According to a source "familiar with North Korean affairs" quoted in the Chosun Ilbo, the North is resorting to desperate measures (including the closure of universities so students can be drafted in as building workers) to pay for the planned extravaganza next year celebrating the 100th birthday of Kim Il-sung, by which time it has vowed to become "a prosperous and powerful nation". For instance:
The source said the regime is…trying to entice Japanese pensioners of North Korean descent to move back to the North, telling them they can live comfortably in North Korea for just 30,000 yen a month. When the pensioners die, the regime fails to inform the Japanese government and keeps collecting their Japanese pensions of some 120,000 yen per person.
A prosperous and powerful nation indeed.
Mick Hartley 
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