Korea is one of the world's top economies. Yet, behind the success, many feel alienated. Does the recent hit show Squid Game, reflect the underbelly of the society's success? Credit: Ori Song/Unsplash

By Ahn Mi Young
Seoul, Nov 16 2021 (IPS)

Immediately after its release, the Squid Game went viral, grabbing the attention of the world’s entertainment stage. The grotesque and hyper-violent thriller has reportedly become Netflix’s biggest show, the world’s most-watched and the most-talked-about streaming entertainment. Is it a case of art imitating life?

The global rise of Korean entertainment is reminiscent of South Korea’s rags-to-rich story. The once war-stricken country with per-capita GDP of 67 US dollars after the 1950-53 Korean War has become one of the world’s top economies with a per-capita GDP of 32,860 US dollars in 2020.

South Koreans enjoy high-tech conveniences, and many of their enterprises are sought after internationally, including home electronics, vehicles and ships.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, success stories abound about its business, technology or entertainment industries.

K-pop BTS is now a global star who often tops the Billboard charts. A few years ago, it was unthinkable that Korean entertainment could surpass the content produced in the United States.

Squid Game has become a global success. Is it a case of art imitating life?

“The Squid Game has become a hope for our students to go to the global stage,” Kim Sang-Hoon, a professor at Cheju Halla University who teaches future talents video-making or filmmaking or broadcasting, told IPS.

However, the storyline suggests that success is not the only parameter with which to measure Korean society. Squid Game is a story of the “losers” who dropped out from the success story.

The hero, Gi-Hoon, was in debt after losing his job and squandering his money on a horse-racing game. He got divorced and missed his ten-year-old estranged daughter. Sang-Woo was once a brilliant stockbroker but went broke after gambling away his money.

The drama director Hwang Dong-Hyeok told local media: “In fact, I used to be one of the losers.”

He elaborated that “as a boy of a single-mother at the backstreet of Seoul, I used to be a boy at the back street spending almost the whole day playing the games (all of which) appear in the Squid Game”.

Although many more South Korean people live the “most affluent life” ever in the country’s history, many people feel like they are playing the squid game, where a few winners take all at the expense of many losers.

In the Squid Game, an elderly character Ilnam said to another character, Gi-Hoon, while playing marbles: “Cheating on others is OK, but being cheated, is not OK?”

This soundbite is one that many South Koreans identified with.

“I felt thrilled when I heard this because it sounds like our reality,” said Ko June-Ho, a South Korean fan and a university student told IPS. He added he identified with so much in the story. “When the elderly character Il-Nam met Ki-Hoon after the squid game, Il-Nam said: ‘Life here (outside the game) is more hellish (than the life I spent in the squid game)’.”

In the death game, the losers are separated from their family, friends and community. Like Sae-Byok, a North Korean woman defector struggles to rebuild her lost family connections but all in vain. Or, Ali, a worker from Pakistan, is in debt because his Korean employer didn’t pay him. Even the elderly character Il-Nam, the Squid Game host, is wealthy but misses his old family ties. He tells Gi-Hoon: “I used to live with my family”.

Some experts say that the squid game losers are like South Korean losers, who feel isolated from the glory story.

Ironically, South Korea, one of the world’s most affluent countries, records one of the world’s top suicide rates. South Korea’s suicide rate in 2020 was the average of 25.7 suicides per 100,000 persons, compared with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries average of 10.9 suicides.

While technology businesses, like the online selling platform Coopang, have become successful during the COVID-19 pandemic, restaurant owners were forced to shut down because of regulations. The impact is clear.

Dr Park Chanmin, Seoul Central Mental Health Clinic, reflects this in a recent interview here.

“Since the start of the pandemic, people have become more and more worried about their jobs, they are seeing their incomes falling, and that is having an impact on their day-to-day lives.”

Asia Nikkei reported that a study by the Korea Economic Research Institute found that sales by independent merchants were down 78.5% in the first half of the year from the same period in 2020, with 58% of respondents attributing the decline to COVID.

Sanjog Lama, a Nepali student who studies hotel management in South Korea, believes the show was excellent.

“The cast and crews have done such an outstanding job. On top of that, the content of the series is just superb. It is thrilling, many scenes are gruesome, yet there is meaning in it.”

Another South Korean fan, Lee Ji-Hyeon, said: “The drama was like a puzzle game. I felt thrilled as I was putting the pieces of actors’ talk and each scene together so that I kept thinking about what it means and how it will be related to the next move.”

However, even in the extreme death game, the underlying warmth of the South Korean traditional culture is reflected.

The thriller’s punch line, with “Kkak-Ttu-gi” or “Kkan-Bu”, demonstrates Korean culture. The elderly Il-Nam says to Gi-Hoon: “Let’s make ‘Kkan-Bu” friendship between two of us.”

Kkan-Bu is a life-long friendship that lasts unchanged regardless of whether a person is a loser or a winner. Some characters made decisions that touched the heart of the fans.

Gi-Hoon did not give up their heart even in the live-or-die moment. Ji-Young gives up her life to let her game partner Sae-Byok can win the game. Even the hardened heart of the elderly Il-Nam softens as the senior and becomes friends with warm-hearted Gi-Hoon.

Another female character Mi-Nyo said: “They call me Kkak-Ttu-gi” In Korean children’s games.”

Kkak-Ttu-Gi shows how Korean culture values human connection. Even though the player is poor and cannot contribute, the team won’t kick them out.

There is irony in the money matters. Even though Gi-Hoon emerges as the winner of the game, grabbing $40 million, his life did not change. When he returns home after the game, he finds his mother dead. He remains a divorced, lonely man. Even though he has the prize in his bank account, he doesn’t spend it. Instead, he borrows Won10,000 from a banker and gives it to a street flower-selling woman.

“The drama makes me think about what matters in my life. People risk their lives for money, which turns out to be no solution,” said South Korean fan Lee Ji-Hyeon.

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The work culture in South Korea is different and managers here often say that they are used to the rigid hierarchy at work.

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL, Jan 21 2019 (IPS)

Despite the international rise of South Korean businesses like Samsung, Hyundai and LG as global powerhouses, the corporate culture in this East Asian nation is often known to have a vertically rigid command line.

“When you have a good idea, you’d rather wait until you earn trust from your boss,” says Kim Chull-Soo, 42, who works at a Seoul-based finance business. “Trying to stand out in a crowd by explicitly speaking is not a good idea in Korean corporate culture,” Kim adds.

Diverse and global organisation that goes against the grain

But the Seoul-based Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) has been initiating a corporate culture that is very different from this mainstream. From encouraging staff to be transformational without being afraid of sticking out, to having open plan offices which go against the traditional hierarchical structure of having individual offices, this international organisation is pushing boundaries as its fulfils its mandate to achieve resilient, sustainable growth.

“We are building a united cultural front to strengthen our core values to be bold, excellent, inclusive and act with integrity,” Christel Adamou, head of human resources, tells IPS from GGGI’s head office. She adds that the organisational culture here is unique because it “is younger, more dynamic”.

GGGI, an inter-governmental organisation committed to developing green economies through supporting its 30 member states, lists over 60 operational projects in all member countries. This includes projects that involve the development of: green cities, water and sanitation projects, sustainable landscapes, sustainable energy projects and cross-cutting strategies for financing mechanisms.

GGGI has around 300 employees. And among international organisations, GGGI is one of the smallest so it has had to expand its capacity to meet its global mission. “We at GGGI need a much greater capacity to help member states in their transition to sustainable development and also adapt to climate changes,” Ban Ki-Moon, former Secretary-General of the United Nations the new president and chair of GGGI, said in 2018.

Hierarchical structure is the norm in most South Korean businesses

The work culture in South Korea is different. And managers at most South Korean firms often say that they are used to the rigid hierarchy at work. Creating and implementing new ideas is usually made by the boss of the organisation, explains Park Jae-Min, 43, who works at a Seoul-based business group.

“When we start something new, we are trying to listen and find out what our boss wants before we talk,” Park says.

Lee Jong-Min, 38, who works for a Korean-British joint venture business in Seoul, agrees. “Oddly, I usually feel comfortable with my Korean boss who makes a quick decision by himself and commands me to [implement it]. I sometimes feel embarrassed when my British boss asks my opinion before he makes an opinion.”

Practicing core values

But if core values tend to be hierarchal in South Korean businesses, at GGGI head office the values of inclusivity, boldness and transformation are clearly visible.

