VISA: Business people are warmly welcomed if serious business, trade and investment; journalists posing as business people are not. KBC can assist with your business visa via three corresponding visa issuing bodies in Pyongyang.
AIR: Contact Air Koryo, from Beijing twice weekly. Air Koryo has agents in Singapore, but cannot issue tickets before visas are issued, meaning most buy at the Air Koryo office in Beijing, Swisshotel.
BEIJING – PYONGYANG: Twice weekly service is from Pyongyang (FNJ) to Beijing (PEK), Tuesdays and Saturdays. Ticket costs vary from Euro 125 for a one way economy class to Euro 350 for a return business class from Beijing.
SHENYANG – PYONYANG: Flights also run from Shenyang (SHE) to Pyongyang (FNJ) run on Wednesdays and Saturdays (economy only), connections to Beijing being both frequent and cost effective. Tickets run from Euro 70 for a single to Euro 125 + taxes.
TRAIN: Perhaps more useful for the businessman in the agricultural or infrastructure fields, tickets for the 24 hour train from Beijing are bought at the Beijing Hotel, or Beijing Railway Station.
Opening the Skies over Pyongyang
What does it take to open the skies over the most militarily sensitive regions on Earth to commercial aviation? One man who knows how is Captain Neil Jonasson, Assistant Director, Safety, Operations and Infrastructure Division – Asia/Pacific of the International Air Transport Association (IATA).
Speaking at a lunchtime seminar organised by Korea Business Consultants (KBC) at the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong on 8 July, Captain Jonasson revealed a number of surprising facts pertaining to IATA’s ongoing negotiations to allow international air traffic access to airspace over the Korean peninsula and the East Sea (Sea of Japan).
A former pilot with the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF), Captain Jonasson initially worked on opening Russian airspace after he joined IATA in 1992. However, his next assignment appeared much more daunting – to open the skies over the DPRK to commercial aviation.
(Photo: IATA’s Captain Neil Jonasson)
For the aviation industry the goal was clear: to cut down flying time for aircraft plying routes between Asia and North America via the North Pole, which at the time were forced to take an indirect route via Japan. Making this diversion was adding to the operating bills of the world’s airlines to the tune of US$140 annually for the industry as a whole.
But it wasn’t simply a matter of fuel savings and higher profits, according to Captain Jonasson, it was also an environmental issue. Lowering emissions from the burning of highly-potent aviation fuel reduces damage to the upper atmosphere.
It was on 8 July 1995 that Captain Jonasson first visited the DPRK – a year to the day after the death of President Kim Il Sung. The DPRK’s founding father had signed an agreement shortly before his death to allow international air transport access to DPRK airspace, but after he died nothing was implemented.
Entering into negotiations, IATA’s business plan had three key components: a) they wanted access to the airspace and had calculated its value; b) they were prepared to offer technical support to the DPRK side; c) the DPRK side had to maintain the standard of the service.
To bring DPRK air traffic control systems up to international standards required a US$3 million investment – small compared to the projected savings of US$140 million, but nevertheless perceived as a very high-risk investment at the time.
(Photo: Captain Neil Jonasson speaks at the Australian Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong)
Banks were unwilling to lend the money, insurers flatly refused to offer cover, and equipment suppliers were hampered by U.S. government embargoes. The latter was despite the private support of U.S. airlines for the project.
So IATA decided to take a punt and go it alone, offering the DPRK an unsecured loan of US$3 million to fund the project. IATA then purchased the technical equipment in their own name, installed it in Pyongyang using their own engineers, and continue to service the equipment directly to this day. As part of the deal, the DPRK’s flag carrier, Air Koryo, became a member of IATA.
Working with the DPR Koreans was the easy part, according to Captain Jonasson, whose department also worked privately with the U.S. State Department and U.S. Department of Commerce, not to mention the U.S. and South Korean militaries.
For a start there was no functioning telecommunications link between the two Koreas, requiring that a fibre-optic cable be laid across the demilitarised zone (DMZ). At one point during that installation it became necessary to move the cable by some 100 metres, and Jonasson recalls with a wry smile the unlikely scene as he stood in the middle of the DMZ – the world’s most heavily-manned border – while talking on a satellite phone!
So what advice can Captain Jonasson provide to other organisations trying to strike a deal with the DPRK? Comparing the DPRK to China, the process can be much quicker in the DPRK due to a less-layered political structure. In the DPRK the foreign party often only deals directly with one person, invariably from the relevant ministry. Once the foreign party has identified that person they will find that person has been empowered to make all of the necessary decisions on the Korean side related to the project.
In IATA’s case, Captain Jonasson’s counterpart on all day-to-day negotiations was Ky Il Nam, Director, External Relations Department, General Administration of Civil Aviation (GACA) and Air Koryo. He in turn was in direct contact with his immediate superior, General Kim Il Yong, Director General of GACA and President of Air Koryo, who ultimately signed off on the deal. All military and civilian airspace over the DPRK was under the control of General Kim. As negotiations progressed, Director Ky would pause whenever a decision was needed on an issue that he felt was beyond his authority, in order to telephone General Kim. Invariably that decision was made quickly and negotiations resumed promptly.
The only hiccup in the chain of command came when lawyers required that documents be attested by a superior that General Kim was indeed authorised to sign – which would in theory have required the attestation of Kim Jong Il himself. This was impractical for a number of reasons, but fortunately an alternative was found to satisfy this legal requirement.
To build rapport with the DPR Korean side, says Captain Jonasson, it is necessary to make some personal friendships, be seen to be non-political, and to be seen to be offering something that is mutually-beneficial. The last point is of critical importance, according to Captain Jonasson, because projects must be structured in accordance with the guiding DPRK philosophy of Juche (self-reliance).
In addition, visitors should expect to find their DPR Korean counterparts to be very well-educated and well-prepared, and invariably they will know much more about the visitor than the visitor knows about them.
Upon completion of the project, the DPRK air traffic control system was certified by the United Nations and the U.S. Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) as meeting international standards, and the world’s aviation industry continues to enjoy considerable savings from its access to the Pyongyang Flight Information Region. In exchange, the DPRK receives US$3 million annually in overflight fees, which are collected and remitted through IATA’s Geneva clearing house.
However, whilst the North-South route over the Korean peninsula and East Sea (Sea of Japan) is now open, the East-West route remains closed. In one of the great ironies, a commercial aircraft may fly into DPRK airspace but is restricted by the U.S. and Japanese from crossing the DMZ or entering Japanese airspace over the East Sea (Sea of Japan). Thus international carriers continue to waste time and fuel through having to skirt around the region en route from Europe to Japan.
And what about the US$3 million unsecured loan to the DPR Korean? It was repaid in full and with interest, says Captain Jonasson. Furthermore, the DPR Koreans never defaulted on a single repayment and ultimately repaid the loan early.
