Is North Korea A Good Place to Invest?

Here is a lawyer who thinks that North Korea is a great place to invest:

Michael Hay, a foreign legal counsel qualified in New York, talks about his 12-year judicial experience in North Korea in an interview with The Korea Times at his office at HMP Law in central Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times photo by Shim Hyun-chul

North Korea has an advanced arbitration system even compared to developed countries, and foreign companies face an even playing field in dispute resolution, according to Michael Hay, the founder of North Korea’s only foreign law firm Hay, Kalb & Associates. 

“From start to finish, (an arbitration case) could be done in six months… which is much faster than most other countries I have worked in,” Hay said in an interview with The Korea Times at his office in Seoul, Monday. 

He has been a foreign legal counsel at HMP Law since December, after 12 years of operating his law firm in the North.

Hay emphasized that the North Korean regime has no choice but to maintain an advanced dispute resolution system in order to continue reeling in foreign investment and companies.

“One thing North Koreans are very conscious of: If they don’t have a dispute resolution system, people will not come and invest in the country. In my experience they are very supportive (of foreign firms),” he said.

Korea Times

You can read the rest at the link, but Mr. Hay says that the businesses that lost money in North Korea did so because they grandstanded about doing business in North Korea. He says businesses that kept their dealings quiet with the regime were more successful.

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setnaffa
5 years ago

What’s a few million slaves in gulags have to do with anything? Violate UN Sanctions quietly and you can Get Rich Quick(tm)!!

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
5 years ago

LIMERICK

This question might seem a bit strange
but I was hoping that we could arrange
a valid assessment
of an investment
in the North Korean Explosion Futures Exchange.

setnaffa
5 years ago

CH, you already know the only explosions from North Korea will be KJU channeling Mr. Creosote.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhbHTjMLN5c

I apologize if that’s in bad taste.

Ole Tanker
Ole Tanker
5 years ago
MTB Rider
MTB Rider
5 years ago

Sweden sold the DPRK Volvo Sedans, got screwed
China’s Xiyang Group inked a deal to process ore, got screwed
Egypt’s Orascom tried to sell cellphones, got screwed
I think Fiat had a deal where they sold North Korea 3000 kit cars for final assembly, and got screwed

I’m noticing a pattern here. If you send money and/or products into North Korea, you’ll get screwed.

I would hold off until the Kim Soprano Family is gone. But after that, there are huge opportunities. Mining, manufacturing, consumer goods and more.

setnaffa
5 years ago

Don’t forget Choco-Pies! (And de-worming meds)

Flyingsword
Flyingsword
5 years ago

another useful idiot for the commies.

HK
HK
5 years ago

If you’ve ever met regular North Koreans, I totally believe this b/c they have a reputation for being straight up and less fake then South Koreans, who can be quite crafty, mendacious and have no compunction about pulling a fast one on you when it suits them, all while sporting big smiles on their faces. North Koreans, on the other hand, are strictly no nonsense, and none of this kind of ‘how old are you?’ ‘Are you married?’ ‘Do you like Korean women?’ kind of crap. You wanna do business with the North Koreans? Fine. Let’s talk biz. (They don’t give a shit about your personal life as they’re worldly enough to assume that everyone is of a certain age, everyone is either married or unmarried, and everyone likes women and/or men. Southerners, on the other hand, are less unsophisticated about these matters are love to waste time by putting you on.) Also, North Koreans have a reputation for being less thickheaded and faster on the uptake, while southerners by comparison take forever to understand what’s going on. I just feel sorry for westerners like this Michael Hay fella who came to Seoul after practicing law in Pyongyang for so long, maybe hoping to find a similar kind of legal or business climate among the southern stock. He may be a little frustrated.

J6Junkie
J6Junkie
5 years ago

Michael Hay probably drank too much of the Commie-Aid when he was there.

setnaffa
5 years ago

HK sounds a lot like Tbone… Did he get fired from a teaching gig, too?

Mcgeehee
Mcgeehee
5 years ago

Sure, just read NK’s 10-K filing with the SEC, assess which business segment has the 3-5 year opportunity, pen an agreement with the financial manager on how your investment is to be used, and watch the profits roll in. [eye rolling emoji]

The problem is NK doesn’t report economic, banking, import/export, trade, commerce, or manufacturing data. And they don’t have (or don’t report) a GDP or CPI. But they’re good arbitrators, and that’s supposed to make your investment safe?

ChickenHead
ChickenHead
5 years ago

HK,

Your sales pitch for North Korea was so nuanced, you almost had me.

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