Adamou describes the organisation’s essence quite clearly from her first impression. “When I first came here in 2017, I felt the air of  dynamism and enthusiasm in GGGI here I didn’t find before in bigger organisations.” She joined GGGI after her stint as chief human resources officer for the United Nations peace-keeping mission in Haiti and as legal advisor to the U.N. Dispute Tribunal in Nairobi. She also worked at other U.N. organisations and has been based in Switzerland, Liberia and at the U.N.’s New York headquarters.

In South Korea, your job title also usually determines where you sit at work.

But GGGI’s office space itself has an air of interaction and youth. In the open plan office, there is a lively and communicative air among the staff who are mostly in their 30s or 40s. At the office centre there is an open plaza where people relax over coffee, talk and brainstorm.

“So there is a circle of staff, brainstorming, thinking together, designing the framework, how we would like to frame our values at GGGI. Decisions would usually be made top down, but for the culture-building initiatives, most was made in a bottom up way. [This way], there was more ownership, and of course the result was always better when you involve as many stake holders as possible,” Adamou explains.

Holding on to some South Korean practices

Meanwhile GGGI embraces the South Korean business culture of being competitive with integrity.

Acting with integrity is essential for GGGI to communicate as a neutral, trusty partner, explains Adamou, “because the in-country projects are embedded into diverse entities like government, finance, environment and health”.

Being based in-country also means that GGGI aids its staff in developing geographical mobility by increasing their exposure to internationally diverse settings. This, Adamou says, also fosters neutrality in the organisation’s work.

“A head programmer in Seoul may become a country representative in Cambodia. Or an analyst in Ethiopia may be programming in Columbia. Otherwise, if you stay too long in one location, it may develop too much of a relationship with one government and it can hinder [their mission] to be neutral. We work for GGGI not for personal relationships [with a particular entity],” Adamou adds.

Brian Kakembo Galabuzi who founded Waste to Energy Youth Enterprise (WEYE) Clean Energy Company Ltd in Uganda which makes carbonised fuel briquettes from agricultural waste materials and organic waste. In Africa, over 640 million people have no access to electricity, with many relying on dirty sources of energy sources for heating, cooking and lighting. Credit: Busani Bafana/IPS

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL, Nov 27 2018 (IPS)

An organic pesticide safe for farmers and the environment, and carbonised fuel briquettes made from agricultural waste materials and organic waste are all business ideas that promote a green economy.

The entrepreneurs who started these businesses are among the winners of this year’s ‘Greenprenuers’ Programme, which is designed by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) to supercharge green growth start-ups. It was run with GGGI, Youth Climate Labs and Student Energy (SE).

The programme helps young entrepreneurs with innovative business ideas “take their idea from concept to business plan, for a solution that positively impacts the future of sustainable energy; water and sanitation; sustainable landscapes (forestry and agriculture); or green city development.”

“It was very amazing to be selected among the 10 finalists out of over 345 applicants from around the world,” said Brian Kakembo Galabuzi who founded Waste to Energy Youth Enterprise (WEYE) Clean Energy Company Ltd in Uganda. It makes carbonised fuel briquettes from agricultural waste materials and organic waste.

In Uganda, 80 percent of solid waste is organic and can be used to produce cheaper and cleaner cooking charcoal briquettes that can substitute firewood.

The prize winner told IPS how he addressed the grassroots challenges he experienced with GGGI’s help.

He said like many young start-ups his biggest challenge was the lack of adequate finance, and limited experience that resulted in a process of trial and error.

“In the beginning, our targets were not that high so it was easy to achieve them, but through the ‘Greenprenuers’ programme we have learned to set bold targets and stand by them until we can achieve them,” said Galabuzi

Galabuzi added that ‘Greenprenuers’ helps with the two-most crucial requirements for the green growth start-ups: “It offers the right skills and knowledge through its 10-week web-based programme, and which is accompanied by an opportunity to win seed funding at the end of the programme.”

Galabuzi also explained that the programme helped him develop a well-structured business plan. “GGGI has also provided the seed funding through the ‘Greenprenuers’ programme, which has availed us finances to test out our business plan in a field seen as high risk by financing institutions in Uganda.”

Winners of this year’s ‘Greenprenuers’ Programme, which is designed by the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) to supercharge green growth start-ups.

Students of the programme were also given an opportunity to receive free consultations and be mentored by experts around the world who have built and run their won successful companies and organisations.

“This is something we would have paid a lot of money to get access to in conferences and training workshops, but we got for free,” said Galabuzi.

Meanwhile, the award came as a surprise to Jonathan Kent Sorensen, who is from Bumdest in Indonesia. His company produces CountrySide, an organic pesticide that is safe for both the environment and farmers.

Sorensen said through the module training his company was able to specify their target market and reach out to prospective customers. “Through this process, we could determine our package size to fit the local need, then to reasonably determine our prices,” he told IPS.

Thanks to the programme, Sorensen’s team secured an agreement for the field test with a local agriculture company. “If it was not because of ‘Greenprenuers’, we might never [have taken] the practical step to turn our research idea to a business idea,” said Sorensen.

Sirey Sum and Aaron Sexton from Cambodian Green Infrastructure (CGI) Social Enterprise also agreed that the 10-week course was helpful in turning their idea into a business.

CGI planned to work with the capital city of Phnom Penh to address stormwater and urban green space issues.

After decades of economic growth, Phnom Penh faces stormwater flooding and has very few urban green spaces.

“[The] lean startup model helped us to develop, and quickly adjust our business plan,” Sum told IPS.

Finally, the prize winners shared their future vision to take the next step.

Galabuzi said that for his company this would be to collaborate with the GGGI-Uganda office to take his idea to public institutions first, and hopefully later to  private intuitions.

“Through these collaboration, we can replicate this model to save the forest in Uganda. Also, it is essential to have access to affordable financing options,” he said.

“Youth unemployment in Uganda is so high yet the youth have great business ideas that if supported can create more jobs and boost the country’s economy. We need programmes like ‘Greenpreneurs’ to give us a platform to grow these ideas better into bankable projects or businesses,” he added.

Sorensen said that the next step for his company was to conduct a field test and to build a pilot plant with the seed capital. “It is essential for our start-up to have the right marketing method to the local farmers. In doing so, we think that we should work with local government agencies to convince that our product is worth to try.”

A night market in South Korea. The country plans to ensure that 20 percent of all electricity generated is renewable by 2030. Credit: Yeong-Nam/CC BY 2.0

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL , Nov 1 2018 (IPS)

While major countries have pledged to be powered entirely by renewable energies in order to stop greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, there are a number of states that are investigating ways to implement this transition quickly in order to achieve their goals ahead of this deadline.

At the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) Energy Forum held in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, on Oct. 30, GGGI council members, leading energy experts, and policy makers from both the private and public sectors asked precisely that question.

They gathered to share their energy transformation experiences from the United Kingdom, Norway, Japan, Denmark, and Mongolia and discussed how South Korea can emulate them as it transitions from a coal and nuclear-centric energy dependence to renewables.

How to accelerate the transition to Renewable Energy?

“As there is a big global shift towards renewable energy (RE), we may ask questions: How can we accelerate the clean energy transition? Is the Korean target ambitious? How fast can it be transitional?” said Frank Rijsberman, director-general of GGGI in his keynote speech.

Although global decarbonisation on its own isn’t adequate to meet the ambitions of the Paris Agreement, the forum shared renewable transition cases and experiences of how they have accelerated the transition to RE.

The UK is leading the low-carbon transition and has implemented a drastic cut of emissions in the past 18 years while also continuing its rapid economic growth. Norway built the world’s electric car capital, and made the transition from oil to a renewable model. In Denmark, Copenhagen has become the world’s green city, as it uses district heating pipelines to heat houses and aims to become the world’s first carbon neutral city by 2025.

The most drastic turnaround comes from South Korea and Japan, which have been among the world’s major producers of nuclear power in the past. But both countries have joined the global renewable energy transition club in recent years.

100 Percent Renewables South Korea

The forum heard from Hans-Josef Fell, president of Energy Watch Group, an independent global network of scientists and parliamentarians that was founded in 2006 under the direction of Fell while he was still a member of the German parliament. “It is possible to be 100 percent renewable and we can work together with South Korea to reach the 100 percent goal,” he told participants.

Fell forecast that Solar photovoltaic (PV) and wind power will be the cheapest energy in G20 states by 2030, noting that RE has created 10.3 million jobs worldwide in 2017, with most jobs being in Asia.

The renewable breakdown of the global energy system in 2050 is forecast as:
• Solar PV: 69 percent,
• Wind power: 18 percent,
• Hydro: 8 percent,
• and bioenergy: 20 percent.

