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Shortly after North Korea launched the Hwasong-12 in May, the scientists who developed the intermediate-range ballistic missile were honored on the streets of Pyongyang as national heroes.
“The buses carrying them went through the streets of the capital full of flowers of welcome,” KCNA, the state-run news agency, reported at the time. “Citizens warmly congratulated them, waving flags of [North Korea], red flags and bouquets.” Among those offering his congratulations was Kim Jong Un. KCNA reported that the 33-year-old North Korean leader “hugged officials in the field of rocket research, saying that they worked hard to achieve a great thing.”
Scenes like those will probably be repeated over and over again if the last few months are any indication. So far in 2017, the North has carried out a dozen successful missile tests, and is well on its way to surpassing last year’s 14 successful launches. Two of this year’s tests were of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) that are capable of reaching the United States. In this time, North Korea has also been assessed as possessing a miniaturized nuclear warhead that can be fitted onto an ICBM. Last week it stunned the world by testing what it called a hydrogen bomb, far more powerful than anything the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima or Nagasaki. The accomplishments are all the more impressive given that North Korea is one of the most heavily sanctioned countries in the world; until recently was one of its most reclusive; and has a leader who can seem almost cartoonish until he shocks the world with yet another missile or nuclear test.

The place North Korea’s missile and nuclear program holds in the national psyche can be understood in part through the esteem in which scientists are held in the country. There are many high-profile residential construction projects devoted to scientists and their families. State-run media report on the honors they receive after nuclear tests and missile and space launches. They get parades like the one in Pyongyang in May.
“I’d say it’s the most prestigious job in the country right now,” Joshua Pollack, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told me. “It used to be that they emphasized the importance of the military in their politics. Now they’ve begun de-emphasizing that and they’ve begun to emphasize the role of scientists in society both for advancing their economy and, even more than that, for advancing their nuclear weapons and missile technology.”
Although scientists are honored and rewarded, they also remain under pressure to produce increasingly better results. There’s a real possibility, said Vipin Narang, an associate professor of political science at MIT, that Kim, like his father Kim Jong Il, “threatened these scientists with their lives if they don’t make progress. That can be a very powerful motivator.”

Whatever the motivation, the results are impressive. Consider this: In 2016, North Korea tested 26 missiles; 16 were successful and 10 failed, according to a database maintained by the Nuclear Threat Initiative. That’s an approximately 62 percent success rate. There have been 18 tests in all so far this year: 12 successes, five failures, and one unknown. That’s a 67 percent success rate. Those figures underscore what Pollack said about North Korea being “determined to break through.” Another thing to consider—the number of tests so far this year.

“The fact that they are willing to test missiles so frequently suggests they are not really worried about supply,” Narang said. “And if you didn’t have the ability to produce so many missiles, then you might be a little more reluctant to test.”
There’s evidence to suggest that North Korea is, in fact, accelerating its push toward the domestic manufacturing of parts needed for its missile and nuclear programs, turning slowly away from the international black market on which it had traditionally relied. Andrea Berger,  a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, said in an interview last week that North Korea has increasingly indigenized manufacturing. “Some of the goods they needed to once procure from overseas, they are now able to make domestically, which creates a local supply chain for, for example, missiles,” she told me.
That’s not to say that North Korea’s missile and nuclear technology is state-of-the-art. Many of the designs date back to the Cold War, when the North received nuclear technology from the Soviet Union. Over the years, it acquired weapons technology from China, Iran, Pakistan, and others, and through what can only be described as perseverance cobbled together successful programs.
“That’s where I think it's really impressive—the innovation by necessity that they’ve had,” Narang said. “It’s a country under sanctions. It’s a country under threat.” The technology, training, and assistance North Korea has received may be old, but “when you have a cadre of scientists and engineers that are familiar with it … it’s not surprising that they’ve gotten better at it.”

Pollack pointed out that while North Korea’s technology isn’t “cutting edge, … it’s commensurate with their capabilities and the level of effort they’ve put into it.” He said the country’s defense industry was robust; its scientific literature and industrial facilities expanding. Photographs of production facilities and production equipment, he said, display equipment that is “increasingly pretty sophisticated.” And, he pointed out, as advanced manufacturing technology becomes more easily available worldwide, “this is only getting easier to do over time.”
The experts I spoke to said they weren’t surprised that North Korea had made the kinds of advances it had, even though they were surprised at the pace at which North Korea had progressed. Roger Kimball,  the executive director of the Arms Control Association, told me, it was a “mystery” how Pyongyang had made gains so rapid that they were now viewed as a threat to the United States. Pollack said North Korea has “been systematically underrated for years.” Narang told me the pace of North Korea’s development surpasses similar programs in India, Pakistan, South Africa, Israel, and even France—and showcases the country’s metallurgical and engineering technology.

