On October 5, 2020, the GW Institute for Korea (GWIKS) and the KDI School of Public Policy and Management (KDIS) co-hosted the 2nd North Korea Economic Forum Annual Conference (Part I) “Current Development Trends in North Korea”. The event was joined by experts from academia, international development, and tourism including Jerome Sauvage, Former United Nations Coordinator in North Korea; Matt Kulesza, Senior North Korean Tour Guide and Media Liasion of Young Pioneer Tous; Yonho Kim, Associate Director of GWIKS; Joongho Kim, Non-Resident Scholar of GWIKS; and Randall Spadoni, North Korea Program Director of World Vision.
Moderated by Jisoo M. Kim, Director of the GW Institute for Korea, three honorary speakers: Ilana Feldman, the Interim Dean of GW Elliott School of International Affairs, Jong-Il You, the Dean of KDIS, and Daniel Wertz, the Chair of the North Korea Economic Forum, opened the forum with congratulatory remarks. Then, Celeste Arrington, the Korea Foundation Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affair at GW, led the main panel discussion by introducing Mr. Sauvage and his presentation on North Korea’s public infrastructure. From health facilities, energy security, to water and sanitation, Mr. Sauvage spoke in detail about how each category was failing to meet its needs due to poor governance. Despite the opportunity that underlies in the country, political power maintenance is hindering investment and creative development in the public infrastructure sector and its economy.
Shifting the topic to tourism, Mr. Kulesza who had been to North Korea more than 60 times, spoke on how Chinese capital inflow was changing the tourism industry. With the spike of Chinese tourism, tourist-related technology, such as wifi and Union pay, has been widely adopted and the entertainment substance has changed from North Korean focus to a more China-friendly content. Building on the demonstration of North Korea’s transformation, Associate Director Kim presented on the development of Mobile Money in North Korea. With the introduction to 3G, the country has brought the telecom industry to the next level. In addition to a significant increase in cell phone use among the citizens, airtime transfer has risen. While not broadly shared throughout the country, mobile money can be used as a substitute for cash. However, it still has many obstacles to overcome such as raising the penetration rate, improving initial infrastructure and customer service, and, most importantly, raising trust among users that their money will be safely secured.
Underscoring the irony of North Korea: while there are many transformational potentials at a micro-level, no fundamental change is visible at a macro-level, Discussant Mr. Kim asked the speakers to touch on drug problems; ethics, safety, and cost issues; and the possibility of mobile money as wealth holding tool. Another discussant, Director Spadoni, emphasized the necessity of efficiency and capital accumulation in North Korea and raised a question on methods that could generate resources for citizen’s economic development and private investment. Closing the discussion, each speaker addressed the questions. They commonly highlighted that despite the unresolved issues that lie in all industries, the existence of each industry is important to North Korea’s economy.