Fell also noted political will should be strong enough to fully embrace the RE transition, as he suggested the need for direct private investment in RE and zero-emission technology, for tenders to be granted only for capacity above 40MW, and the need to phase out all state subsidies on fossil fuels.

Hans-Josef Fell, president of Energy Watch Group delivers paper at the 2018 GGGI Energy Forum in Seoul. Credit: Ahn Mi Young/IPS

Japan transitions to PV

Japan is one of the countries that has shown the will to embrace RE. After committing to reducing its dependence on nuclear energy by 2030, Japan has set targets for becoming an economically independent and carbon-free mainstream power by 2050. Japan has reduced its nuclear power generation following the Fukushima nuclear power plant explosion in 2011.

Izumi Kaizuka, Director of RTS Corporation, a PV consulting company, who presented on the RE policy transition in Japan and the current status and outlook of the country’s PV market, said: “There has been an explosive growth of approved PV projects.”

But Japan has concerns about the future burden of surcharges, installation quality, environmental damage from natural disasters, and the lack of hosting capacity.

“There is a significant cost gap of the PV system between domestic and overseas [prices]. Prices are further decreasing due to global competition. Some emphasise the importance of how installation costs in Japan (not under global competition) will be further reduced,” Kaizuka said.

Japan has tried to address these concerns and introduced a new approval system to deal with delayed or unrealistic projects, to increase transparency for grid connections with disclosure of connection capacity and the price of work, as well as the exemption of surcharge for energy sufficiency efforts.

With these actions taken, Kaizuka had a strong growth forecast for PV-installed capacity in Japan. “Despite these concerns, PV is growing, since PV is stable and affordable,” Kaizuka said.

South Korea to move from coal-nuclear to renewables

Under its Renewable Energy 2030 Implementation Plan to achieve a 20 percent goal of renewable share of total electricity generation by 2030, South Korea is investing in clean energy.

This is a drastic reversal of the country’s previous nuclear-centric energy policy. In 2016, 25 reactors generated one-third of the country’s electricity and made South Korea the world’s fifth-largest producer of nuclear energy, according to the World Nuclear Association.

To reverse its energy mix, Seoul is driving a renewable boom under a private-public partnership.

“Active private investment is supporting the renewable energy transition. More than 95 percent of new capacity is PV and wind, which creates the largest number of jobs,” said Kyong-Ho Lee, Director of the New and Renewable Energy Policy Division, at South Korea’s Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy (MOTIE).

The local government-led, large-scale projects, where local governments play a key role in selecting sites and choosing business operators, are cited as a major driving force of the on-going RE transition in South Korea.

“To encourage citizen participation, the government gives monetary incentives for both urban and rural renewable energy installed, as well as state loans for rural RE installed. Thus farmers can make a double income from both farming and PV power installed,” said Lee from MOTIE.

Seoul has said that by 2030, out of a forecast total 63.8GW to be installed, its RE mix will be:
• 57 percent PV,
• 17.7 percent wind power,
• 5 percent bio, and
• 6 percent waste.

“It is a transitional moment as we continue to improve conditions through deregulation of RE, installing and collecting PV modules,” Lee said.

In Norway, financial incentive was strong enough to drive the electric car boom. About 45 percent of new cars sold in Norway in recent months were all-electric cars. People who buy electric cars pay no import taxes, tolls, parking or ferry costs, and are exempt from a 25 percent sales tax at purchase.

“Nationwide infrastructure is necessary to spread the EV [electric vehicle] boom from cities to rural areas,” said Atle Hamar, Vice Minister, Ministry of Climate and Environment, Norway. “In cities, there are enough charging stations but in rural areas, we need public support [to build more].”

District heating in Denmark

Denmark offers the best conditions for using geothermal heat because of the country’s well-developed district heating. In Denmark, boilers provide heat for entire districts through a network of heating pipes.

“We will be testing new technology to find a cost efficient and easier way of heating houses. For example, we are replacing biomass with geothermal heat pumps, which is easier to heat houses,” Jacob Rasmussen, counsellor, energy & environment, Embassy of Denmark.

How fast can it go from nuclear to renewable?

These countries offer great examples for South Korea. And while the forum generally saw a consensus formed on the country’s need to transition to renewables, it debated how fast the transition should be.

South Korea’s transition may be too fast, according to some experts.

“We must respect the role of the nuclear power source [that has driven our economy as the cheapest energy source],” said Sang-hyup Kim, visiting professor from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology and chairman of the Coalition for Our Common Future.

“In fact, nuclear is a reality [in South Korea] based on its [60 years of] science and technology. Why should we give it up so rapidly?”

To others, the transition may be a bit slow.

“Some would say the 20 percent goal is not ambitious enough. But we should manage our satisfaction by setting a reasonable target,” said Sun-Jin Yun, professor of environmental and energy policy at the Graduate School of Environmental Studies, Seoul National University (SNU).

Panelists agreed on the need to increase inter-Korean energy cooperation to bring peace to Northeast Asia. “Increasing energy interdependence is a way to secure peace for the whole of Northeast Asia. For example, a renewable energy-based grid connecting Mongolia and both Koreas and others can be the way to increase interdependence,” said YangYi Won Young, executive director, Energy Transition Forum, a private energy think-tank.

From left, Anthony Nyong, Director of Climate Change and Green Growth at AfDB, Hyoeun Jenny Kim, Deputy Director General of GGGI, Fisiha Abera, Director General of the International Financial Institutions Cooperation (Ethiopia). Credit: Ahn Miyoung/IPS

By Ahn Mi Young
BUSAN, May 26 2018 (IPS)

The Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) presented the African model of a National Financing Vehicle in which the governments of Rwanda and Ethiopia have successfully promoted green growth and climate resilience, at an event May 25 on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the Board of Governors of the African Development Bank (AfDB) in Busan, South Korea.

GGGI and AfDB signed a partnership to accelerate Africa’s inclusive and sustainable green growth.

“We will focus on Africa, as we are seeing a huge potential in Africa,” Hyoeun Jenny Kim, deputy director general of GGGI, said in her opening remarks.

“So far, we’ve worked very closely and very extensively with Ethiopia and Rwanda throughout the comprehensive stages of designing and developing projects as well as mobilizing funds,” she told IPS after the side event.

“We’ve so far worked only with a small number of countries… But these climate funding success stories in Rwanda and Ethiopia encouraged us to extend our reach to other Africa countries like Senegal, Uganda or Mozambique,” she added.

After a two-year stint as ambassador to Senegal, Kim, who previously worked at the OECD, joined GGGI in May as its new deputy director general, in charge of planning and implementation of 33 projects in 25 countries.

She emphasized the need for adopting locally relevant green growth paths in Africa, as well as mobilizing funds. “When I was working at OECD, I was seeing the agenda from a global perspective. [While in Senegal as a Korean ambassador], I have seen the unique and particular reality facing each African country. So I understand the need to adapt our climate resilience and green growth initiatives to fit the particular condition of each African country.”

The side event highlighted how Rwanda and Ethiopia have used public investment funding to bring aboard private sector investment with close cooperation with GGGI.

Hubert Ruzibiza, CEO of Rwanda’s Green Fund, revealed how Rwanda has successfully financed green growth and climate resilience through its National Fund for Environment and Climate Change (FONERWA), whose function is to identify and invest in the best public and private projects that have the potential for transformative change that aligns with Rwanda’s commitment to building a strong green economy.

The fund has created about 137,000 green jobs, rehabilitated 19,304 area (ha) of land against erosion, and made about 28,000 families connected to off-grid clean energy.

“FONERWA has a global track record as the national financing mechanism by bringing together public and private sector investment,” Ruzibiza noted.

The side event also highlighted the GGGI-Ethiopia partnership to design, develop and implement Ethiopia’s political commitment to CRGE (Climate Resilience Green Economy), as well as its national financing mechanism called the Ethiopia CRGE Facility, which is the country’s primary financial instrument to mobilize, access and combine domestic and international, public and private sources of finance to support the institutional building and implementation of the CRGE Strategy.

“As we are raising the green growth and climate resilient funding, especially from small and medium-sized business that constitutes about 90 percent of our business, so are the number of projects increasing,” said Fisiha Abera, Director General of the International Financial Institutions Cooperation in Ethiopia.

GGGI has been working closely with the government of Ethiopia since 2010 to omplement its CRGE strategy. GGGI supported CRGE to mobilize a 60-million-dollar grant from the Adaptation Fund (AF) and the Green Climate Fund (GCF), as well as another 75 million in climate finance. Most recently, GGGI helped mobilize 300 million dollars from the international private sector for the Mekele Water Supply Project.