“It’s pretty impressive,” he said. “And it suggests they’ve figured out how to do a lot of things, and they are willing to have higher tolerances for failure and for less reliability.” That, ultimately, might be North Korea’s biggest advantage in the current standoff with the U.S. and its allies.
Narang pointed out that the probability that North Korea is able to deliver a nuclear warhead over San Francisco, or Chicago, or a city on the U.S. East Coast, is not 100 percent—because its technology is not yet that accurate. “But to deter the United States or really induce risk, what percentage is necessary before you cause Washington to have some pause: Is 5 percent acceptable? Are you willing to lose 5,000 to 50,000 Americans, on average? Probably not, right?
“And if you’re truly talking about a thermonuclear warhead, you could be talking about … millions of casualties. We need to get beyond this notion that it has to be perfect, and it has to be accurate. The larger the warhead, the less accurate it needs to be.”

“THE CHILDREN GET VERY LITTLE MONEY FROM SHOOTING SUCH ADS. MOST OF THEM JUST GET SOME SNACKS OR STATIONERY AS REWARDS.”

While some Chinese netizens are voicing concern over the unethical nature of the photos and videos, others appear to have no issue with the service. One person wrote on Chinese media website The Paper: “These Africans help to advertise, have also been rewarded, and have not been forced, what is the problem?” Shanghaiist, the international division of blog Gothamist, shared the story with the caption, “Racist? Exploitative? Or just good marketing?”

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'High-quality' authors

If you had invested in gold a decade ago, the value of your investment would now have increased by a substantial 82 percent.
If you had chosen to put that cash in the bank instead, then you would have actually lost money. People in the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia suffer from negative real returns due to spiking inflation and taxes. Folks in Malaysia and Japan fare slightly better – their banks will give them an annual return of approximately 0.5 percent.
Malaysian entrepreneur Robin Lee started HelloGold  to help households prepare for retirement and make it easier to secure loans.


The fintech startup democratizes access to gold purchases. People can buy nuggets from as little as US$0.22 (1 Malaysian ringgit) through the app. That’s significantly cheaper than banks or gold merchants that demand people buy in increments of an entire gram, or more.
Gold is now at US$39.81 per gram.

Robin says the idea for the app came to him during his previous stint as the CFO at the World Gold Council, a consortium of some of the world’s leading gold mining firms. Part of his role was to oversee a US$30 billion gold fund. He noticed how corporates and high net worth individuals used gold to enhance returns, hedge risks, and as a form of collateral.
“I believed that HelloGold, in turn, could use these same principles to help mass market consumers,” he says.












HelloGold functions as a hybrid virtual marketplace where consumers can buy and sell gold. It’s also possible to have the physical gold shipped to your address – but the minimum is at least one gram. In this scenario, certain costs will apply – to cover delivery, insurance, and associated premiums.
Robin explains the startup earns money every time a transaction is made on the platform – there’s a two percent commission. Additionally, it also charges a two percent annual maintenance fee.

Ordinary people are far more comfortable with gold than a virtual currency.

It’s possible for consumers to use their existing gold reserves as collateral for loans solicited from HelloGold partners. In that case, Robin’s team will receive a commission from the partner financial institution as well.
All the gold deposits are stored in a vault in Singapore, where they’re insured for loss and theft.
“During the Asian financial crisis of 1997, I saw firsthand how bad things can happen to good people at no fault of their own. The man on the street saw their currencies hit by extreme devaluation […] Someone earning US$1,500 a month woke up one morning earning US$700 instead, with a devastating effect on how he could provide for his family,” explains Robin.
“The inequitable impact of these events […] left a lasting impression on my mind.”
The startup, based in Kuala Lumpur, is still relatively new – it launched in November, so talk about growth is premature. It has a team of 18 people spread across Southeast Asia and Europe and is funded via a US$1 million seed round raised from friends, family, and angel investors.
The math whiz insists it’s a much smarter decision for consumers to buy gold through his team rather than existing merchants and banks.
“The smallest gold coin that a merchant offers is 1 gram – and has an associated premium of up to 40 percent above the prevailing gold price. Hence, the price would have to increase by more than 40 percent before the buyer would break even on his investment. That’s a poor investment decision,” he explains.
Short term plans are to roll out the product into Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and China, but Robin says the long-term vision is to be present in emerging markets across Asia and the Middle East.
He believes gold is a safer bet to promote financial inclusion compared to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. The underlying principle is the same – finite supply offers a natural hedge to risk and uncertainty – but ordinary people are far more comfortable transacting in gold than a virtual currency.
“With HelloGold, we want everyone to have better access to saving products, affordable financing, and remittances,” smiles Robin.