Why are some investors interested in buying North Korean debt, and what does this mean in practice?
Where does North Korea’s money come from?
North Korea’s biggest export is coal, which brings in more than $370 million (£305 million) in illegal shipments each year. China said in February 2017 that it would halt all coal imports from North Korea for the year in order to comply with UN sanctions. North Korea’s coal sector, on the other hand, is still growing, and coal has been supplied to China via ship-to-ship transfers, according to a confidential UN study. According to Kim Kuk-song, a defector from North Korea who was interviewed by the BBC in 2021, he was in charge of selling rare metals and coal in order to raise additional revenue for the country. He’d sell the goods for millions of dollars and transport the cash back to North Korea in a suitcase.
Can foreigners become citizens of North Korea?
The DPRK lacked an official nationality legislation until 1963. This resulted in a number of situations that were unusual in international law, the most notable of which was the Soviet Union’s unilateral declaration that the Sakhalin Koreans were DPRK citizensin effect, one sovereign state granting its residents citizenship in another sovereign state, presumably without consultation.
The DPRK’s first nationality law, passed on October 9, 1963, gave citizenship a very broad term. It specifically specified that anybody who held undivided Korea citizenship and had retained it up until the issuance of the new citizenship legislation, as well as their descendants, were now citizens of the DPRK. Because there had previously been no clear mechanism for renunciation of Korean citizenship, and few had made such an official step, this raised the prospect that every member of the Korean diaspora would be regarded a DPRK citizen. Foreigners can also earn DPRK citizenship through naturalization, according to the new law. On March 23, 1995, the statute was changed.
Multiple citizenship is allowed under the law, and nationality treaties with other countries have precedence over the law’s text. Due to the lack of normal diplomatic relations between the DPRK and Japan, Koreans in Japan who hold dual citizenship in both countries have had their requests to renounce Japanese citizenship in favor of simply holding DPRK citizenship denied by Japan’s Justice Ministry. Renunciation of DPRK nationality is also allowed; in such circumstances, the DPRK gives certifications of loss of nationality, which may be required by foreign governments in which a former DPRK national seeks naturalization. According to South Korean media sources, such credentials have become more difficult to obtain since 2011.
Is there a stock exchange in North Korea?
- The Korea Stock Exchange, which was once a separate stock exchange, is now a division of the much larger Korea Exchange (KRX).
- The KOSDAQ, which is analogous to the Nasdaq in the United States, is KRX’s electronic trading platform; the KOSPI, like the S&P 500, gauges the exchange’s health.
- Some people are drawn to South Korea’s economy because of its stability and strong growth rates.
- However, there are a number of hazards that investors should be aware of before investing in the region.
In North Korea, do they pay taxes?
North Korea claims to be the world’s only tax-free country and does not have domestic taxes. The North Korean government, on the other hand, continues to collect revenue from its population through different sales taxes. The consumption turnover tax, in instance, accounts for the majority of North Korea’s state revenue. The North Korean state does collect revenues, which has been compared to a taxation system outside of North Korea. However, the term “tax” is not used inside North Korea, and the term for state revenue has been variously translated as “Socialist Income Accounting,” “Socialist Economic Management Income,” and other similar terms. On April 1st, North Korea commemorates “Tax Abolition Day.”
The agricultural tax-in-kind, which had been in place since 1947, was repealed in North Korea in 1966, when the country’s collectivization programme came to an end. Direct taxes, such as income tax, were officially abolished in 1974 as “relics of a bygone era.” This action, however, had no significant impact on state revenue because sales taxes, such as turnover taxes, deductions from profits paid by state enterprises, and various user fees on machinery and equipment, irrigation facilities, television sets, water, and so on, accounted for the vast majority of government funds (98.1 percent on average between 1961 and 1970). This is comparable to what is done in other socialist countries.
In North Korea, citizens are also required to provide supplies or work for free on government projects on a regular basis.
Outside of special economic zones, businesses pay the state a percentage of their profits, which is essentially a type of corporate tax. As of 2018, the rate was progressive based on the level of profits, with a rate of up to 32.5 percent in public financial reports, after tax amendments announced in August 2016.
Is it permissible to wear jeans in Korea?
Feel free to wear Crocs and a fanny pack if you’re a dude visiting South Korea for sightseeing and soju. If you’re a man coming to South Korea for business or work, though, it’s better to overdress than underdress. In Silicon Valley, jeans and Converse may be OK, but not in South Korea.
Women should follow the same dress code as men and wear pencil skirts or slacks, a blouse, and closed-toed shoes to work.
But there’s more for women. The good news is that you can wear your high school mini-skirts and short-shorts again, exposing as much leg as you want. The bad news is that cleavage-baring tops, spaghetti straps, and back-bearing shirts should be left at home.
While these kind of shirts are more frequent in regions of Seoul with a younger population, such as Hongdae, they will draw extra unfavorable attention elsewhere. Some males may ogle you, and elderly Korean ladies may reprimand you (in public!). However, this does not necessitate a whole wardrobe overhaul; a cardigan paired with these types of tops works wonderfully.
What is North Korea’s pleasure squad?
The Kippumjo or Gippeumjo (translated as Pleasure Group, Pleasure Groups, Pleasure Squad, or Pleasure Brigade) is an alleged collection of groups of approximately 2,000 women and girls allegedly maintained by North Korea’s leader for the purpose of providing entertainment, including sexual entertainment, for high-ranking Workers’ Party of Korea (WPK) officials and their families, as well as distinguished guests on occasion.
Outside of North Korea, nothing is known about the Kippumjo, and most reports are based on the accounts of North Korean defectors, including Mi-Hyang, who told Marie Claire magazine in 2010 that she was a Kippumjo member, and Kenji Fujimoto, who claims to have worked as a cook for Kim Jong-il.
Why are North Korean citizens unable to leave?
North Korea’s human rights record is widely regarded as the worst in the world, and it has been widely criticised, with the UN, the European Union, and organizations such as Human Rights Watch all criticizing the country’s record. Most international human rights organizations believe North Korea has no modern counterpart in terms of human rights crimes.
Amnesty International and other Western human rights organizations, as well as countries like the United States, have claimed that there is no right to free expression in practice, and that the only media outlets that are regarded legal are those run by the North Korean government. According to studies from Amnesty International and the United States Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, by 2017, an estimated 200,000 people were imprisoned in political detention camps, where they were subjected to forced labor, physical assault, and execution.
The activities of foreign tourists are closely monitored by the North Korean government. Aid workers are subjected to intense surveillance and are barred from visiting areas that the government does not want them to visit. Because citizens are unable to leave the country freely, the nation’s human rights record has been built primarily on the accounts of refugees and defectors. The government’s position, as represented by the Korean Central News Agency, is that worldwide condemnation of its human rights record is a justification for overturning its Juche-based system, while its critics’ misdeeds go unpunished.
Since 2003, the United Nations General Assembly has issued an annual resolution denouncing the country’s human rights performance. The most recent resolution, voted by a vote of 12316 with 51 abstentions on December 19, 2011, urged Pyongyang’s regime to halt its “systematic, widespread, and egregious breaches of human rights,” including public executions and arbitrary detentions. North Korea vetoed the resolution, claiming that it was politically motivated and based on lies. A UN special panel produced a 400-page report in February 2014 based on first-hand accounts documenting “unspeakable horrors” done in the country.