“The CRGE model shows the importance of the government’s political commitment in which the government takes a holistic national approach. So our advisers are working closely with a wide variety of government functions,” said Kim.

The AfDB and GGGI signed an MOU on the sidelines of the African Development Bank Group’s Annual Meetings in Busan to promote programs, conduct joint studies and research activities to accelerate green growth options for African countries, as well as to work together in the GGGI’s cities programs and the AfDB’s initiatives on clean energy, sustainable landscapes, green cities, water and sanitation, with the ultimate goal of strengthening climate resilience in Africa.

The MOU was signed by Kim of GGI and Amadou Hott, Vice-President, Power, Energy, Climate and Green Growth, AfDB.

Ban Ki-moon, who previously served as the eighth Secretary General of the United Nations, took office as President of the Assembly and Chairman of the council of GGGI on March 27.

Headquartered in the heart of Seoul, GGGI has 28 member states and employs staff from more than 40 countries. Its areas of focus include green cities, water and sanitation, sustainable landscapes, sustainable energy and cross-cutting strategies for financing mechanisms.

AFDB is Africa’s premier development finance institution. It comprises three distinct entities: the AfDB, the African Development Fund and Nigeria Trust Fund NTF. Working on the ground in 44 African countries with an external office in Japan, the AfDB contributes to the economic development and the social progress of its 54 regional member states.

Ban Ki-moon, the new president and chair of GGGI, with Dr. Frank Rijsberman, the group’s director general. Credit: GGGI

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL, Mar 27 2018 (IPS)

In the face of climate change and growing energy demand in developing countries, Ban Ki-moon, the new president and chair of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI), unveiled his vision for a more sustainable path by helping countries in their transition to greener economies and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“We at GGGI need a much greater capacity to help member states in their transition to sustainable development and also to adapt to climate change,” said Ban Ki-moon, who previously served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations, in his first press conference as the President of the Assembly and Chair of the Council of GGGI on March 27 in Seoul."Countries must shift their economies towards environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive pathways." --Ban Ki-moon

Headquartered in the heart of Seoul, GGGI has 28 member states and employs staff from more than 40 countries, with some 26 projects currently in operation. These include green cities, water and sanitation, sustainable landscapes, sustainable energy and cross-cutting strategies for financing mechanisms.

As part of GGGI’s growth path, Ban hopes to add new members like Canada, New Zealand, Sweden, Switzerland and France.

“We need more members, particularly from those countries that would be in a position to render the financial and technological support for the developing countries which otherwise would not have much capacity to mitigate or adapt to the changing climate situation. That’s why 28 countries are not a reasonable size as an international organization. We need more member states, particularly from those OECD member states,” said Ban.

“(For that), I’ll continue to use my capacity as chair of GGGI and also I will try to use my network as a former secretary-general of the United Nations,” he added. “To implement the Paris Agreement, countries must shift their economies towards environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive pathways – which we call green growth.”

Environmentalists have warned that most developed countries are falling short of their pledges to curb the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change. The future of global cooperation on the issue was clouded after US President Donald Trump’s decision last June to withdraw the US from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

“This (withdrawal by Trump) is politically suicidal and economically irresponsible as the leader of the most powerful and the most responsible country. Moreover, this is scientifically wrong,” Ban, who has been a vocal critic of the move, said in Seoul this week.

“I sincerely hope President Trump will change and understand the gravity, seriousness and urgency of this situation, in which we must take action now. Otherwise, we’ll have to regret [the consequences] for succeeding generations, humanity and this earth.”

The new GGGI chair also discussed his transition from the secretary general of a global body with 193 member countries to his leadership of GGGI, which is mandated to recommend development solutions for developing countries.

“First, GGGI is committed to achieving the same vision that I’ve pursued for the past decade. Second, GGGI is the right place to add my own experiences and passions with which I had led the United Nations.

“To achieve GGGI’s goals, I will make the most of my own experiences. If the United Nations is dealing with internationally divisive political issues, GGGI is addressing the issue on which the whole humanity is united with their full awareness of its compelling mission.”

The appointment of Ban Ki-moon as the new Assembly President and GGGI Council Chair became effective on February 20 following the unanimous agreement by members of the GGGI Assembly, the Institute’s governing body.

Dr. Frank Rijsberman, Director-General of GGGI, spoke about GGGI’s key achievements in 2017.

He said that “2017 was an excellent year for GGGI, in which we helped mobilize 524 million dollars in green and climate finance to support developing countries achieve their green growth plans.”

He said this money would be used by member countries to, for example, increase climate resilience in agriculture in Ethiopia, install solar energy plus battery storage in eight islands in Indonesia, build a green housing project in Rwanda, and prevent deforestation in Colombia.

GGGI also continued to support governments to develop green growth plans and policies, for example, a Green Growth Plan for Sonora State in Mexico, new energy efficiency laws in Mongolia, and an NDC Implementation Plan for Fiji.

Rijsberman added that GGGI has forged a strong strategic partnership with the Green Climate Fund. As of March 2018, 15 of GGGI’s member and partner countries have elected GGGI to be their delivery partner for their GCF Readiness projects. The GCF Board recently approved two direct access grants to GGGI Member countries supported by GGGI, namely a 50-million-dollar grant for Ethiopia and a 35-million-dollar project for Rwanda.

“With Mr. Ban’s leadership, I am confident that GGGI will be able to quickly expand its partnerships and memberships and mobilize greater results – championing green growth and climate resilience,” added Dr. Rijsberman.

The Koreas on the globe. Credit: TUBS/ Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL, Feb 18 2015 (IPS)

The two Koreas are an odd match – both are talking about possible dialogue but both have different ideas of the conditions, and that difference comes from the 62-year-old division following the 1950-53 Korean War.

During this time, North Korea has become a nuclear threat – estimated to possess up to ten nuclear weapons out of the 16,300 worldwide (compared with Russia’s 8,000 and the 7,300 in the United States) according to the Ploughshares Fund’s report on world nuclear stockpiles – and South Korea has become the world’s major economic success story.

In a national broadcast on Jan. 16, South Korean president Park Geun Hye presented her vision for reunification by using the Korean word ‘daebak‘ (meaning ‘great success’ or ‘jackpot’). “If the two Koreas are united, the reunited Korea will be a daebak not only for Korea but also for the whole world,” she said.North Korea has become a nuclear threat – estimated to possess up to ten nuclear weapons out of the 16,300 worldwide – and South Korea has become the world's major economic success story

Since she became leader of the South Korea’s conservative ruling party in 2013, Park has been referring to a new world that would come from a unified Korea. Her argument has been that if the two Koreas are reunited, the world could be politically less dangerous – free from the North Korea’s nuclear threat – and a united Korea could be economically more prosperous by combining the South’s economic and cultural power and the North’s natural resources and discipline.

Denuclearisation has been set as a key condition for daebak to come about. At a Feb. 9 forum with high-ranking South Korean officials, President Park said that “North Korea should show sincerity in denuclearisation efforts if it is to successfully lead its on-going economic projects. No matter how good are the programmes we may have in order to help North Korea, we cannot do so as long as North Korea does not give up its nuclear programme.”

However, observers have said North Korea has no reason to give up its nuclear weapons as long as it depends on its nuclear capability as a bargaining chip for political survival.  “Nuclear capabilities are the North’s only military leverage to maintain its regime as it confronts the South’s economic power,” said Moon Sung Muk of the Korea Research Institute of Strategies (KRIS).

In fact, there are few signs of changes. North Korea has conducted a series of rocket launches, as well as three nuclear tests – all in defiance of the U.S. sanctions that are partially drying up channels for North Korea’s weapons trade.

Amid recent escalating tension between Washington and Pyeongyang over additional sanctions, activities at the 5-megawatt Yongbyon reactor in North Korea which produces nuclear bomb fuel are being closely watched to monitor whether the North may restart the reactor.

In the meantime, South Korea has been denying the official supply of food and fertilisers to North Korea under the South Korean conservative regimes that started in 2008.

During the liberal regime of 2004-2007, South Korea was the biggest donor of food and fertilisers to North Korea.

Then there appeared to be a glimmer of hope when North Korea’s enigmatic young leader Kim Jong Un presented a rare gesture of reconciliation towards South Korea in his 2015 New Year’s speech broadcast on Korean Central Television on Jan. 1.

