Despite the potential damage to their image from working with the ostracised country, foreign businesses continue to strike deals with the country in industries as a diverse as IT, tourism and outsourcing. In June, for example, PC World magazine reported on how North Korea was emerging as a popular destination for outsourcing companies, with the regime in Pyongyang regime claiming it had 1000 employees specialising in computer animation, data input and software design for mobile phones. The report cited the example of Nosotek, a European-invested software developer based in Pyongyang, which boasts on its website of being ‘the first western IT venture in the DPRK [North Korea].’
CIO magazine, a publication aimed at chief information officers, meanwhile, revealed that North Korea had taken tentative steps toward moving onto the internet by registering over 1000 IP addresses through Pyongyang-based Star Joint Venture, a company partly owned by the Thailand-based company Loxley Pacific.
Some critics have questioned the ethics of agreeing any kind of contract with the regime in Pyongyang and dismiss the argument trotted out by those doing business there that trade benefits could trickle down to North Koreans. One Seoul-based defector says the idea that striking business deals with Pyongyang in the hopes of helping everyday North Koreans is misguided. ‘The only ones who will receive anything are high ranking people,’ he says.
Tim Peters, an activist who operates Helping Hands Korea, agrees making sure assistance gets where it is meant to go is a challenge, noting the misuse of donated humanitarian goods during the North Korean famine in the late 1990s. ‘The problem with helping inside North Korea is it’s fraught with all kinds of challenges, frustrations and lack of “transparency,”’ he says.
But German firm Exozet Games, which distributes Nosotek-produced games, says there’s a difference between trading in North Korea and trading with the regime. ‘It's not like we worked with the government,’ the company’s manager of digital distribution says. ‘We just worked with great people who have nothing to do with the dictatorship.’
And it’s not just companies that are eyeing closer ties. Brazil, for example, is reportedly keen to broaden relations—including business ties—with North Korea, arguing that sanctions could be counter-productive. In addition, South Korea stopped short of completely halting operations at a jointly-run manufacturing complex in the border town of Kaesong, despite an international report pointing the finger of blame squarely at North Korea over the sinking of the Cheonan. Analysts say such an approach, prompted largely by fears in Seoul over provoking a military backlash or flood of refugees, could undercut sanctions efforts.
So despite the best efforts of the US, it seems that it will be if not business as usual, then business nonetheless. And until a formula can be found that effectively puts the screws on the regime while benefiting average North Koreans, the Pyongyang chain of restaurants—if it can avoid the sanctions squeeze—is likely to have a regular stream of curious customers looking for a glimpse into the Hermit Kingdom.
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