After spending 5 days in the last “Stalinist dictatorship” of the world, we have decided to share this unique experience with you.

It is just delicate to start such topic as everything is so unique and different; so, to make it simple, you can imagine China fifty years ago and you will actually come pretty close to today’s reality in North Korea (NK).

You might have heard about the recent disputes between North Korea and the world; i.e: boat sunk, accused espionage coups, weapons of mass destruction etc... Well those events end-up scaring a lot of people, however, it is unlikely that they (for now) generate any serious threat (like a war). The constant intimidations that North Korean leaders claim to the world are mostly “verbal” (they have lasted for decades) and are an “external” continuity to the constant “propaganda” initiated by the father of the current leader Kim Il Song.

This propaganda was verified during our trip. Though we could not talk to the “locals” (our guide and bodyguard would forbid us), the constant references to its leaders images and founding “constitution” are on every street and billboard (see pictures bellow).

Commercially wise; starting to do business in North Korea today would be like starting a business in China before the “Cultural Revolution”. While this would give you a clear “first movers” advantage, you would need significant resources and not be afraid of losing it all on the flip of a coin.

There are several industries with possible opportunities:

The northern part of the Korean peninsula is rich of natural resources such as “coal, iron ore, limestone, magnesite, graphite, copper, zinc, lead, and precious metals”

- Fishing, cement production and agriculture are other important industries.

- The “animation studios” in PyongYang (used by some European companies) are also relatively famous.

- Some more obscure industries such as military hardware, counterfeit products and drugs are known to be an essential part of the country’s overall revenue.

Now when it comes to manufacturing North Korea has several strengths:

- “Its workforce is highly literate and has wages that are about half what Chinese worker would earn”

- “Its geographical location between China and South Korea”

As a result, it becomes interesting for foreign companies (mostly Chinese) to set up a JV with the NK government; in fact many have already open factories; here are two current examples:

1. The manufacturing “village” (Kaesong industrial park) at the DMZ (Demilitarized Zone between the South and the North) which hosts production for textiles, shoes, electronics etc… is monitored by South Korean companies (about 121 companies who jointly invested more than USD$1 billion since 2005); most goods are destined to export.

2. Several success stories have been worked out by supplying the government with “basic goods” (cars, consumer goods, white goods, etc…- some pictures bellow). If you can manage to set-up such deal, one thing is certain; you will have virtually no competition.

Finally, there are so many types of goods and services that are scarce in North Korea that it is just a matter of time (in years or even decades) when numerous opportunities will emerge . Why wouldn’t NK not benefit from the economic growth currently happening in China and around Asia? Maybe we will soon have the answer as Mr. Kim Jong Il (current leader) is looking to appoint his third son, Kim Jong Eun, to a position in his government that would clearly indicate the beginning of a leadership transition.

For your continued interest regarding North Korea:

- You can find several official videos published on Youtube (search for uriminzokkiri - meaning “with us Koreans).

- You can also have a look at “The Pavillon of the DPRK” at the 2010 Shanghai expo: http://www.expo2010-dprkorea.org/Kexhibition/en/index.php.

- An independent organization whose goal is to promote and develop business and trade relations between Europe and North Korea :

http://eba.nosotek.com

- An interesting report (with many pictures) of a Dutch trade mission exploring business opportunities in NK:

http://www.gpic.nl/NK-report2009.pdf

North Korean Political Art...

Folk dance in PyongYang with political art and "nationalistic" music as background...

Local grape juice, beer and mineral water.

Billboard in PyongYang.

North Korean made SUV...