N. Korea trumpets success of labor drive, but watchers skeptical

(ATTN: UPDATES with unification minister's remarks, earlier N.K. reports on output,
new quotes from expert in paras 2-12)
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Sept. 16 (Yonhap) -- North Korea trumpeted the success of a crucial
150-day labor campaign that wraps up on Wednesday, but outside watchers were
divided over its impact on the country's frail economy.
The so-called 150-day Battle, launched on April 20, ordered North Koreans to work
harder and put in longer hours to resolve food shortages and rebuild the
country's antiquated infrastructure. Such a labor drive is a typical economic
growth strategy in the North, whose access to international assistance is
strictly limited.
The Korean Central Broadcasting Station, a state-run radio network, said all
citizens joined hands to surpass production goals "with a revolutionary spirit of
self-reliance."
Over the past 150 days, electricity output increased by "hundreds of millions" of
kilowatt hours compared to the same period last year, coal production rose 1.4
times, and cargo transportation volume surged by one million tons, said the
Rodong Sinmun, the North's major newspaper published by the Workers' Party last
week.
The country is also building 100,000 new homes in Pyongyang, in what appeared to
be a dramatic economic package equivalent to the U.S. New Deal program in the
1930s.
Despite the upbeat reports, many watchers in South Korea were skeptical of the
North's success. They cite a report by a pro-Pyongyang newspaper, the Choson
Sinbo, last week that said North Korea has extended the sprint drive for 100 more
days.
"I think North Korea may have failed to achieve its goals of the 150-day Battle
and felt a need to extend it," South Korean Unification Minister Hyun In-taek
said in a seminar with journalists in Seoul on Wednesday.
The reported extension to the end of December was not yet confirmed by North
Korean media.
The labor drive is part of the country's larger goal of building a "great,
prosperous and powerful" nation by 2012, the birth centennial of its late founder
Kim Il-sung and the year when current leader Kim Jong-il turns 70. In line with
the strenuous campaign, the leader, recovering from a stroke he reportedly
suffered last year, has considerably increased his field trips this year.
Chang Yong-seok, a North Korea expert with the Institute for Peace Affairs, a
non-governmental think tank in Seoul, said the North has no other choice in
rebuilding its economy than to resort to its domestic resources, but such an
inward drive has mostly failed. He noted similar campaigns launched in the 1970s
and 80s, whose exploitation of human labor and machinery caused negative
after-effects such as factory closures.
Energy and food aid from South Korea and the U.S. have been drained, and the
country now faces U.N. sanctions over its nuclear test in May, which limits cash
flows into the North.
"It's the same old internally-driven growth strategy," Chang said.
"There'll probably be an instant impact, particularly in electricity production.
But by concentrating limited resources on selected areas, other areas will be
left unattended, and that will be an impediment to the country's long-term
development," he said. "Its economic impact is weak, although there will be
political benefits in terms of internal unity."
But Pyeonghwa Motors Corp., a South Korean automaker in Pyongyang, claims to be a
major beneficiary of the North Korean campaign. Over the last 150 days, its 400
North Korean workers worked night shifts until 11 p.m., instead of leaving at 6
p.m., and have produced 1,500 sedans and trucks so far this year, said spokesman
Roh Byoung-chun. Sales reached 1,000 units, compared to 653 sold during the same
period last year, he said.
"You need a car to do 'battle.' You can't do that on foot," Roh said.
"And we have no problems in bringing raw materials from China. The U.N. sanctions
may be affecting munitions firms, but they are few, and ordinary ones like ours
have nothing to do with them," he said.
According to the Bank of Korea, the central bank in the South, North Korea's per
capita income last year was 1.17 million won, which converts roughly to US$1,065.
The amount was 5.5 percent of South Korea's per capita income.
By 2012, North Korea aims to raise its per capita income to $2,500, according to
a Seoul expert who attended a recent international forum with North Korean
scholars in China.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)