Axis of Cheap Labor
I'm referring to JC Penney's decision, reported on last month, to sell garments produced in North Korea. The deal involves two shipments, each worth $59,000, of (mostly) women's apparel. Among those welcoming this development -- besides JC Penney and the regime of Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il -- are South Korean garment and textile companies, which are eyeing the opportunity to relocate plants to an industrial complex now under construction in the north.
...the shipments mark the first "sustained" commercial transaction between the US and North Korea, which have no formal diplomatic or economic ties. The US is currently the largest apparel market in the world.
While helping North Korea develop something that resembles a working economy might be desirable, there's also the small matter of slave labor...
More about the transaction and the related ethical/political issues at Free North Korea!, a non-partisan site "promoting nonviolent action for human rights in North Korea and Safe Haven for North Korean Refugees." Blogger J. Bowen, meanwhile, fired off a letter to Penney. The company wrote back with reassurances about its "stringent requirements" and "monitoring" of suppliers, though it failed to describe exactly how it monitors state-run plants in a Stalinist command economy.
I'm generally sympathetic to markets, but this one's really pushing it.
Meanwhile...
Odd little story today about a North Korean bid to alleviate hunger and nutrition shortages by importing hardy Norwegian goats, thought to produce a protein-rich milk.Officials from the North Korean embassy in Stockholm paid a visit to the mountain town of Aal, Norway, where they expressed interest in importing goats for breeding. North Korea has its own goats, but their yield is low.
And Also...
The North Korean Foreign Ministry announced that the DPRK is going full speed ahead with what it likes to refer to as its "nuclear restraint."
10:08:45 AM 
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