This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
Rare video footage obtained by Radio Free Asia shows North Korean residents digging up a stream and panning for gold.
Kim Il-hyuk, who recently fled North Korea and resettled in South Korea, shot the footage in April and May 2023 in two counties in the western province of Hwanghae. One scene shows two men looking for tiny pieces of gold among the dirt and rocks in the creek bed in Pyoksong county.
Their conversation is audible in the video.
“There are many people who dig for gold these days,” one said.
“Because the gold price went up,” said the other.
More footage shows a man up to his waist as he digs a hole in the riverbed deeper and deeper.
Kim told RFA Korean that the people were digging for gold to make money to live on during the “barley hump,” that hits the country every April and May. Food reserves from the previous harvest have been exhausted by this point, but they have to survive until the next harvest, which could be months away.
In more footage, a man explains that gold is worth 400,000 won per gram, or more than US$1,400 per ounce.
The man said from a typical day of digging he can find .02 to .03 grams of gold per day, worth about 8,000 won, or around $1.
Kim explained that gold trading is illegal in North Korea, so the only people that will buy it are corrupt officials. They can buy it cheap off the residents and then sell it at a huge markup in China.
“If … it becomes known where and from whom the gold was purchased, the person who sold it could die,” he said. “So, for safety, gold miners can only sell gold to people with authority and power.”
Kim said that he himself had made money dealing in gold this way.
“The gold is sold to China and converted into cash,” he said. “The (government) also needs money, so it’s a cycle. The Party is engaged in large-scale trading.”
Sometimes miners want to eliminate the middleman and sell the gold to Chinese traders themselves, but this is risky, so most opt to sell to authorities on the cheap.
“There is no freedom of movement in North Korea. So, it is not easy to go to the border carrying gold,” he said.
Strict controls
Only specific government-affiliated agencies are allowed to trade gold, and those who are caught selling privately are imprisoned, said Lee Hyunseung, a North Korean escapee who resettled in the United States.
Lee had been part of the elite, the top 1% of North Korea in his family’s lifestyle.
“If you bring gold to the stores, they will exchange it for goods,” he said. “The value is determined by the North Korean regime.”
However, Lee explained that since individual sales of mined gold has become widespread in North Korea, there are cases where the State Security Department or party workers will take bribes.
“The government controls all the gold and takes it all. This is not a distribution system,” he said. “People collect gold and sell it to meet their needs. It is common in gold mines and gold panning centers that they turn a blind eye.”
Gold prices in North Korea, like everywhere else, rise and fall depending on the international economic situation or domestic economic conditions.
According to Kim, the price of 1 gram of gold dropped to 60,000 won ($7.50) during the coronavirus pandemic. At that time gold was not circulating as usual, so it became hard to find sellers.
According to Forbes, the international price of gold as of Wednesday morning was $2,472 per ounce.
“Since the coronavirus pandemic, gold sales have been banned and the price of gold itself has also fallen completely,” said Kim. “With no circulation, there are no buyers for gold. Additionally, because there are no places to sell gold, many people have stopped mining it.”
However, as North Korean elites prefer high-quality Chinese jewelry, there is a possibility that the demand and circulation of gold mined in North Korea will decrease,” Lee said.
“An acquaintance of mine bought gold and made a necklace. North Korea’s gold processing industry is not well developed, and people who have only lived in North Korea will think, ‘This is good enough,’” he said.
“Later, when they go to another country, such as China, people stop buying jewelry produced in North Korea because they see that the jewelry made abroad is much better.”
