What does it take to shutter an ATM?

When international tensions begin to boil the consequences can be widespread. Economic panics can ensue, certain industries can go boom or bust and consumer bubbles can burst. For the secretive nation of North Korea there could be another casualty.

There is no secret that tensions between the United States and its allies and North Korea and its ally are tense and have only gotten worse in recent weeks as Pyongyang have continued testing missiles.

North Korea has always tried to put on a first world face to outside visitors. Many parts of Pyongyang boast modern skyscrapers, massive plazas and statuary and modern transportation amenities. Yet many of its citizens lack a basic access to healthcare, clean water, food and electricity. So in all probability they cared very little when the first two ATMs were installed at the Sunan International Airport. North Korea could now claim that they had caught up to the rest of the world in modern conveniences right?

The ATMs were run by Ryugyong Bank, the largest in the nation and a conglomerate of several other entities in North Korea. They were experimented with earlier in the decade outside of a large downtown hotel that many Chinese tourists frequented. That experiment was evidently successful enough to warrant the installation of an ATM at the airport. These ATMs, despite explaining in Korean how they work, were not used by locals as they did not dispense wons, or the North Korean currency. Instead they were placed for the convenience of Chinese tourists and businessmen. These new ATMs were installed in 2016 but have never worked. At first the new ATMs were never even turned on.

Airport workers when questioned claimed that the machines were still being tested. When the machines were turned on bank employees blame Chinese sanctions placed on the nation following an unsuccessful missile test in April 2017. It is believed that the ATMs were cut off by Beijing to send a message. Besides a fairly highly publicized announcement that coal imports from North Korea were being banned many Chinese travel companies have cut back on tours to the Korean Peninsula. ChinaAir has stopped its Beijing-Pyongyang flights leaving only North Korea’s substandard state airline, Air Koryo as the only airline connecting Sunan to the world. That was even before the sanctions that came down from the UN last week.

There is of course one positive for North Korea in all of this. If your ATMs do not work and are not accessible to the general public you will never have to worry about credit card skimmers! It may be the safest place in the world to have a credit card.