Trading, Pyongyang-style

As of Wednesday, the six-party talks in Beijing aimed at getting North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons program are reported to being close to a statement of principles after nine days of negotiations.

The US wants Pyongyang to abandon its entire nuclear program, including the development of nuclear energy, in return for food, economic aid and security guarantees – and the opportunity to join the world trading community. North Korea is reported to be in contact with the World Trade Organization to obtain observer status.

Anyone wanting to trade with North Korea, however, should take a hard look at its history in this arena.

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Quite often the aid masqueraded as “trade”. In most cases, economic exchanges between Moscow and Pyongyang were unequal: the USSR provided the North with merchandise it could sell on the international market – oil, gas, weapons and some industrial equipment. All these goods were bartered for North Korean products – bad tobacco, pickled vegetables, plastic boots and liquor even Russian farmers found almost undrinkable. These would be impossible to sell internationally.

Asia Times