31 March 2013/19 Jumada l-Ula 1434/11 Farvardin 1391/20 Yi-Mao (2nd month) 4711

The North Korean newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, stated that U.S. bases in Japan and Guam are being targeted with weapons that are equivalent to tactical nuclear weapons.

Also, recently it was pointed out that photos of Kim Jong Un in a war room meeting show a wallmap in the background indicating attack points on the United States.  Some of the targets are located on the Atlantic coast.  One analyst pointed out that the straight lines drawn on the map can’t be true indicators of attack because planes and ICBMs don’t fly in straight lines:  “It seems reasonable to suppose that the target map is designed for home consumption and to create an impression of war readiness for DPRK citizens that is part of a wider policy of strengthening national resolve.”-John Swenson-Wright, University of Cambridge

And in an apparent move to show that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is not desperate for western cash, Kim Jong Un threatened to close down the Gaeseong slave wage labor complex (aka Kaesŏng Industrial Region, aka KIR).  The massive labor camp was set up in a 2002 deal between North and South Korea.  The North provides dirt cheap labor for western capitalist corporations from South Korea (Republic of Korea).  According to Japanese media reports that labor camp employees 50000 North Koreans.

In 2009 North Korea demanded more money for the KIR workers.  Up ’till then workers were paid a paltry $75 USD per month!  North Korean officials wanted the pay increased to $300 per month.  Notice this is about the time the United States ramped up anti-North Korean rhetoric, and North Korea responded with the nuke testing!

By 2012 the average pay for KIR workers was only $160 per month.  That’s one fifth the minimum wage in South Korea, and a quarter of what most Chinese slave wage workers make.  Also, North Korea decided it was time for the U.S. backed South Korean companies to pay their fare share in taxes.  Many of the capitalist corporations claimed that even with the slave wages they were paying they weren’t making profits!

Maybe DPRK’s threat to shut down the KIR is a realization that the U.S. backed ROK is addicted to the cheap North Korean labor, and perhaps will hurt the South’s economy more than the North’s.

There are currently 123 South Korean companies taking advantage of the cheap North Korean labor.  Everything from clothing to jewelry to automotive parts to electronics are made there.