title: Economy of North Korea

text: In order to provide a certain degree of local autonomy as well as to lessen the financial burden of the central government, a "local budget system" was introduced in 1973. Under this system, provincial authorities are responsible for the operating costs of institutions and enterprises not under direct central government control, such as schools, hospitals, shops, and local consumer goods production. In return, they are expected to organize as many profitable ventures as possible and to turn over profits to the central government.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Around December of every year, the state budget for the following calendar year is drafted, subject to revision around March. Typically, total revenue exceeds expenditure by a small margin, with the surplus carried over to the following year. The largest share of state expenditures goes to the "people's economy", which averaged 67.3% of total expenditures between 1987 and 1990, followed in magnitude by "socio-cultural", "defense", and "administration".


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Defense spending, as a share of total expenditures, has increased significantly since the 1960s: from 3.7% in 1959 to 19% in 1960, and, after averaging 19.8% between 1961 and 1966, to 30.4% in 1967. After remaining around 30% until 1971, the defense share decreased abruptly to 17% in 1972, and continued to decline throughout the 1980s. Officially, in both 1989 and 1990 the defense share remained at 12%, and for 1991 it was 12.3% with 11.6% planned for 1992. The declining trend was consistent with the government's announced intentions to stimulate economic development and increase the social benefits. However, Western experts have estimated that actual military expenditures are higher than budget figures indicate.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In the 1999 budget, expenditures for the farming and power sectors were increased by 15% and 11%, respectively, compared with those of 1998.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In the 2007 budget, it was estimated an increase in revenue at 433.2bn won ($3.072bn, $1 = 141 won). In 2006, 5.9% were considered the public revenue, whereas this year, this figure was raised to 7.1%.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea claims that it is the only state in the world that does not levy taxes. Taxes were abolished beginning on April 1, 1974.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Since 2003, North Korean authorities issue government bonds called The "People's Life Bonds", and promoted the slogan "Buying bonds is patriotic".


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea sold bonds internationally in the late 1970s for 680 million Deutsche marks and 455 million Swiss francs. North Korea defaulted on these bonds by 1984, although the bonds remain traded internationally on speculation that the country would eventually perform on the obligations.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: "The Sydney Morning Herald" reported that Kim's previous propaganda was changed into patriotism and economy, and in improving the relationship between China, South Korea, and the United States. The state-run television promoted a song of praise to the National flag by airing videos with images that included the flag being raised September 2018, during mass games events, marking North Korea's 70th anniversary. In the video, brief images of troops, fighter jets releasing blue, red, and white smoke, scattered pictures of civilians, new high-rise apartments in the capital, fireworks displays, and even students in their school uniforms can all be seen at the same event.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The "South China Morning Post", in a 2019 article, stated that already there is also some economical and cultural revolution happening recently within North Korea itself. It started in earnest in February 2018, during the Pyeongchang Winter Olympic Games, when top musicians from North Korea were sent to perform in South Korea. This included a female quintet who performed in black shorts and red tops. After two months, Supreme Leader Kim Jong-un saw the performance of South Korean girl group, Red Velvet. This is the first ever K-Pop show to be held in Pyongyang. The North Korean musicians that performed in South Korea were highly praised for their performance that leader Kim decided to send them to Beijing for another goodwill tour in January 2019. Part of the revolution was the introduction of other cultures, including Western, which was previously believed to be vulgar and quite corrupt in the past, but is now slowly making its way to the North Korean people. Second-hand Harry Potter books can now be read at the National Library, and Bollywood films like the "Three Idiots" had just had a run in their cinemas. The changes have also found their way to the economic sector with factories that are also producing products that are associated more with the West, like Air Jordan shoes, for national consumption.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Per the amendments made to the Constitution in 2019, the former economic methods of management, Ch'ŏngsan-ni in agriculture and Taean in the industries, were now phased out altogether.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: After the 8th Party Congress, Kim Byung-yeon of the Seoul National University said that, between 2017 and 2019, the North Korean GDP decreased by 10% and, in 2020, the North Korean GDP decreased by 5%.