The move to dismantle its nuclear programme is just one a series of changes made over the past few years.
Is the “black hole” of Asia ready to reverse its state and become a visible star? The question may be hypothetical but, in the light of North Korea’s demolition of the cooling tower at its Youngbyon nuclear facility in June, its commitment to dismantle its nuclear programme and its removal from the US’ list of “evil” states, isn’t quite outrageous. In fact, some other recent developments, not so publicised and not directly political, indicate a change might be in the offing.
Last February, the New York Philharmonic came calling, something that couldn’t even be imagined earlier and might be compared with the Philadelphia Orchestra’s 1973 visit to China, close on the heels of President Nixon’s trip, that eventually led that country to open up to the world. We don’t know if Pyongyang is on the same track, but it’s a fact that the North Koreans gave the New York Philharmonic a rousing welcome (Asia File, March 27, 2008). The New York Times had this to say about that momentous event:
“The piccolo played a long, plaintive melody. Cymbals crashed, harp runs flew up, the violins soared. And tears began forming in the eyes of the staid audience, row upon row of men in dark suits, women in colourful high-waisted dresses called hanbok and all of them wearing pins with the likeness of Kim Il-sung, the nation’s founder. … The audience applauded for more than five minutes, and orchestra members, some of them crying, waved. People in the seats cheered and waved back, reluctant to let the visitors leave.”
Now there’s an effort, sanctioned by Kim Jong Il himself, to get the North Korean State Orchestra over to the UK this September or next May. If it happens, it will be the first time the orchestra will be stepping outside the country’s borders, and British soprano Suzannah Clarke, who’s behind the initiative and has herself performed in North Korea six times, sees no reason it won’t.
There are other signs of Pyongyang’s growing eagerness to deal with the outside world. Not too long ago, 21 American and South Korean doctors were invited to the Red Cross Hospital in Pyongyang, where a Denver orthopaedist, Dr Raymond Kim, performed the country’s first-ever knee replacement surgery. The famous North Korean opera, Flower Girls, toured 10 Chinese cities in April-May this year, while Chinese and North Korean athletes exchange regular visits under a bilateral sports agreement. Last year, some 3,77,000 foreigners, mostly Chinese and South Koreans, braved restrictions to visit North Korea, against 2,66,000 the year before. North Korea has even expressed a wish to be part of ASEAN’s regional non-aggression treaty.
And, surprise surprise, Pyongyang’s “Hotel of Doom,” the Ryugyong, a mammoth, 105-storey pyramidal structure that was built as a 3,000-room hotel but has been left unfurnished and unoccupied since 1989, seems to be coming back to life. Egypt’s Orascom Group has announced it’s willing to put in money — up to $300 million — to complete the hotel and run it. Work began last April and Orascom hopes to use it as living and business space for foreign investors and visitors.
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It may not be just kite flying. One doesn’t put down $300 million for nothing. Serious business may be years away, but there are glimmers on the horizon. In July last year, Orascom bought a 50 per cent stake in the state-owned Sangwon Cement Factory for $115 million. This January, Orascom Telecom was given, for the first time, a commercial cell phone licence that might involve the company rolling out $400 million over the next three years. A launch is set for late 2008.
Is North Korea finally getting ready for the world? It certainly seems so, unless there are hidden traps, and in North Korea’s case there could be many. On Google Earth’s latest version, Pyongyang looks like a neat, gleaming western city with wide boulevards and tidy buildings, absolutely spic-and-span. Only, one sees no cars on the streets, or people, and no traffic on the Taedong, the river that divides the city. The impression is that of a well-built ghost town waiting to be populated.
That wait may at last be coming to an end, a prospect particularly tantalising for Koreans who live south of the Demilitarised Zone (DMZ). Leave aside North Korea’s natural resources, such as iron ore, and its attraction as a shipbuilding base. South Koreans are looking at the North as an attractive place to relocate some of their activities. Over 70 southern firms already have factories in the northern industrial park Gaeseong, employing about 15,000 North Korean workers and producing such goods as shoes, kitchenware, leather goods, and clothing. The expectation is, up to 500 companies would move across in the next few years, and Gaeseong, an hour’s drive from Seoul, is in for a big expansion. That’s another hopeful sign.