“North and South should no longer waste time and efforts in (trying to resolve) meaningless disputes and insignificant problems,” he said. “Instead, we both should write a new history of both Koreas … There should be dialogue between two Koreas so that we can re-bridge the bond that was cut off and bring about breakthrough changes.”

In his speech, the North Korean leader even went as far as suggesting a ‘highest-level meeting’ with the South Korean president. “If the South is in a position to improve inter-Korean relations through dialogue, we can resume high-level contacts. Also, depending on some circumstances and atmospheres, there is no reason we cannot have the highest-level meeting (with the South).”

In South Korea, hopes for possible inter-Korean talks have been subdued. “What North Korea wants from dialogue with the South is not to talk about nuclear or human rights, but to have the South resume economic aid,” said Lee Yun Gol, director of the state-run North Korea Strategic Information Centre (NKSIS).

The government in Seoul remains cautious about Pyongyang’s peace initiatives. “We are seeing little hope for any rosy future in inter-Korean relationships in the near future, although we are working on how to prepare for the vision of ‘daebak‘,” said Ryu Gil Jae, South Korean reunification minister, in a Feb. 4 press conference.

North Korean observers have said that economic difficulties have been pushing the North Korean government to relax its tight state control over farm private ownership. North Korean farmers can now sell some of their products in markets nationwide, in a gradual shift towards privatised markets.

Further, according to Chinese diplomatic academic publication ‘Segye Jisik’ (세계 지식), quoted by the South Korean news agency Yonhap News, the North Korean economy has improved since its new leader took office in 2012. From a 1.08 million ton deficit in stocks to feed the 20 million North Koreans in 2011, the deficit now stands at 340,000 tons.

According to observers, this report, if true, could send the signal that if North Korea is economically better off, it may be politically willing to reduce its dependence on the nuclear card in any bargaining process with South Korea.

U.S. sanctions have been used in the attempt to force North Korea to denuclearise, thus restricting North Korea’s trade, and the U.S. government levied new sanctions against North Korea on Jan. 2 this year in response to a cyberattack against Sony Pictures Entertainment. The FBI accused North Korea of the attack in apparent retaliation for the film, The Interview, a comedy about the assassination of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But, while sanctions may work in troubling ordinary North Koreans concerned with meeting basic food needs, they have little impact on the North Korean government. “North Korea’s trade with China has become more prosperous and most of North Korea’s deals with foreign partners are behind-the-scene deals,” said Hong Hyun Ik, senior researcher at the Sejong Research Institute.

And, in response to the threat that it may be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC), on the basis of U.N. findings on human rights, Kim Jong Un reiterated: “Our thought and regime will never be shaken.”

South Korea may now stand as the only hope for North Korea, as the United States and the United Nations gather to turn tough against the country over the human rights issue, and South Korea may find itself faced with a ‘two-track’ diplomacy between the hard-liner United States and its sympathy for the North Korean people.

In past decades, North Korea has usually played out a game with the United States and South Korea. “In recent year, the United States has been using ‘stick diplomacy’ against the North Korea, while South Korea may want to shift to ‘carrot diplomacy’,” said Moon Sung Muk of the Korea Research Institute of Strategies (KRIS).

“The Seoul government knows that the pace of getting closer to the North should be constrained by U.N. or U.S. moves,” Moon added.

Edited by Phil Harris    

Korean rice farmers protesting in Seoul against any new imports under an agreement with the World Trade Organisation. Credit: Ahn Mi Young/IPS.

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL, Apr 24 2014 (IPS)

Rice, a staple of the South Korean diet, is stirring up a bowlful of worry for Seoul. Under a promise to the World Trade Organisation (WTO), the government has to make a tough choice on rice imports by June this year.

It can either allow foreign suppliers to sell rice in its market – that is, open up its rice sector to the world – or it can continue to import a fixed quota of rice annually from countries like the U.S., China and Thailand.To open up its rice market or to stick to an import quota – the decision will not be easy for Seoul.

While opening up the rice market would bring competition for local varieties of the grain – and in turn invite the wrath of Korean farmers – the second option would mean allowing a huge quantity of foreign rice despite little domestic demand for it.

The government’s dilemma comes at a time when rice consumption is falling in the country. South Koreans no longer have the “peasant diet” – a full rice bowl, a bean fermented soup and the spicy vegetable dish kimchi. They often dine out and opt for other menus. Often, women on a diet cut down their rice intake.

An average South Korean who used to eat 130 kg of rice a year in 1982 and 112.9 kg in 1992 ate only 67.2 kg rice in 2013, according to agriculture ministry data.

Despite such a trend, the government has to take a decision soon.

In 1993, when the Korean government tried to open up the rice sector, tens of thousands of angry farmers gathered across the nation to protest. “Opening up the rice market is like giving away the country’s food sovereignty”, their slogan said.

The government then promised farmers it would not liberalise the rice sector.

WTO instead allowed South Korea a concession in the form of minimum market access (MMA) norms. This system meant Seoul would have to permit a specified quantity of rice to be imported under an annual quota.

Thus, in 1994, South Korea began to import four percent of its annual rice consumption. In 2004, this agreement was extended for another 10 years, with the condition that the annual quota of imported rice be increased by 20,000 tonnes each year.

As a result, rice import under the quota jumped from about 225,000 tonnes in 2005 to 408,000 tonnes in 2014. The current quantity imported under the quota amounts to about 10 percent of the country’s total rice production, which was 4.23 million tonnes last year.

The major sources of its rice imports are China, the U.S. and Thailand, and it also buys from India, Vietnam and Cambodia.

But few South Koreans buy foreign rice, because of their strong preference for the “delicious” homegrown variety. Most of the imported quota rice is sold to food, liquor or confectionery companies but these too increasingly use more of Korean rice because of consumer preferences.

Seoul’s agreement with the WTO on the current import quota expires at the end of 2014. It must decide by June so that it can notify the WTO of its decision by September. Seoul has said the WTO is unlikely to allow any further delay in opening the rice market.

A senior official at the agriculture ministry told IPS: “If we open up, we will try to impose a 300 or 500 percent tariff on imported rice. Then the price gap between imported and domestic rice would be big enough to keep our farmers unaffected.”

Such a proposal from Seoul would have to be ratified by the WTO. “The key issue would be how high the tariff on imported foreign rice can be,” agriculture minister Lee Dong-Pil said at a press meeting in March.

Currently domestic rice sells for 162 dollars per gamani (80 kg). If South Korea imports the cereal at 60,000-70,000 won (56-65 dollars) per gamani and imposes 400 percent tariff, imported rice will cost about 280 dollars per gamani.

“Then even fewer companies would buy imported rice,” said a senior agriculture ministry official on condition of anonymity. “This may explain why major rice exporters like China or the U.S. may secretly want Seoul to maintain the current import quota system.”

The government also believes that settling for an import quota yet again – and thereby buying greater quantities of foreign rice – will not help the country. “Another delay will not benefit South Korea,” minister Lee said, referring to a growing stock of imported rice.

Talk of opening up the rice market has already spurred farmer protests.

Hundreds of them gathered in Seoul on Mar. 13 to oppose free import of foreign rice. “As we plant rice saplings in our fields, we also sow the seeds of worry in our heart,”, said a placard at the demonstration. “We will never accept an opening up of the rice market” read another.

There are 1.15 million farmers in the country and 494,352 of them are engaged in rice cultivation, according to 2012 data from the Korean Statistical Information Service.

Last month about 10,000 farmers gathered near a Seoul building where trade officials from South Korea and China were meeting for a bilateral free trade deal that would allow these two countries to increase trade between them by reducing or removing tariff on imports.

“Once a free trade deal is made between Beijing and Seoul, how can Seoul impose 300 percent tariff on Chinese rice?” asked Lee Byong-Gyu, who was leading the farmer group.

To open up its rice market or to stick to an import quota – the decision will not be easy for Seoul.

South Korean born Russian athlete Viktor Ahn wins gold at the Sochi Olympics. Credit: Yonhap News Agency/IPS.

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL, Mar 12 2014 (IPS)

Old family bonds still seem to run deep in the South Korea of today. For evidence, one need only look at the yearning of the elderly to meet their long separated kin in North Korea during last month’s historic family reunions.

Yet, in a country that has rapidly evolved in the past six decades from a largely static rural community to the world’s most wired economic power, people today alternate between traditional, collectivist mindsets and young, individualist values.South Korea tops the world's suicide rate: 33.5 in every 100,000 people commit suicide every year in the country.

It was back to the past for many when family reunions between the South and the North were held Feb. 20-25 at North Korea’s Mount Kumgang resort. These families met for the first time since the 1950-1953 Korean War.