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea also implements planned economy in industry. The government will provide fuel and materials for a factory, while the factory will manufacture products and quantities according to the government's requirements.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea's self-reliant development strategy assigned top priority to developing heavy industry, with parallel development in agriculture and light industry. This policy was achieved mainly by giving heavy industry preferential allocation of state investment funds. More than 50% of state investment went to the industrial sector during the 1954–1976 period (47.6%, 51.3%, 57.0%, and 49.0%, respectively, during the Three-Year Plan, Five-Year Plan, First Seven-Year Plan, and Six-Year Plan). As a result, gross industrial output grew rapidly.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: As was the case with the growth in national output, the pace of growth has slowed markedly since the 1960s. The rate declined from 41.7% and 36.6% a year during the Three-Year Plan and Five-Year Plan, respectively, to 12.8%, 16.3%, and 12.2%, respectively, during the First Seven Year Plan, Six-Year Plan, and Second Seven-Year Plan. As a result of faster growth in industry, that sector's share in total national output increased from 16.8% in 1946 to 57.3% in 1970. Since the 1970s, industry's share in national output has remained relatively stable. From all indications, the pace of industrialization during the Third Seven-Year Plan up to 1991 is far below the planned rate of 9.6%. In 1990 it was estimated that the industrial sector's share of national output was 56%.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Industry's share of the combined total of gross agricultural and industrial output climbed from 28% in 1946 to well over 90% in 1980. Heavy industry received more than 80% of the total state investment in industry between 1954 and 1976 (81.1%, 82.6%, 80%, and 83%, respectively, during the Three-Year Plan, Five-Year Plan, First Seven-Year Plan, and Six-Year Plan), and was overwhelmingly favored over light industry.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea claims to have fulfilled the Second Seven-Year Plan (1978–1984) target of raising the industrial output in 1984 to 120% of the 1977 target, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 12.2%. Judging from the production of major commodities that form the greater part of industrial output, however, it is unlikely that this happened. For example, the increase during the 1978–1984 plan period for electric power, coal, steel, metal-cutting machines, tractors, passenger cars, chemical fertilizers, chemical fibers, cement, and textiles, respectively, was 78%, 50%, 85%, 67%, 50%, 20%, 56%, 80%, 78%, and 45%.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Raw materials were in short supply and so were energy and hard currency. Infrastructure decayed and machinery became obsolete. Unlike other socialist countries in the Eastern Europe, North Korea kept planning in a highly centralized manner and refused to liberalize economic management.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In the mid-1980s, the speculation that North Korea would emulate China in establishing Chinese-style special economic zones was flatly denied by then deputy chairman of the Economic Policy Commission Yun Ki-pok (Yun became chairman as of June 1989). China's special economic zones typically are coastal areas established to promote economic development and the introduction of advanced technology through foreign investment. Investors are offered preferential tax terms and facilities. The zones, which allow greater reliance on market forces, have more decision-making power in economic activities than do provincial-level units. Over the years, China has tried to convince the North Korean leadership of the advantages of these zones by giving tours of the various zones and explaining their values to visiting high-level officials.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In April 1982, Kim Il-sung announced a new economic policy giving priority to increased agricultural production through land reclamation, development of the country's infrastructure—especially power plants and transportation facilities—and reliance on domestically produced equipment. There also was more emphasis on trade.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In September 1984, North Korea promulgated a joint venture law to attract foreign capital and technology. The new emphasis on expanding trade and acquiring technology was not, however, accompanied by a shift in priorities away from support of the military. In 1991, North Korea announced the creation of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the northeast regions of Rason (Rason Special Economic Zone) and Ch'ŏngjin. Investment in this SEZ has been slow in coming. Problems with infrastructure, bureaucracy, uncertainties about the security of investments, and viability have hindered growth and development. Nevertheless, thousands of small Chinese businesses had set up profitable operations in North Korea by 2011.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: A government research center, the Korea Computer Center, was set up in 1990, starting the slow development of an information technology industry.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2013 and 2014, the State Economic Development Administration announced a number of smaller special economic zones covering export handling, mineral processing, high technology, gaming and tourism.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The most successful export industry is the garment industry. Production is by a North Korean firm for a European or other foreign partner, by a Chinese firm operating in North Korea with a North Korean partner, or by North Korean workers working in Chinese or other foreign factories. Wages are the lowest in northeastern Asia.