細數朝鮮這個神祕國家的十大出口物品(上)

North Korea is known as one of the world's most totalitarian, closed-off nations, with a claim to fame consisting of shoddy missiles, nuclear weapons of questionable yield, and a starving population.

朝鮮是世界上最著名的封閉極權主義國家，以其劣質導彈、核武器以及貧窮等問題聞名於世。

But despite its general malaise, the Hermit Kingdom exports things of some value for foreign currency. There are both legitimate and illegitimate items North Korea sells abroad.

但除了這些讓人不安的因素，這個"隱士之國"還出口一些價值不菲的物品來換取外匯。下面，前十君就向各位介紹朝鮮遠銷海外的那些或合法或不合法的產品。

10.煤

When we think of China's largest foreign source of coal, we do not think of North Korea. However, that's exactly what North Korea recently became.

說到中國最大的煤炭進口國，我們怎麼也不會想到朝鮮。然而朝鮮卻正逐漸成爲中國最大的煤炭進口國。

Coupled with an overall fall in China's coal imports from other nations, shipments from North Korea jumped 25 percent to a total of 1.8 million tons of coal in May 2015.

相比於中國對其他國家的煤炭進口量的整體下滑，2015年5月，中國從朝鮮進口180萬噸煤，進口量猛增25%。

Exporting natural resources is an easy way to earn foreign currency for the Kim regime, without the structural and institutional reforms required to deregulate the broader, "official" economy.

出口自然資源對於金氏政權來說是一種賺取外匯的便捷之策。他們不用擔心爲了打開國門而出臺變革社會結構和政府機構的政策，這種出口是"官方的"經濟出口。

In other words, exporting coal allows North Korea to earn money without making hard choices and loosening its totalitarian hold over its population.

換句話說，煤炭出口可以讓朝鮮不必費盡心思做出抉擇，更不必放鬆對人民的極權管制就能賺到錢。

And while coal mining in the first world requires complex heavy machinery, in North Korea, where human life is cheap, many things are still done by hand.

在發達國家，開採煤礦需要複雜的重型機械設備，而在人命都不被重視的朝鮮，很多事情都是靠雙手解決。

Another advantage is that while North Korea has been slapped with UN sanctions, the export of natural resources has not been sanctioned, so the country can make money from coal exports legally.

煤炭出口的另一個好處就是儘管朝鮮受到了聯合國的制裁，但是自然資源的出口沒有受限，所以朝鮮可以通過煤炭出口合法賺錢。

istic Missiles

9.彈道導彈

North Korea is well known for firing ballistic missiles in provocative ways, usually accompanied by bombastic rhetoric about raining fire down on the evil capitalists.

大家都知道，朝鮮發射彈道導彈總是充滿了挑釁意味，他們吹噓自己要發射導彈幹掉邪惡的資本主義。

However, North Korea's ballistic missiles serve another, more immediate function to the regime, with ballistic missile exports netting North Korea tens of millions of dollars annually.

然而朝鮮的導彈還有另一個用途，一個對於朝鮮政權來說更加方便快捷的用途——導彈出口每年可以爲朝鮮帶來上千萬美元的純利潤。

Exports of ballistic missiles not only earn the regime cash, they also make it easier for North Korea to continue producing missiles for domestic use due to economies of scale.

彈道導彈的出口不僅可以爲朝鮮政府賺錢，還可以提升國內經濟，便於政府繼續生產導彈以供內需。

However, North Korea appears to have shot itself in the foot. Instead of exporting just the missiles themselves, it was also willing to export manufacturing equipment and technical knowledge to other countries, including Pakistan and Iran.

然而，朝鮮似乎搬起石頭砸了自己的腳。他們不僅出口導彈，還樂意向包括巴基斯坦和伊朗在內的其他國家出口生產設備，並教授他們技術知識。

This means that their customers will eventually rely less on North Korea, reducing sales over the long term.

這意味着這些國家最終將不再依賴朝鮮，而長此以往，朝鮮的出口貿易額也會有所減少。

Another issue for North Korea is that its customers have been at peace, so they have not been using their ballistic missiles and do not need to buy more.

朝鮮面臨的另一個問題就是，與之貿易往來的國家一直都處於和平安定的狀態，所以他們不需要使用並且也不會再繼續購買朝鮮的導彈。

Maybe North Korea should have slapped an expiration date on those rockets?

要是朝鮮專門在這些導彈上加個有效日期，倒是說不定他們會常來光顧……

Factories

8.兵工廠

North Korea is one of the most militarized nations in the world, with over one million men under arms. Those men have to be equipped with weapons.

朝鮮是一個軍國主義國家，軍隊人數超過一百多萬，每個人都配備武器。

North Korea's extensive domestic arms industry is another way to earn foreign currency for the cash-strapped nation, with exports of heavy weaponry including rocket launchers and surface-to-air missiles.

朝鮮國內遍佈的軍工廠也是這個囊中羞澀的國家賺取外匯的另一渠道：出口包括火箭發射器和地對空導彈在內的重型武器。

But North Korea goes even further than this, sometimes offering to help build arms factories for clients for quick cash at the expense of long-term profits. Or does it?

但是朝鮮所做的遠不止這些，有時它還會爲了賺外快而犧牲長遠利益，主動幫助貿易國修建兵工廠。而朝鮮真是主動的嗎？

For almost 30 years, North Korea has been involved in two Ethiopian arms factories, supplying industrial equipment and providing expertise to keep the factories running.

近30年來，朝鮮一直與埃塞俄比亞的兩個軍工廠有聯繫，朝鮮爲保證工廠的正常運作，提供了很多工業設備和專業技術。

We would think that after building the factory, the Ethiopians would no longer need to keep the North Koreans around, but it turns out that the Ethiopians do not have the scientific or engineering knowledge to run the facility themselves.

我們想想，工廠修建成功後，埃塞俄比亞應該不再需要朝鮮的幫忙了，但是結果卻是埃塞俄比亞人自己根本沒有科學或工程方面的技術來運營工廠。

And given that the factory was designed by North Korea, only North Korea can provide spare parts for its industrial machinery, forcing Ethiopia to continue to rely on it.

而且，鑑於工廠是朝鮮人設計的，那麼只有朝鮮人可以爲這些機器提供配件，這樣就可以迫使埃塞俄比亞繼續與之合作了。

North Korea has also built other facilities in other African countries, such as Nigeria and Madagascar, which presumably also rely on North Korean spare parts.

朝鮮在其他非洲國家，包括尼日利亞和馬達加斯加，都建有兵工廠。這些國家大概也依賴朝鮮的配件。

And given North Korea's attempts to hide its illegal activities, there are likely more such facilities that have not come to light.

而且鑑於朝鮮有意隱藏其不合法交易，很可能還有很多兵工廠我們都不曾知曉。

It turns out the Stalinist North Koreans have a keen nose for capitalism that would make Henry Ford proud.

這也充分證明奉行斯大林主義的朝鮮對讓亨利·福特倍感驕傲的資本主義特別警惕。