Among the less noticed business news stories to have emerged over the past 48 hours were reports that North Korea recently opened its first American-style fast food restaurant, Samtaeseong, in Pyongyang, and plans to open further branches in future.

If this had happened in any other country, it would probably not merit any attention. But this [Read more...]

The North Korean nuclear crisis has been going on for so long now, and has become so repetitive, that like various US high-suspense TV dramas such as ‘24’ and ‘Lost’, it is losing its ability to shock. The cast of characters changes slightly, but the themes and events are fairly constant. (The only real shock [Read more...]

Perhaps the most noteworthy aspect of North Korea’s Taepodong 2 rocket launch on Sunday was what a non-event it was. True, the Korean missile travelled further than any previous one – 3,200 km – but it failed to carry out Pyongyang’s stated goal of putting a satellite into orbit (although the North’s media says it [Read more...]

There’s a well-known Roman maxim, ‘If You Want Peace, Prepare For War’.

Judging by some potentially dangerous maneuverings taking place on the Korean peninsula, I can only hope that North Korea’s leaders are taking this proverb to heart.

There are several developments which are raising regional tensions right now:

• North Korea has confirmed that it plans to [Read more...]

Last year, I came up with a new acronym to describe a group of economies in Asia that exists largely on the margins of the world – BLANKs (Burma, Laos, Afghanistan, and North Korea). Given their disconnectedness from global investment flows and trade, surely they will not be affected by the current recession?

Actually, no.

For [Read more...]

By now most investors will be familiar with the explosive growth of telecommunications – especially mobile phones – in emerging markets. Yet one notable black hole in the telecoms universe (and other industries for that matter) has been North Korea. However, this week Egypt’s Orascom Telecom launched mobile phone services in the last truly ‘old [Read more...]

Is North Korean leader Kim Jong Il ailing? His absence from this week’s 60th anniversary parade – a major milestone in the North Korean calendar – certainly suggests this. The word is that he seems to have suffered a stroke, although on Friday, South Korea’s Yonhap News Agency reported that Kim had regained the ability [Read more...]