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The North Korean motor vehicle production establishes military, industrial and construction goals, with private car ownership by citizens remaining on low demand. Having Soviet origins (the subsequent practice of cloning foreign specimens, and a recent automobile joint-venture), North Korea has developed a wide-range automotive industry with production of all types of vehicles. The basis for production is in urban and off-road minis; luxury cars; SUV cars; small, medium, heavy, and super-heavy cargo; construction and off-road trucks; minibuses/minivans, coach buses, civilian and articulated buses, trolleybuses, and trams. However, North Korea produces far fewer vehicles than its production capability due to the ongoing economic crisis. North Korea has not joined or collaborated with the OICA, or with any other automotive organization, so any critical information about its motor vehicle industry is limited.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The energy sector is one of the most serious bottlenecks in the North Korean economy. Since 1990, the supply of oil, coal, and electricity declined steadily, and seriously affected all sectors of the economy. Crude oil was formerly imported by pipeline at "friendship prices" from the former Soviet Union or China, but the withdrawal of Russian concessions and the reduction of imports from China brought down annual imports from about in 1988 to less than by 1997. As the imported oil was refined for fuels for transportation and agricultural machinery, a serious cutback in oil imports caused critical problems in transportation and agriculture.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: According to statistics compiled by the South Korean agency Statistics Korea based on International Energy Agency (IEA) data, per capita electricity consumption fell from its peak in 1990 of 1247 kilowatt hours to a low of 712 kilowatt hours in 2000. It slowly rose since then to 819 kilowatt hours in 2008, a level below that of 1970.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea has no coking coal, but has substantial reserves of anthracite in Anju, Aoji (Ŭndŏk), and other areas. Coal production peaked at 43 million tons in 1989 and steadily declined to 18.6 million tons in 1998. Major causes of coal shortages include mine flooding, and outdated mining technology. As coal was used mainly for industry and electricity generation, decrease in coal production caused serious problems in industrial production and electricity generation. Coal production may not necessarily increase significantly until North Korea imports modern mining technology.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Electricity generation of North Korea peaked in 1989 at about 30 TWh. There were seven large hydroelectric plants in the 1980s. Four were along the Yalu River, built with Chinese aid, and supplying power to both countries. In 1989, 60% of electricity generation was hydroelectric and 40% fossil fueled, mostly coal-fired.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 1997, coal accounted for more than 80% of primary energy consumption and hydro power more than 10%. Net imports of coal represented only about 3% of coal consumption. Hydroelectric power plants generated about 55% of North Korea's electricity and coal-fired thermal plants about 39% in 1997. However, with only 20% of the per capita electricity generation of Japan, North Korea suffered from chronic supply shortages. Coal exports to China currently account for a major portion of North Korea's revenue.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Some hydroelectric facilities were believed to be out of operation due to damage from major flooding in 1995. Coal-fired power plants were running well under capacity, due in part to a serious decline in coal supply and in part to problems with transportation of coal. The electricity supply steadily declined and was 17 TWh in 1998. Transmission losses sit at just under 16% (15.8%) as of 2014.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Construction has been an active sector in North Korea. This was demonstrated not only through large housing programmes, of which most were visible in the high-rise apartment blocks in Pyongyang, but also in the smaller modern apartment complexes widespread even in the countryside. These are dwarfed in every sense by "grand monumental edifices". The same may apply even to apparently economically useful projects such as the Nampo Dam, which cost US$4bn.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The years of economic contraction in the 1990s slowed this sector as it did others; the shell of the 105-story Ryugyŏng Hotel towered unfinished on Pyongyang's skyline for over a decade. The Bank of Korea claims that construction's share of GDP fell by almost one-third between 1992 and 1994, from 9.1% to 6.3%. This accords with a rare official figure of 6% for 1993, when the sector was said to have employed 4.2% of the labour force. However, the latter figure excludes the Korean People's Army, which visibly does much of the country's construction work.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Since about 2012, when 18 tower blocks were built in Pyongyang, a construction boom has taken place in Pyongyang. Major projects include the Mansudae People's Theatre (2012), Munsu Water Park (2013), the modernisation of Pyongyang Sunan International Airport (2015) and the Science and Technology Center (2015).


