Through this documentary shows life inside the North Korea.

We all know that after the separation of North and

South Korea during World War II, the said country became secretive and we only know little about North Korea. Today as
the world evolve, the country that became silent for years finally opening their door to fill our knowledge. The information
gathered by this documentary was from the insights and experiences of the former officials that once became a part of the
country’s nation building.
The clip started by showing how civilized North Korea is. Before, the image that engraves in our minds about North
Korea is that their country is plagued with poverty and citizens here are force to be a part of military. Little did we know,
that their country is rich with lots of high-rise buildings, condominiums, and recreational parks everywhere especially in the
center, Pyongyang.
They said that the inhabitants of the condominiums are chosen by the leader in exchange for their contribution to
the country. Giving homes and other luxury items is a part of Gift Politics, a system that believe to be the foundation of the
Kim dynasty. Winning the hearts of the citizen is the objective of Gift Politics. It is a form of allegiance, giving gifts in
exchange for their loyalty, making people feel that they would die for their leader out of gratitude.
Kim Jong-Il, Kim Jong-Un’s (North Korea’s party’s first secretary and current leader) father started this practice. He is
the successor of his father Kim Il-Sung (founder of North Korea). He showered his supporters with expensive gifts and
removed those who opposed him that is how he shows his power to his citizen. The luxury goods are said to be gathered all
over the world. Germany, Guangdong Province in China, Macau and most especially Vienna in Austria are the places where
luxury gifts are gathered. Staffs are sent to different places to buy presents for senior officials. During New Year and
Supreme Leader’s birthday are the events where most gifts are sent. Kim Jong Ryul (ex official) incharge of gifts buying, said
that gifts varied by type and price according to their ranks. Gifts must surpass the gifts sent before to keep the frame intact.
Giving cheap gifts might waver the loyalty of its subordinates.
During Kim Jong-Un’s regime the fund allotted for the gift giving doubled that it took over 600 million dollars per year
for the gift politics. Kang Myung Do (former North Korean official) said that Kim Jong-Un’s power is much lesser than his
father, so he doubled the gifts given to strengthen his power.
Kim Kwang-Jin (executive in finance division) said that there are two economies that operate the North Korea. First is
the People’s economy, for the general public. It is where the public funds goes, to support the citizens with all the foods
and daily essentials they needed. But Kim Jong-Il started to use public funds to strengthen his power, it is where the second
economy started, the Royal Court economy. It is where the supreme leader takes large amount of money without seeking
the party’s approval. He uses funds for gift giving and military projects. These takes up to 60% of the nation’s entire
economic activity. It is the said reason why the Kim’s remain powerful.
The North Korea has secret funds to use by the leaders of the country. These secret funds are composed of foreign
currency which brought in from other countries. It took over 3-4 billion of dollars that the officials have accumulated from
the foreign currencies. North Korea does everything they know collect more foreign currency. And the best sources of these
foreign currencies are military weapon trading. They supply weapons in other parts of Asian even in Africa, they smuggle
their weapons through cargo vessels. They put goods atop of it and forge documents for the easy going process.
The U.S. government found out weapon trading of North Korea, they started tracking their movement and find ways
on how they could cut-off the North’s funding sources. They already freeze the account of North Korea in one of the banks
in Macau to stop the in and out of money. But the country found another source of foreign currency it is through selling
gold and other mineral resources. Gold transaction was said to be always conducted in cash; no bank accounts and no
traces for the U.S to find out.
Another source of foreign currency of the North Korea are labor trading. It is where they mobilize workers, even the
ordinary once to be sent overseas. Before they disapproved the idea of labor trade because of the exposure of information
that their citizens might find out, but now it took over 100,000 North Korean workers around the world.
North Korea is doing whatever it can to earn foreign currency to keep Royal Economy afloat.