Felix Abt's Blog, page 7
July 18, 2014
North Korea Out of the Dark: The Inside Story by the CAPITALIST IN NORTH KOREA
Now on Youtube,...
July 17, 2014
SERVICE WITH A SMILE – IN NORTH KOREA!
While Felix Abt was CEO...
SERVICE WITH A SMILE – IN NORTH KOREA!
While Felix Abt was CEO of the PyongSu pharmaceutical company it became an enterprise obsessed with quality. Training and coaching were at the top of the agenda and were often aimed at changing traditional behavior patterns, particularly when it came to customer service.
This picture shows a simple result of this: instead of the sullen, passive, uninterested shop assistant we see an active, helpful, competent and friendly PyongSu pharmacist smiling with her customers, unaware that the moment has been captured by Felix.
More about changing business practices in North Korea in Felix’s book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
‘SHADY BUSINESS PEOPLE AND DOGS’ TAKE A BREAK FROM HELPING THE...
‘SHADY BUSINESS PEOPLE AND DOGS’ TAKE A BREAK FROM HELPING THE NORTH KOREAN REGIME PREPARE AN APOCALYPSE!
“Unethical ”, “shady”, “dog”: not the first, or even the worst, unflattering appellations applied to Felix Abt, the “Capitalist in North Korea”, by anonymous writers on social websites. These particular epithets were publicly proffered by a well-known Washington-based conservative Jihadi who’s been fighting for many years for “one free Korea” and for enforcing strangulating embargoes.
With Felix Abt just ‘messing about’ on Taedong River one Sunday is Heinz Walther-McDonnell, a fellow director on the board of the PyongSu pharmaceutical company. So is this how foreign business people scheme with their North Korean partners to hide their joint “criminal” activities? Does renting this small rowing boat for an afternoon constitute propping up the DPRK regime? It would appear those who hate any engagement with North Korea probably believe so.
Find out how “shady” Felix’s business was in his book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
A FAN OF AIR KORYO – THE WORLD’S WORST AIRLINE
This promotional...
A FAN OF AIR KORYO – THE WORLD’S WORST AIRLINE
This promotional gift was offered to Felix Abt, the “Capitalist in North Korea”, and other passengers on a regular domestic flight by North Korea’s national airline, Air Koryo.
When Felix Abt read the news headline: “World’s Worst Airline” that was cheerfully spread around the globe by Western media in October 2012 his first thought was of the infamous Ryanair. Surely, its notoriously dismal time-keeping record, poor service, deceptive and punishing fees, should qualify it for the epithet. Or perhaps the article was referring to safety standards, where a number of Latin American, Asian and African carriers Felix had used could compete for the title. But on close inspection he realised that there was only likely to be one candidate in the eyes of the West: the national airline of the country they most enjoyed ‘bashing’: Air Koryo of North Korea.
A rather different, and undoubtedly more informed opinion, emerged following the week long “Aviation Enthusiast Tour” organised by David Thompson, a young British entrepreneur, in May 2012. Hundreds of aviation fans from all round the world gathered in North Korea to fly, and be flown in, a great range of aircraft. The flight skills of the Air Koryo pilots, trained on civilian and MiG-fighter jets, particularly impressed the cognoscenti, as they duly reported to the assembled media. And SRTechnics Co., a Swiss company specialising in the repair and maintenance of aircraft, similarly passed on their observation of the high maintenance standards of the North Korean craft.
“I have personally flown on much newer aircraft that have been in much worse condition than older Air Koryo aircraft,” said Mr. Thompson to the Wall Street Journal in April 2014.
More about why Felix Abt enjoyed flying the World’s Worst Airline in his book A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom 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
A FAN OF AIR KORYO – THE ‘WORLD’S WORST AIRLINE’
This...
A FAN OF AIR KORYO – THE ‘WORLD’S WORST AIRLINE’
This promotional gift was offered to Felix Abt, the “Capitalist in North Korea”, and other passengers on a regular domestic flight by North Korea’s national airline, Air Koryo.