Such reunions had been suspended the past three years because of strained ties between the two sides. The South Korean unification ministry said 763 Koreans from both sides participated. They had waited 60 years to spend 19 hours together.

South Korean Kim Young-Hwan, 90, was speechless after meeting his wife, Kim Myong-Ok, 87, whom he had left behind in North Korea during the war. He had married again in South Korea and had five children with his second wife. But his North Korean wife continued to live with their only son without marrying again.

“I came here with the deepest sadness in my heart. I am feeling so sorry,” Kim Young-Hwan said.

South Korean Gang Neung-Hwan, 93, could recognise his son, now 64, even though he had never seen him before. Gang had left his pregnant wife in the North during the war. “My son and I look so alike! I knew immediately that he was my son.”

In Korea, family, loyalty and seniority have typically been given priority over individual pursuit. In the 1950s and early 1960s, most people suffered from post-war poverty. Fathers would sell their cattle to send their sons to Seoul for an education. In a farming society, there was a sense of mutual obligation between group members.

But Korea has since evolved into an industrial society, and further, to a technology-oriented society.

South Korea has produced brands like Samsung, LG and Hyundai. Korean K-Pop and Psy’s Gangnam Style have made the world dance to Korean beats. Beauty brands are riding Korea’s pop culture wave, popularly known as hallyu.

Last month South Koreans watched with a mix of pride and regret a Korean-born short-track skater earning three gold medals under the Russian flag at the Sochi Winter Olympics.

In 2011, at the invitation of Russians, Viktor Ahn – Korean name Ahn Hyon-Soo – gave up his Korean nationality and chose to become a Russian. The decision came after his dream for the Vancouver Games was reportedly frustrated by an ‘internal feud’ of the South Korean skating federation.

What if something like this had happened ten years ago? A Korean star who abandoned his nationality for personal gain would hardly have had the sympathy of South Koreans. Now there is less hostility.

This mindset persists even today in fields like academics and science. Dr. Hwang Woo-Seok, a disgraced South Korean scientist, is one such example.

He was hailed as a national hero when he claimed to have developed the world’s first human embryonic stem cell, but fell from grace when he was found in 2005 to have fabricated scientific data. Hwang was fired from the prestigious Seoul National University. He was convicted for embezzlement and bioethical violations. He had hurt the nation’s reputation globally – something considered unforgivable.

Few South Koreans blame sports star Ahn. “We are willing to applaud Viktor Ahn’s personal triumph,” said Bang Hyeon-Chull, in an editorial in Chosunilbo newspaper. “Nobody can criticise him for his choice. To a person who has talent, nationality should no longer be a limit. Viktor Ahn gave us a task to build a new rule of the game where we are competing and assessed individually.”

Generational differences are also visible today. While senior Koreans cherish the importance of being together, things are becoming different for the younger generation that has come of age at a time of relative affluence and freedom.

The number of births each year has halved in the last three decades, with the figure touching 430,000 in 2013, according to the Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS). In 2050, 36-39 percent of South Koreans will be 65 or older, KOSIS said.

There is a massive corporate retiree population from among the seven million South Koreans born in the post-war period from 1954 to 1964. They make up 14.6 percent of the country’s population. The impact of this demographic shift is already showing – South Korea’s working population is falling by 1.2 percent annually.

The per capita gross national product (GNP) has jumped from 80 dollars in the 1960s to at least 20,000 dollars in 2013. But as the country transforms into a highly competitive society, many now suffer from depression now. The illness, which seldom showed up in an agrarian society, has today become one of the major causes of death in South Korea.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) said in its 2010 survey that South Korea tops the world’s suicide rate: 33.5 in every 100,000 people commit suicide every year in the country.

A new ski resort opened in North Korea last year is drawing many tourists. Credit: Koryo Tours, Beijing.

By Ahn Mi Young
SEOUL, Feb 27 2014 (IPS)

If the North Korea of the 1990s was seen as a starving nation that produced an exodus of hungry people, then the picture should be even gloomier now – six years after it stopped receiving South Korea’s generous aid. But it’s not. The nation of 24 million people, widely said to be the most secretive in the world and a nuclear threat, appears to have weathered the years well.

Today, more people are reported to be better off. Many are engaged in trade. Its communist regime, inherited by the 30-something supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-Un after his father’s death in 2011, is actively wooing foreign investors and tourists, and introducing reforms. Pyongyang has even softened its attitude towards Seoul to resume talks.

North Korea has been gradually weaned off South Korean food and goods.Ordinary North Koreans no longer depend on rations from Pyongyang as these have more than halved in the past years.

From 1998 to 2007, the liberal government in Seoul used to supply some 400,000 tonnes of rice, large quantities of milk powder and medicines for infants, cement and construction equipment and fertilisers to North Korea each year. Truckloads of cargo used to cross the heavily-fortified border that has separated the two Koreas since the 1950 to 1953 Korean war.

Each month, thousands of South Korean tourists used to visit the North’s scenic Mount Kumgang, yielding millions of dollars for Pyongyang.

But ties between the two Koreas almost froze after a conservative government took office in Seoul in 2008. South Korea halted all trade with North Korea, and most investment, in May 2010 after the sinking of one of its warships, which Seoul attributed to Pyongyang.

The loss of Seoul as its largest donor resulted in Pyongyang becoming more dependent on China, its largest benefactor and only ally. According to the Korea International Trade Association (KITA), from 2012 to 2013, bilateral trade between China and North Korea increased 10 percent to 6.54 billion dollars.

North Korea has also been forced to become more self-reliant.

There are more now of the so-called “middle class” businessmen, including about 240,000 North Koreans who own 50,000-100,000 dollars worth of assets like apartments, according to the Chosun Ilbo newspaper published from Seoul.

“These new middle classes indicate that Pyongyang allows farmers or ordinary people to do business in the market. Earlier, doing business was unthinkable unless they proved their loyalty to the communist party,” an unnamed Seoul official was quoted as saying in the newspaper.

North Korean defectors in South Korea explain that these well off people are usually former farmers, traders or diplomats. A recent Media Research survey of 200 North Korean defectors indicates that at least 80 percent of ordinary North Koreans are engaged in local trade.

Ordinary North Koreans no longer depend on rations from Pyongyang as these have more than halved in the past years. The so-called “super-class apartments” in the North Korean capital are sold at rates of 100,000 dollars each.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), fewer North Koreans now say they need more food. Its 2013 survey says 46 percent of respondents have “adequate” food compared to 26 percent in the 2012 survey.

If all this is any indication, then the suspension of aid from Seoul created only short-term difficulties for the North, but in the long run it helped reform the economy.

With no food or aid from the South, workers who used to handle these supplies lost their jobs and had to find something else to do. “Many of them became sellers who are hawking in one market after another,” said Joo Sung-Ha, a Seoul-based North Korea expert.

Also, as the U.S. mounts pressure on China to make North Korea denounce nuclear weapons, Pyongyang will have to continue looking for other sources of funds, say analysts.

Already, North Korea has launched a series of reforms. In June 2012, it introduced a “family farm” system, wherein each farm family gives 30 percent of its harvest to the government and keeps the rest as its private wealth.

North Korea also announced the construction of 14 economic zones, where foreign investors can do business.

This January, a new ski resort was opened in the western city of Wonsan where foreign tourists can mingle with locals and drink European beers and even Coca-Cola.

Pyongyang has also proposed resumption of talks with Seoul. This month, for the first time after 2007, high-level officials from the two Koreas sat down to discuss the reunion of families separated during the 1950 to 1953 war.

Kim Jong-Un has reason to reform. He leads a nation that is perceived as a nuclear threat to the world. To reinforce his legitimacy, he must reduce the country’s heavy dependence on China and try to open up the economy.

But can such reforms bring about real change?

Kim Jong-Un, who succeeded his father Kim Jong-Il and grandfather Kim Il-Sung, is being accused of encouraging cult loyalty to keep his family in power. Last year, he purged the country’s number two leader, his uncle Jang Seong-Thack, executing him on treason charges.

“Kim is now terrifying the nation by sending hundreds of Mr. Jang’s men to concentration camps,” according to Cho Myong-Chull, a lawmaker in South Korea who used to be a professor at North Korea’s Kim Il-Sung University in Pyongyang.

Many North Koreans say their government cares more about itself than feeding its people. Around 90 percent of those surveyed by Media Research feel there is a wide gap between the rich and the poor today due to the emergence of the new rich. Industries have been hit by lack of electricity.

