This is a cross-post from A Rabbit’s Eye View of the Hyperborean North.
One of the most poignant thoughts when looking at the lightscape of the Korean peninsular which shows the northern half in darkness is that, due to its greater natural resources, this area contained the most heavy industry during the Japanese period.
The Financial Times is reporting that a consortium lead by Anglo-Irish oil company, Aminex and Singaporean oil company, Chosum Energy have secured a ten year production sharing agreement with Pyongyang to explore for oil off the north east coast.
Perhaps Aminex is hoping for a better showing after its share prices fell by as much as 26% in April following the failure of its partner, Tullow Oil to find oil in the Ruvuma Basin in southern Tanzania. If so, I assume it now has better assurances from the DPRK with which it entered a similar agreement in 2006.
Almost four years later, it issued an operational update, citing difficulties with “international politics”. And it currently is a stable period?
Despite touting for foreign investment, the DPRK remains the Avon Barksdale to the CCP’s Stringer Bell. No honour exists in dealing with this medieval kingdom with trappings of modernity, as investors in the Sunshine Policy of the 1990s found out.
Like a Korean Diues, ROK ex-businessman Roh Jeong-Ho is scathing of current initiatives. Roh had been shamefully hoodwinked when selling barbed-wire fences to keep herd Koreans at the Rajin-Sonbong Economic Special Zone.
Orascom, take note as you continue to fit-out the Ryogyong Hotel.