Seoul : Historic summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in took place on Seoul on Friday. This is seen as a major development, taking place soon after the North Korean dictator announced suspension of further nuclear tests.
He ordered not only suspension of nuclear tests but also shutting down of nuclear testing sites, indicating his desire to give a fresh lease of life to his country which is dying a slow death out of poverty, hunger and disease. However, time will tell whether the announcement was made for the overall goodness of North Korea, or it was done to extract some gains from the US, Japan and South Korea for its immediate needs.
Expectations from Trump- Kim meet
Immediately after this announcement, US President Donald Trump expressed his willingness for a summit with the North Korean leader. Either in May or early June, the two leaders will meet. Credit for this goes to secret meeting between US Secretary of State-designate Mike Pompeo and Kim Jong-un. Even while the US President confirmed about Pompeo-Kim meet, the whole development shows that it has been orchestrated to reduce the threat of war on the Korean peninsula, a feat which none of previous 12 US Presidents were able to realize.
However, such development has given birth to a perception among a section of people about possible US move to get itself entrenched in North Korea for its mineral and gold resources. The secretive state is estimated to have at least $6 trillion worth of untapped mineral resources like iron, gold, magnesite, zinc, copper, limestone, molybdenum and graphite. Its bedrock also holds a large amount of metals needed to make high-end electronic products. This estimation was also supported by a South Korean research institute.
In 2012, it rather said North Korea possess $10 trillion worth of mineral deposits. Leonid Petrov, a North Korean expert at the Australian National University College of Asia and the Pacific was quoted by a South Korean website as saying that North Korea has large stockpiles of natural resources. He said Pyongyang has exported minerals to allies like China and Russia for decades but international sanctions had curtailed its export abilities in recent times.
China’s control over North Korea for mineral deposits
But then North Korea lacks suitable mining equipment and potential buyers for rare earth material. And this, according to some diplomatic experts, suits China which has so far restrained it from opening to the world. China handles more than 90 percent of North Korea’s external trade. Chinese banks and companies are also said to be providing North Korea access to the US-dominated international financial system. Despite UN sanctions on North Korea, China enjoyed pre-eminent position in trade with Pyongyang.
In the first half of 2016, North Korea’s total trade to China accounted for 54 percent. In 2015, China imported $73 million in iron ore from North Korea. It has been active in coal mining in recent year. In 2015, China imported $1 billion worth of coal from North Korea. For the reclusive state, mining in coal is an easy activity as it doesn’t require high-tech equipment for extraction.
Also, large deposits of coal are located near major ports and the border with China, making North Korean bad transportation infrastructure less of an issue. Diplomats who have had a stint with Pyongyang concur that North Korea is very rich in natural resources and that once foreign investments start pouring in the reclusive state, it will take it a few years to stand in the line of fastest emerging market of the world.
Is US eyeing for North Korean mines?
In this view, if the forthcoming summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim, considered to be a very significant, clicks then North Korea will do the same what Myanmar did a few years ago. In the meanwhile, US President on April 24 praised North Korean dictator Kim for being very open. He said the man he once mocked as “Little Rocket Man has been very open and I think very honourable based on what we are seeing.” The US President also said that he was looking forward to meet the North Korean leader, “very soon.”
Some skeptics say that Americans have for years shown their desire to enter in North Korea and the reason for such keenness lay not in their desire to push the country out of its iron wall of communism, but to lay hands on natural resources that it possesses. Even as nothing can be ruled out in the US’ strategy for North Korea, but so far there is no approach which can show that America is looking for Korean mines as it is seen in the case of Afghanistan. In fact, ever since the US Geological Survey study identified $1trillion worth of mineral deposits in Afghanistan, Americans hope that they would one day be sitting at deposits of gold, silver, platinum, iron ore, uranium, zinc, bauxite, coal, natural gas and copper.
If anything that stops Americans to start extraction of mines in the land locked nation, it is lack of basic logistics-road and rail connectivity needed to export iron ore-pervasive corruption, disorganized bureaucracy and a growing insurgency.
Senior US officials were quoted by a news agency as saying that Trump at a White House meeting with advisors in July 2017 had said that the US should demand a share of Afghanistan’s mineral wealth in exchange for its assistance to the Afghanistan government. However, since then nothing much has been done by the US administration towards Afghanistan. With regard to North Korea, the US may at best like to lift some sanctions and that too after securing conditions from Pyongyang on its nuclear programme. Secondly, it will wait for North Korea to open up with the West and other countries of the world before it will set its eyes on mines of the isolated state of the world. In contrast, even Russia wants to pump in investments in mining sector of North Korea. Nevertheless, it will be in days to come, it will be seen what way North Korea takes.