But at the same time, more North Koreans are getting to know about the outside world. The Media Research survey of North Korean defectors finds that 70 percent of them had already seen South Korean TV dramas and heard K-pop songs while living in North Korea.

More than three million North Koreans are believed to own cell phones. Most defectors settled in South Korea speak to their family members back home through mobile phones.

There are more than 26,100 North Korean defectors living in South Korea. They say that in the 1990s they left home to escape hunger. But since 2007, more left in search of a better life and better education for their children.

In recent years, North Korea has tried to woo back defectors instead of persecuting them. In fact, fewer people have left for South Korea since Kim Jong-Un took power, according to the South Korean Ministry of Unification.

North Korea’s communist government frowns upon women wearing pants, seeing it as a mark of ‘rotten bourgeois lifestyles.’ Yet, wives, literally wearing pants, are selling goods in the local markets to supplement their husbands’ meagre pay packets.

While the dads toil in decrepit factories and dismal mines, moms sail by on bicycles to the nearby market to sell whatever sells and bring in cash that may represent the family’s main income.

“Dad’s wages have drastically dropped, while the money mom makes at the markets has increased significantly,” Hyun Geong, an expert on North Korean affairs, told IPS in an interview.

“Mothers, who are good sellers, may bring in 10 – 20 times more than what the fathers earn as monthly wages,” said Hyun, who works for the Seoul-based Free North Korea (FNK) Radio, founded by North Korean defectors to broadcast programmes across the border.

South Korean visitors to some of the markets scattered across the impoverished country bring back tales of enterprising women, typically in their 30s and 40s, confidently running stalls.

“They are witty, but aggressive,” says a South Korean evangelist who visits North Korea frequently to deliver food assistance. He added that it is common to see young mothers attending to buyers while their babies, thin from malnutrition, sleep by their side.

“While moms are selling goods in the market, fathers are usually idling off at home or factories that are barely operational due to lack of electricity,” explains Kim Chung-Chull, 26, who fled North Korea a few years ago.

“In the 1980s we used to wait for dad to bring the rations. But by the 1990s we were waiting more eagerly for mom to return from the market with something to eat,” says Kim.

A new breed of street-savvy women is bringing home the bacon, breaking the Confucian ideal of the wife following two steps behind her husband in subservience.

“Food rations in the 1990s ranged from 300 grams to 600 grams per person, depending on many factors, including his ranking. It was insufficient but steady enough to keep the women at home,” says Hyun.

By the end of the 1990s, famine-like conditions began to take a toll on millions of North Korean families, forcing the wives to take to the marketplace as hawkers ready to trade away their possessions just to get a little rice.

There was a setback in 2007 when the regime devalued North Korean currency resulting in the worth of cash saved by enterprising wives plummeting.

But the markets recovered much of their momentum in 2010, thanks to the supply line from South Korea opening up and a steady demand for consumer goods.

“North Koreans love anything from the South – from chocolates and rice cookies to South Korean drama DVDs. Most of these goods come via China or are sent by relatives working in South Korea,” says Lee Ban, 38, who fled to South Korea in 2003.

This sudden perking up of the markets was a departure from the picture in the 1990s, marked by long queues for rations.

“At that time (in the 1990s), even if there were markets, there was virtually nothing to sell and barter in North Korea. Now a market exists, since it has found a new supply line from South Korea via China,” says Shin Sun-Dae, a publisher.

South Korean cultural products are seen as “outside pollution” that the people need to be protected from as well as a direct challenge to the North Korean regime.

The ‘Hermit Kingdom’ has even threatened to impose the death penalty on those caught trading in or watching CDs and DVDs of South Korean TV dramas, films or music.

Despite the risks, South Korean TV soaps remain immensely popular. “When I first saw a South Korean TV drama, I was stunned to see South Koreans living in decent homes, eating good food and driving beautiful cars. I was taught from childhood that we must help our starving South Korean peers,” says Kim Hyun-Ji, 28, a North Korean defector.

“Nowadays, the demand (for South Korean culture) is so overwhelming that the North Korean government is almost helpless,” says Kim Seong-Min, who runs FNK Radio to which many North Koreans are known to tune in, illegally.

Kim says that thousands of computers, though outdated, have been pressed into service in North Korea to burn copies of popular soaps and films. “A single copied CD of a South Korean TV drama costs the average monthly wage of a North Korean worker, yet the demand is enormous.”

Mothers and sisters, who take on jobs as domestic workers in South Korea, at wages that look like small fortunes by North Korean standards, are the main sources of CDs and other coveted items.

One such item that North Korean women send back home unfailingly is a piece of confectionary called Choco Pie, which is penny cheap in the South Korea, but is traded as a treat in markets around Pyongyang at prices that could buy several meals.

Choco Pie is especially popular in the Kaesong Industrial Park, 10 km north of the Korean Demilitarized Zone, which employs thousands of North Korean women who are given two or three pieces daily as dessert.

Instead of eating the cookies that come sealed in foil, the women find ways to smuggle them out of the free industrial zone to be sold at a premium or bartered in the North Korean markets.

Shin Sun-Dae suggests that instead of sending rice as food aid to North Korea it might be better if Seoul donates chocolates. “If we send rice, the North Koreans will eat it up quickly. But if we send chocolates, they will sell or barter them and the markets will boom.”

North Koreans have increasingly been crossing into the northern border cities of China, with women outnumbering men. “Women represent about 70 percent of some 200,000 North Koreans who fled from North Korea into China in the past few years,” Kim Tae Jin, a North Korean defector who leads a nongovernment organisation to protect the human rights of fellow North Koreans tells IPS.

North Korean men are less tempted to cross the border because, with little local connections in China, they are easily tipped off for arrest by security guards and subsequently sent back to North Korea, Kim explains. “Besides, North Korean men could hardly compete with the Chinese for the few jobs available.”

In contrast, young North Korean women are sold as brides to Chinese farmers in northern border villages, while older ones take menial jobs working in restaurants or karaoke rooms. “We estimate about 80 percent of North Korean women who fled the North are sold as brides to Chinese men,” Kim says.

“Once in China, fear of being sent back to North Korea grips them, keeping them silent and obedient no matter how abusively they are treated,” Kim adds.

Some former brides managed to make it all the way to South Korea. “My Chinese husband regularly reminded me of how much he paid for me. I felt like his possession,” says one North Korean woman.

The price for each North Korean girl aged 15 or so reportedly ranges from 3,000 to 10,000 yuan (463 to 1,500 dollars) depending on her physical condition.

“When I visit China’s northern border villges, I often see a group of North Korean teenagers-turned- brides of Chinese husbands,” Kim says. “They gather around a village well, chatting and laughing. Many of these brides must stay there for fear of being captured by North Korean guards to be sent back to the North.”

In the face of the harsh reality in China, some women even consider going back. “When I first arrived in China, I went through shame, fear and humiliation. I even missed my home in North Korea. Although I was starving at home, I was at least a citizen there. In China, I had to be invisible and dumb,” says Yoh Su-Wa, a woman who fled North Korea and made her way to South Korea after four years in China.

Within North Korea it’s hard. To be a North Korean woman is to be tough and brave, fighting all odds in an impoverished country that gives priority to nuclear and missile testing over feeding its population of 23 million, North Korean defectors say.

The mother usually overrules the father in North Korean homes, contrary to the traditional family picture of the obedient wife and mother coupled with the sole breadwinner father, defectors add.

Hunger forced women to take to the streets after North Korea’s food rationing system collapsed during a famine in the 1990s. Markets sprang up across the country, and North Koreans bought and sold whatever was available. With shrinking rations at home, the only way to survive was to sell or barter their belongings in the black market in exchange for something to eat.

In North Korea, a woman is usually the family’s main breadwinner, while her father, husband and sons are mostly idle, kept away from state-run factories that have shut down or seldom operate.

“Maybe my father was used to the cosy system of communism where rations are equally given whether he works hard or not,” said Lee Sung-Min, who fled North Korea and made his way to South Korea in the early 2000s.

“My father found it humiliating to hawk goods in the street,” said Lee, who asked that his real name be withheld.

Many women who make it to South Korea find menial jobs cleaning buildings, or work as waitresses or housemaids. “Women tend to be faster than men in fitting into a new life in South Korea,” Kim says.

Meanwhile, North Korean men have a harder time finding jobs. Even if they do get employed, Kim says, many soon quit. “North Korean men find it hard to adapt to a different work culture in the South where men are treated differently depending on their performance and efforts.”

