Felix Abt's Blog, page 10
June 27, 2014
HOW DID AN EXCITING AND VISIONARY REFORM PROJECT BRING GOOD BUSINESS PRACTICES TO THE WORLD’S MOST ISOLATED COUNTRY?
WHO BANNED GOOGLE, MICROSOFT, FACEBOOK AND LINKEDIN IN NORTH KOREA?
MORE FARMERS WITH BICYLES – AND WHAT IT MEANS
Decades ago North...
MORE FARMERS WITH BICYLES – AND WHAT IT MEANS
Decades ago North Korea was proud of its high level of agricultural mechanization and its numerous tractors outnumbering those of other Asian countries. But for reasons Felix Abt describes in his book A CAPITALIST IN NORTH KOREA: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom only few of them can be seen in the fields nowadays.
Still, he observed more and more farmers over the years using bicycles to go to the fields, a sign that things have been picking up since the devastating crisis years of the nineties.
More about agriculture and farmers in Felix’s book: http://www.amazon.com/Capitalist-North-Korea-Hermit-Kingdom/dp/0804844399/ref=la_B00JT7W63Y_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1403929554&sr=1-1
May 19, 2014
NORTH KOREA - BEHIND THE VEIL
Visiting foreigners are always...
NORTH KOREA - BEHIND THE VEIL
Visiting foreigners are always accompanied by two North Korean guides from the moment they step from the plane in Pyongyang, until the end of their tightly predefined program.
However, Felix Abt, a resident foreign capitalist, could walk and drive alone 24/7 in the capital and could even travel alone to the port city of Nampo. There were also many unplanned encounters like this spontaneous, friendly invitation by ordinary North Koreans offering beer and food to Felix and his wife Huong (sitting on the floor) during a national holiday.
More about Felix’s unexpected encounters in his book A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom:
NORTH KOREA REALITY CHECK
Predictably, the major news outlets...
NORTH KOREA REALITY CHECK
Predictably, the major news outlets worldwide ran stories every autumn quoting international aid agencies saying that North Korea was on the brink of mass starvation once again. Though these perennially predicted famines never came to pass, the stories continued to be spread at regular intervals, nevertheless.
At the same time, Felix Abt observed state farms switching from mono crops to double crops and private households breeding more animals and growing more vegetables for their own consumption and for sale at markets.
He also noticed that unemployed urbanites moved to the countryside to privately cultivate small fields of all shapes and sizes on hillsides. This agricultural produce sold for a profit and became a significant part of North Korea’s food supply.
More on North Korea’s reportedly desperate food situation in Felix Abt’s book A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom:
May 16, 2014
WHAT DO NORTH KOREANS PREFER – FOOD AID OR FOREIGN...
WHAT DO NORTH KOREANS PREFER – FOOD AID OR FOREIGN BUSINESS ?
Western governments and NGOs used to send massive food aid to North Korea.
Meanwhile, Felix Abt and eleven resident foreign business people founded the European Business Association (EBA), the first Pyongyang-based foreign chamber of commerce (as shown in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zM1e7fpWdYI).
He explains in his book A Capitalist in North Korea why selling solar-driven pumps for a profit, as shown at this EBA exhibition booth in Pyongyang, was better for the North Korean people than free rice bags from abroad.
☆☆☆☆☆
Order your book here:
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalist-North-Korea-Hermit-Kingdom/dp/0804844399/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389673356&sr=1-16&keywords=north+korea
RUSTY KNIVES AND FAKE WATCHES WITH A SHORT LIFE SPAN ARE JUST...
RUSTY KNIVES AND FAKE WATCHES WITH A SHORT LIFE SPAN ARE JUST NOT GOOD ENOUGH FOR NORTH KOREANS
The middle class has grown exponentially over the last decade and so has the demand for imported quality products. But sanctions banning items such as Swiss knives and watches were imposed by the developed world which called them ‘luxury’ goods. North Korean buyers were prevented from purchasing their favorite products for many years.
More about how sanctions made North Korean lives harder in Felix Abt’s book A Capitalist in North Korea:
THE ASIAN CRAZE FOR WESTERN BRANDS REACHES PYONGYANG
Giorgio...
THE ASIAN CRAZE FOR WESTERN BRANDS REACHES PYONGYANG
Giorgio Armani opened its retail store in Beijing in 2001. Only five years later this shop selling Adidas shirts, shoes and footballs opened in North Korea’s capital Pyongyang. Felix Abt was there.
Learn more about changing shopping patterns in the so-called reclusive country in his book A Capitalist in North Korea:
http://www.amazon.com/Capitalist-North-Korea-Hermit-Kingdom/dp/0804844399/ref=sr_1_16?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1389673356&sr=1-16&keywords=north+korea
May 8, 2014
AIRPORT HORROR STORIES NOT REAL
Adam Johnson, in 2012’s...
AIRPORT HORROR STORIES NOT REAL
Adam Johnson, in 2012’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Orphan Master’s Son , describes cattle on the runway in Pyongyang. Felix Abt’s memoir, A Capitalist in North Korea tells us a different story and it hasn’t won any prizes. Yet.
IT’S MORE COLORFUL THAN YOU THINK
Other writers may portray...
IT’S MORE COLORFUL THAN YOU THINK
Other writers may portray North Korea as dull and colorless but Felix Abt has seen a different side of things.
Years before the book Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea was published claiming colors could be found only on propaganda posters the pharmaceutical factory (left) run by Felix Abt was painted in green, a well-known pharmaceutical symbol.
Read more about the increasingly colorful lives there in Felix’s book A Capitalist in North Korea :
