Agricultural privatization in DPRK?

[Barry Stoller <bstoller@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Korea Times. 18 May 2001. NK Believed to Be Adopting China's Land
Management Policy.

North Korea is believed to be adopting China's land management policy
and this could serve as an important guideline for South Korea in
developing pre-unification policies.

According to Yoo Hai-woong, senior researcher at the Korea Research
Institute for Human Settlements (KRIHS), South Korea is currently in the
process of learning more about the Chinese land management system for
this specific purpose.

"We are eager to gain more information about the Chinese land management
system since it is the only model that North Korea can adopt under its
unique circumstances," he explained.

KRIHS is currently organizing a four-day workshop with land management
specialists from the College of Southeast Land Management at Zhejiang
University, in Hangzhou, near Shanghai.

The workshop, being held for the first time, is providing an insight
into the extent to which the land management system in China has
facilitated free market mechanisms and, as Beijing says, "socialism with
Chinese characteristics."

"It is becoming clear that there is an increasing sense of private land
ownership in China even as it embraces the socialist system," said Yoo
who has been attending the workshop at the Seoul Education and Cultural
Center in southern Seoul.

According to him, an evaluation of the right to use land has transformed
to an extent where private citizens get long-term leases, anywhere from
30- 70 years.

"What this basically means is that while conditions differ, there is
virtual private land ownership in China which shows how close to a free
market system it has already come," Yoo noted.

In addition to the land leasing system, the format for determining the
price of land is very close to that used in countries like South Korea,
Japan and other East Asian nations.

"We are now at the early stages of evaluating the Chinese land
management system and we are planning another workshop in China in
September to obtain more in-depth information," he added.

The workshop, which ends today, is a crucial part of South Korea's
preparations for a possible reunification with the North in terms of
land management which will dictate how smoothly the two very different
regimes will co-exist.

"Even where taxation on land use is concerned, we are getting important
information on how the North Korean government is implementing its
policies," he said.

"At present, there is very little that is known about the land
management policies in North Korea but we are beginning to get a clearer
picture," Yoo elaborated.

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Reuters. 18 May 2001. NKorean Leader Rumored to Be Visiting China.

SEOUL ? South Korea's Unification Ministry said on Saturday it was
looking into a newspaper report that North Korean leader Kim Jong-il was
in China and could possibly meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin
in Siberia.

"At this point, we cannot say that we have verified the report, but we
are continuing to watch the situation,' a Unification Ministry spokesman
told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"We are currently trying to find concrete evidence from China."

Saturday's report in the Chosun Ilbo newspaper cited unnamed diplomatic
sources saying that Kim was rumored to be visiting the northeastern
region of China.

The sources told the newspaper that Kim had departed the North Korean
capital of Pyongyang by train on Friday and arrived in Dalian, around
640 km (398 miles) east of Beijing.

The sources said Kim may have arrived in the port city for a possible
meeting with Putin in Irkutsk, Siberia since Moscow was too far away.

Earlier this month, local media reported that Kim had canceled what
would have been his second trip to China this year, and only his third
trip abroad in 18 months.

Earlier this year, the North Korean leader visited the southern Chinese
region in what analysts said was a trip aimed at observing China's
methods of embracing capitalism.

Both China and North Korea kept the trip under strict secrecy and
Pyongyang's official media did not report the visit until Kim returned
to North Korea.

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Korean Central News Agency of DPRK. 18 May 2001 Juche 90. Drive under
way to overcome severe drought.

PYONGYANG ? Severe drought is persisting in the DPRK. Rainfall has stood
at an average of 14 mm, or 11 percent of the annual average since
February in the west coastal areas south of Mundok county, South
Phyongan Province. Soil up to 10-20 cm deep is dried up.

60 percent of the sown maize withered before sprouting on farms in
Kangwon Province including those in Ichon, Kosan, Cholwon counties.

North hwanghae province has registered only 18 mm of rainfall on an
average since February. A long spell of drought has hit all parts of the
country.

Agricultural workers and helpers across the country are out to overcome
drought.

The paddy and non-paddy fields are watered by tractor-driven sprinklers
and inter-furrow irrigation and various transport means.

Meanwhile, a drive is under way to store flowing water and find
underground water.


...........................

Barry Stoller

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/downwithcapitalism

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