The price of housing in areas of North Korea where it is possible to receive South Korean television (in the form of main state broadcaster KBS) is considerably higher than in other locations, the president of NK Intellectuals Solidarity asserted today.
Kim Heung Gwang revealed the house price news in a lecture at an event organized by the National Development Institute in Seoul this morning, “Is a Jasmine Revolution Possible in North Korea?”
However, Kim also said that external information is not as important as internal factors when it comes to influencing North Korea’s future.
“Speaking with defectors, it becomes clear that whether one is from the country or the city, coming into contact with South Korean dramas or movies at least once is the norm,” Kim explained, adding, “Thanks to this, places where South Korean TV can be received are popular with North Koreans.”
“We believe that the places where South Korean TV can be received are along the East and West Sea coasts, and in these places sellers can name their price,” he went on. “It is said that in the case of one area of Hamheung, you can get South Korean TV within a ten kilometer radius, and that is the only reason why the price of housing is expensive.”
However, Kim also emphasized that while South Korean TV may be popular, the real power to change North Korea is emerging not from external effects, but from inside the country itself.
“It is true to say that external information is having a substantial effect on North Korea, but the currency redenomination really changed the standard for the way ordinary North Koreans think,” he asserted.
Offering some examples of the myriad problems the North Korean people face, Kim went on to note that if one is to get surgery in a North Korean hospital, one has to buy blood in the marketplace and give it to the doctor, while there are also only slightly more than 20 computers for a school of 3,000 to 4,000 students, meaning students have to study on rotation.
And yet, Kim pointed out, “In this very situation, the currency redenomination was conducted, and the money which people were using to guarantee their livelihoods was taken. Since then, the people started feeling that ‘the state is a thief’, and believing, ‘I’ll only be able to take care of the fate of me and my family with money in my hands.’”
Elsewhere, Kim also said that factories in Jagang and Yangkang Provinces have ceased production, and asserted that the local economies in those areas are only really operating thanks to remittances from defectors.