When Felix Abt read the news headline: “World’s Worst Airline” that was cheerfully spread around the globe by Western media in October 2012 his first thought was of the infamous Ryanair. Surely, its notoriously dismal time-keeping record, poor service, deceptive and punishing fees, should qualify it for the epithet. Or perhaps the article was referring to safety standards, where a number of Latin American, Asian and African carriers Felix had used could compete for the title. But on close inspection he realised that there was only likely to be one candidate in the eyes of the West: the national airline of the country they most enjoyed ‘bashing’: Air Kyoto of North Korea.
A rather different, and undoubtedly more informed opinion, emerged following the week long “Aviation Enthusiast Tour” organised by David Thompson, a young British entrepreneur, in May 2012. Hundreds of aviation fans from all round the world gathered in North Korea to fly, and be flown in, a great range of aircraft. The flight skills of the Air Koryo pilots, trained on civilian and MiG-fighter jets, particularly impressed the cognoscenti, as they duly reported to the assembled media. And SRTechnics Co., a Swiss company specialising in the repair and maintenance of aircraft, similarly passed on their observation of the high maintenance standards of the North Korean craft.
“I have personally flown on much newer aircraft that have been in much worse condition than older Air Koryo aircraft,” said Mr. Thompson to the Wall Street Journal in April 2014.
More about why Felix Abt enjoyed flying the “World’s Worst Airline” in his book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
BUILDING BRIDGES TO HELP NORTH KOREA MOVE IN FROM THE COLD…...
BUILDING BRIDGES TO HELP NORTH KOREA MOVE IN FROM THE COLD…
The Vice Chairman of North Korea’s Chamber of Commerce, Ri Song Un, and the President of the European Business Association in Pyongyang, Felix Abt meet in North Korea’s capital.
The DPRK Chamber of Commerce was founded on August 25, 2004. Its predecessor, the Pyongyang Chamber of Commerce had been inaugurated on March 1, 2000 and became an associate member of the International Chamber of Commerce (ICC), headquartered in Paris, France, in May 2000. The ICC (www.iccwbo.org) is the world’s largest, most representative business organization.
The European Business Association was founded on April 28, 2005 by the 12 resident foreign business people representing European businesses in North Korea, who elected Felix Abt as president.
Ri Song Un and Felix Abt’s meeting, as senior representatives of their organisations and with the active support of both, was to reach agreement on how best to foster closer cooperation between European and North Korean enterprises and so develop more business opportunities for the two groups.
To find out more about the European and North Korean bridge builders, read Felix’s book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
THE RISE AND DEMISE OF E-COMMERCE IN NORTH KOREA.
A collection...
THE RISE AND DEMISE OF E-COMMERCE IN NORTH KOREA.
A collection of North Korea’s most talented painters with Felix Abt. Felix befriended these “people’s” or “merited” artists and was dismayed when their entrepreneurial spirit was snuffed out as a consequence of Western sanctions.
In an effort to promote and sell their work, they set up North Korea’s first art e-commerce enterprise. But with Western financial sanctions the cards were always stacked against them: North Korean banks were cut off from the international banking system and the use of credit cards, PayPal or even a simple bank transfer was made impossible. So with no way of receiving payments electronically and the site being repeatedly attacked by hackers, Felix Abt and the painters had no choice but to close for business.
North Korea is not only rich in talent, like these gifted painters. It is blessed with abundant natural resources: huge deposits of metals and minerals; coal, lead, tungsten, zinc, graphite, magnesite, iron ore, copper and massive amounts of gold, all worth trillions of US dollars. It is also estimated to contain two-thirds of the world’s supply of rare earth elements, essential to many sophisticated technologies from cell phones to guided missiles. However, the North Korean government is unable to utilise this potentially great wealth to develop the country and improve the conditions of its people because of the U.S. and E.U. ban on their export.
In reverse, the Western sanctions ban the import of a huge array of products into North Korea: Italian Salami, French cheese, Swiss watches, pianos, Western cars… But it is not only consumer goods that are prohibited: The U.S. government’s treasury department even banned the use of Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Linkedin throughout the country.