Also, the frailer North Korean men could not compete with their South Korean counterparts, who are usually a head taller. “The long harsh journey from North Korea crippled one arm of a North Korean defector in Seoul. He worked with one arm at a construction site, and had to leave the job unable to work as productively as the South Koreans,” said Lee Hoon, pastor of the Seoul-based Onnuri Church that shelters North Korean defectors.

Young North Koreans who have defected to the South are determined to see their dream – a unified Korea – become reality, even if their counterparts in the South don’t quite agree.

“My dream is to get the two Koreas united. In a united Korea, I will run a shelter to feed hungry North Koreans,” said 20-year-old Yu Chull-Min (not his real name), a North Korean studying at Yomyung School in Seoul where students from the North, aged 16 to 24, are finishing high school.

But this lofty dream often gets lost in confusion and sometimes humiliation, as these young North Korean realise how different they are from South Korean youths.

The biggest difference is their divergence on the unification issue. In a unification camp rally held in April, undergraduates from both South and North gathered to talk about their vision on the unification of two Koreas.

“Why should we bother to unify two Koreas?” said a student from South Korea. “We must recognise that two Koreans have drifted too far away from each other. Therefore, wouldn’t it be more comfortable for two Koreas to stay apart as it is now?”

A dozen North Korean students in the meeting were taken aback. “How shocked I was,” said Lee Hyun- Ji (not his real name) a 25-year-old student from the North.

“The way she talks is a far departure from the way we used to speak in North Korea. Back in the 1990s when I was kid in the North, we falsely believed South Koreans were worse off than we were. And our dream was to unify two Koreas so that we may help South Korea with food.”

Even more frustrating for North Korean students was the thought that the South Korean’s views seemed to represent the opinion of the majority of South Korean students on the reunifications. “Many of our friends believe two Koreas are too different to stay together in the same state entity,” said Kim Ju-Ri, 21, a South Korean student in Handong University in the southern city of Pohang.

Yomyung School vice-president Jo Myung-Sook explained why unification is a desperate dream for North Koreans. “Because the unification is the only way for them to reunite with their families that they had left behind,” she said. “Also, it is the only way for them to get the starving North Koreans out of the hunger and poverty.”

Most of these North Koreans endured not only separation from their families, but also the pain and terror crossing the border from North Korea into China, and then on to the South.

Many believe that South Korean students are more individualistic, while North Korean students are more united in their group-minded pursuit of unification.

The difference explains why South Koreans appear indifferent or insensitive to North Korean students. “We South Koreans have our own individual goal to pursue. We would rather pass it unless it is something compelling to serve our purpose,” said Lee Min-A, a 23-year-old undergraduate studying economics in Handong University.

The contrast between South Koreans’ focus on individual merit, against North Koreans’ group-oriented attitude, became more pronounced this year, after turmoil plagued South Korea ‘s top science university in the wake of four suicides. Four students killed themselves amid mounting pressure to get high grades.

The difference in level of education between students from North and South is also obvious. North Koreans students realise soon enough that they lag far behind their South Korean peers in areas of study that do not exist in the North, such as English and computers. As a result, North Korean students have to deal with technology-oriented language they could not pick up.

“I just smile it away, even though I do not understand what South Korean peers say, pretending to get it. Because I don’t want to let South Korean peers think I am different,” said Yu Chull-Min at Yomyung School. Yu occasionally encounters South Korean peers in his work as a volunteer helping the homeless.

Another difference is that South Koreans are used to luxuries alien to youths from the North. “I felt the outrage when I saw students here did not eat all of (their) food just because they don’t like it,” said Lee Hyun-Ji (not her real name), a student who fled North Korea.

“When I see leftover food, I am reminded of North Korean children who were starved to death (when I was there),” said Lee, who arrived in South Korea in 2006 via China.

The food scarcity that has plagued at least one-third of the 23 million North Korean population since the 1990s is the major reason some 10,000 North Koreans have left their hometowns, crossed the border into China, and finally settled in South Korea.

The differences are a source of frustration for North Koreans. “The gap between their dream and reality often ends up being a disheartened mind that leads some of them to turn to smoke and alcohol,” said Jo Myung-Sook.

On the other hand, there are those who see the differences as a chance for young North Koreans in the South to bridge the gap when the two Koreas are united. The new reality that North Koreans are feeling to the South is a window to what lies ahead for North Koreans when the two Koreas are eventually reunited.

“For this reason, we believe we are going to take up a bridge role between two Koreas when two Koreas are united,” said Lee Hyun-Ji.

South Korean President Lee Myung-bak warned leaders in North Korea on Sunday that it would be counterproductive for Pyongyang to pursue a path involving the development of missiles that threaten its neighbours.

North Korea has announced plans to test-launch its ‘Kwangmyungsung No. 2′ satellite into orbit for telecommunications purposes, but this involves ‘dual use’ technologies that are applicable to long-range missiles.

In a speech, marking an uprising against the 1910-1945 Japanese occupation of the peninsula, Lee reminded the North that its best bet lay in cooperation with the South. ‘’What protects North Korea are not nuclear weapons and missiles, but cooperation with the South and the international community,” Lee said.

Observers believe that that Pyongyang is rattling its missile technology as a way to pressure the West and possibly extract more concessions.

The planned satellite launch may also be a way to show defiance of warnings made by United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, during her Asian tour in February, against adventurism by Pyongyang involving weapons of mass destruction.

North Korea, according to observers, is developing missile technology as a bargaining chip in its dealings with the West and also to make money by selling that technology to countries like Iran and Syria.

So far, North Korea has successfully used its nuclear technology card in order to extract favours from the U.S. and its allies in the region, Japan and South Korea.

Seoul believes, however, that the time has come for North Korea to take off its rose-tinted glasses and face the reality that it will no longer allow Pyongyang to play the brinksmanship game.

To show that it means business, Seoul has stopped unconditional aid to its impoverished neighbour and called on the North to return to the negotiating table.

Pyongyang has responded by insisting that it was about to launch a communications satellite as part of a peaceful space programme.

North Korea, which conducted a nuclear test in October 2006, does not yet have the technology to mount a nuclear warhead on a missile, according to experts. But it is has its neighbours worried by refusing to agree to any verification of its claims to having shut down its nuclear programme.

In his Sunday speech President Lee told Pyongang that denuclearisation would quickly help the reclusive regime to reintegrate with the international community.

Seoul has been ignoring provocations from Pyongyang, including suggestions that Lee was playing the role of a U.S. stooge.

“We will remain even-tempered no matter how tough N. Korea talks against us,” said South Korean defence minister Lee Sang-Hee, last week, in response to Pyongyang’s announcement that it was ready to launch a missile. “We are also ready to fire back our missile if N. Korea strikes us,” he added.

“We South Koreans should not allow North Korea to be tempted to strike Seoul with its short-range missile. That is why we may need at least 10 more defence missiles to be deployed in South Korea as a possible deterrence to North Korea’s temptation,” said Kim Chang-June, a former U.S. lawmaker of Korean origin, during a visit to Seoul.

Military insiders have said that another missile launch by North Korea would strengthen the position of hardliners in Seoul and Washington who are talking about beefing up the military as a deterrent.

Seoul has offered a carrot to induce Pyongyang to drops its nuclear ambitions in the shape of resumption of suspended economic package including food and fuel aid. There are also a dozen energy development projects in the pipeline for developing North Korea’s rich resources.

South Korean manufacturers are also waiting for a chance to invest in North Korea as they find their factories in China costly to run and subject to heavy regulations.

“By insisting on its missile launch, North Korea is giving up all of the fortunes that await it in return for giving up its nuclear cards,” writes Kim Young-Hee, a senior journalist in an editorial in the ‘Joong-ang’ newspaper.

Since Lee’s new conservative government took over in February 2008, most of the official contacts between the two Koreas have virtually been severed. South Korean tourists who once flocked to North Korea’s scenic Kumgang mountain are no longer able to travel after the North stopped allowing more S.Koreans on its soil.

If Pyongayang persists with launching its missile some 23 million North Korean people are likely to suffer. A third of that number relies on international aid of food supplies.

On this side of the border the South Korean economy, which is now heading for a minus GDP growth, will be affected. Already, investors are using the North Korean threat as a reason to pull their money out.

Finally, it will hurt the interests of about 1,000 North Korean defectors living in the South, who have maintained contact with the families they left behind during the 1950-1953 Korean war.

North Koreans have, in recent times, sued their half-brothers for shares in million-dollar inheritances left behind by a deceased common father.

“If North Korea continues to be into its false belief [that the missile or thenuclear card will work as it did before], the clock is clicking back into the past [for North Korea],” says Kim Sung-Han, a professor at Korea University.