[Anchor]
Let’s discuss more about North Korea with reporter Kim Ayeong.
Kim, there are reports that signs of a lottery event related to the North and Central American World Cup have been detected in North Korea. What is this about?
[Reporter]
I have brought some photos that were recently posted on the social media accounts of foreigners who are staying in or have visited Pyongyang.
This is the photo.
It is a poster announcing a sports lottery related to the 2026 World Cup.
The price of a ticket is listed as 50,000 North Korean won, and the first-place prize is 500 million won.
When converted using the dollar exchange rate, it comes out to approximately 1,200 won in our currency per ticket, and the prize money is about 12 million won.
I asked one of the foreigners who posted the photo, and they said they could not purchase it because they were a foreigner.
Interestingly, it states that not only North Korean residents but also institutions and organizations can purchase them.
Experts explain that the North Korean authorities are using sports lotteries as a measure to absorb idle funds from individuals or organizations.
[Kim Young-hee / Director of the North Korea Development Institute: The purpose of this lottery is entirely for raising funds. It is to take money from individuals' pockets and surplus funds from organizations. Especially trading companies, which have a lot of money. It is to bring that surplus money into the state.]
The announcement states that the prize money will be paid through the electronic payment service 'Samhung Electronic Wallet'.
This is interpreted as an intention to encourage the use of electronic wallets and bring the flow of funds into the authorities' management system.
[Anchor]
So, does this mean North Korea has something like South Korea's Sports Toto?
[Reporter]
There are several other instances where North Korean authorities are combining the sports sector with the gambling industry.
I examined the 'Samtaesong 8', a North Korean smartphone known to have been released around 2023.
You can see that there is a separate category for 'sports lottery' within the Samhung Electronic Wallet app.
Payments can be made in both North Korean won and foreign currency.
I was also able to find information related to the 2022 Qatar World Cup in the notices.
So, it appears that this was also in operation at that time.
I have brought a screen capture from another smartphone model this time.
You can see quite a lot of soccer-related images in the app.
From Messi's journey in the Qatar World Cup to the Juventus team's path to victory, they are all contents that pique interest related to match outcomes.
In other words, it is presumed that while North Korea strictly blocks the influx of outside information, it is actively utilizing global sports events as a revenue channel to pool funds into the center.
Reported by Shin Jin-soo | Video by Choi Jin-hwa | Images courtesy of Xiaohongshu, Daily NK
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