As can be see from the fruitless efforts of the ‘e-conscious’ painters, an unforeseen consequence of Western sanctions is the forcing of legitimate enterprises out of business. Alternatively, it pushes them “underground” and compels them, for example, to use unconventional payment methods such as cash couriers. These kinds of activities are loved by headline writers in the Western press. But the cause and effect of Western embargoes is never highlighted: these embargoes do not target illegal activities, but rather hurt legitimate businesses and force them into illicit practices. Real criminals’ adept use of the black market means the sanctions have little or no effect on their activities.
Additionally, sanctions discourage legitimate foreign investment and as a consequence hamper the spread of responsible capitalism and hence economic development. They also form a barrier to the emerging entrepreneurial middle class of traders and manufacturers, who struggle to find foreign sellers and buyers willing to deal with them under such dissuasive circumstances. It is important to note that the ‘informal economy’ creates new job opportunities and keeps countless North Koreans afloat. For many it is their only way out of grinding poverty and hardship. Thus sanctions are negating the beneficial effects market forces can have on the economy and their importance as agents of change in North Korean society. Instead they are exacerbating food shortages and increasing the dependence on foreign aid.
In short, strangulating policies may have led to quite absurd consequences not intended by the instigators. Formidable legitimate sources of income have effectively been blocked which has put pressure on North Korea to substitute them for less legitimate ones.
More about sanctions and hurdles for foreign and domestic businesses in Felix Abt’s book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
A NORTH KOREAN SOFTWARE COMPANY ASTONISHES THE GLOBAL IT...
A NORTH KOREAN SOFTWARE COMPANY ASTONISHES THE GLOBAL IT INDUSTRY
NOSOTEK JV, or The Number One Software Technology JV, to give it its full name, became the first western and North Korean (DPRK) joint IT venture in the country. Nosotek was able to come into being because of the large pool of highly-qualified and talented mathematicians and scientists in North Korea. The country holds other competitive advantages for a fledgling IT company: IP secrecy and minimum employee churn rate are structurally guaranteed. So the perennial problem of leaked intellectual property, such as source codes or data, faced by similar companies engaged for IT outsourcing in other countries, is virtually nullified.
The picture shows the founding act of Nosotek, with Ju Jong Chol, vice president and deputy CEO (1st from left), Felix Abt, vice chairman (3rd from left) and Volker Eloesser (4th from left), president and CEO of Nosotek.
Nosotek has achieved remarkable success for a new company in a country strangled by Western sanctions. It has quietly created and launched a variety of popular games, including one “very big” role-playing game for the Nintendo Wii. But it has also produced award-winning medical software, and one of its iPhone apps reached Apple’s Top 10 list in Germany.
More about business in North Korea in Felix Abt’s book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
IRON-WILL FOR OLYMPIC GOLD
Ms. Pak Hyon Suk was just 23 when...
IRON-WILL FOR OLYMPIC GOLD
Ms. Pak Hyon Suk was just 23 when she grasped her Olympic weightlifting gold medal in Beijing in China 2008. In a heart-stopping final lift she needed to clear 135 kgs in the clean and jerk to either beat her nearest rival by just 1 kg or face elimination, having already failed twice at that weight.
The undoubted fighting spirit and iron will of this deceptively slight young North Korean woman deeply impressed Felix Abt. So he was delighted to be able to meet on her return to Pyongyang to add his personal congratulations to those from millions of her proud compatriots. For Ms Pak the lucrative PR and advertising contracts showered on successful sports people in more market-oriented countries were not available. But she was deservedly rewarded for her remarkable achievement by her government with a house in Pyongyang and a car.
For more about sports in North Korea, read Felix Abt’s book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
DIALOGUE FOR RESULTS - NOT CONFRONTATION!
Felix Abt can be seen...
DIALOGUE FOR RESULTS - NOT CONFRONTATION!
Felix Abt can be seen here exchanging smiles with Ro Tu Chol, the chairman of the state planning commission and vice prime minister in charge of the economy. Felix lobbied tirelessly for a law-based state, believing in a level playing field for all businesses, and championing the cultivation of an investor-friendly environment. Later, his efforts were rewarded when North Korea started making changes in favour of business enterprises.
More about changing North Korea in Felix’s book “A Capitalist in North Korea: My Seven Years in the Hermit Kingdom” 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
