.
Heck, Japan could benefit from something similar if it lets some North Koreans join its existing Korean minority.
It needs to NOT be the China model.
The argument is that developing the mineral resources in North Korea, will cover the costs of developing the Country.
The possibility exists that once the mines, railroads and ports get built, and Western business get entrenched, that the North Korean Government will become rich and powerful like China’s did, and Western politicians will no longer be able to pull it back, under pressure from their corporate donors - like they did with China.
Political liberalization does not follow automatically - likely not at all.
American companies will not likely go there until there are civil rights reforms.
Not for moral reasons, but because they do not want the bad press of prison slave labor, etc.
Japan could sure use a new source of energy, like North Korean coal. They would probably be leery of building up North Korean fishing operations though. The Japanese could probably profitably off-shore some manufacturing to North Korea, and develop some tourism facilities for Japanese.
South Korean tourism also has large potential, as do guest workers or day workers from the North in the South, depending on how they manage the movement of people.
The North Korean ex-patriot population in Japan (some third generation, yet still holding Korean citizenship) could play a unique role, as they have largely retained their Korean language ability. They are associated to some degree with Pachinko gambling parlors and the Yakuza underworld, although they are in many walks of life.
The big Korean Chaebol will likely expand aggressively into the North, if the rules are set right, and China could likely lay in some cheap roads and rail in 2-3 years. Although North Korea lacks a lot of infrastructure, their rail network is relatively a strong suit, having been built up during the Japanese occupation before WWII.
The Chinese might also benefit from trans-shipment of their products through North/South Korea, to avoid tariffs.
Russia should be able to get in on the growth as they share border along the coast, but probably won’t, unless there is some oil or gas to produce.
Big Australian, Canadian and American mining majors should be interested in North Korea as well, and they are able to raise large amounts of capital investment from outside the region.
Sources other than private investment will be counterproductive except for the officials, semi-official operators, and NGOs who end up with all the money.
FU Multilayeral Agencies who put people at nuclear rixk.
We have a vehicle, built in Leipzig which was in East Germany prior to unification. (BMW)
The only people likely to invest in NK are the Chinese. You can only invest there if you can make Kim be certain that you WILL invade and impale his head on a spike if he even thinks of nationalizing your investments.
One question: What was the previous big thing?
East Germany?
Regards,