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The Central Bank of North Korea, under the Ministry of Finance, has a network of 227 local branches. Several reissues of banknotes in recent years suggest that citizens are inclined to hoard rather than bank any savings that they make from their incomes; reportedly they now also prefer foreign currency. At least two foreign aid agencies have recently set up microcredit schemes, lending to farmers and small businesses.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In late 2009, North Korea revalued its currency, effectively confiscating all privately held money above the equivalent of US$35 per person. The revaluation effectively wiped out the savings of many North Koreans. Days after the revaluation the won dropped 96% against the United States dollar. Pak Nam-gi, the director of the Planning and Finance Department of North Korea's ruling Workers' Party, was blamed for the disaster and later executed in 2010.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2004 and 2006 laws were passed to codify rules for savings and commercial banking. However it was not until 2012 that North Korean banks started to seriously compete for retail customers. Competing electronic cash cards have become widely accepted in Pyongyang and other cities, but are generally not linked to bank accounts. North Korean banks have introduced retail products which permit a mobile phone app to make payments and top-ups.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: As of May 2013, the Chinese banks, China Merchants Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China, stopped "all cross-border cash transfers, regardless of the nature of the business" with North Korea. The Bank of China, the China's primary institution for foreign exchange transactions, said, on May 14, 2013, that "it had closed the account of Foreign Trade Bank, North Korea's main foreign exchange bank". However, "smaller banks based in northeastern China across the border from North Korea said it was still handling large-scale cross-border transfers." For example, the Bank of Dalian branch in Dandong was still doing transfers to North Korea.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Kim Jong Un from 2015 has sought to enlarge and reform the banking sector, to assist economic growth, with credit cards viewed as a way to increase money circulation. The concept of socialist commercial banks is being developed to utilize "idle funds" effectively, including the savings of individuals, to promote economic growth.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Until the early 2000s the official retail sector was mainly state-controlled, under the direction of the People's Services Committee. Consumer goods were few and of poor quality, with most provided on a ration basis. There were state-run stores and direct factory outlets for the masses, and special shops with luxuries for the elite—as well as a chain of hard-currency stores (a joint venture with the association of pro-Pyongyang Korean residents in Japan, the Ch'ongryŏn), with branches in large cities.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2002 and in 2010, private markets were progressively legalized, mostly for food sales. As of 2013, urban and farmer markets were held every 10 days, and most urban residents lived within 2 km of a market.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2012, the third large shopping mall in Pyongyang, the Kwangbok Area Shopping Center, opened. In 2014 the construction of another large shopping mall started. As of 2017, these malls sold competing brands of goods, for example at least ten different kinds of toothpaste were being sold.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2017, the Korea Institute for National Unification estimated there were 440 government-approved markets employing about 1.1 million people.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea's sparse agricultural resources limit agricultural production. Climate, terrain, and soil conditions are not particularly favorable for farming, with a relatively short cropping season. Only about 17% of the total landmass, or approximately , is arable, of which is well suited for cereal cultivation; the major portion of the country is rugged mountain terrain.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The weather varies markedly according to elevation, and lack of precipitation, along with infertile soil, makes land at elevations higher than 400 meters unsuitable for purposes other than grazing. Precipitation is geographically and seasonally irregular, and in most parts of the country as much as half the annual rainfall occurs in the three summer months. This pattern favors the cultivation of paddy rice in warmer regions that are outfitted with irrigation and flood control networks. Rice yields are 5.3 tonnes per hectare, close to international norms. In 2005, North Korea was ranked by the FAO as an estimated 10th in the production of fresh fruit and as an estimated 19th in the production of apples.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Farming is concentrated in the flatlands of the four west coast provinces, where a longer growing season, level land, adequate rainfall, and good irrigated soil permit the most intensive cultivation of crops. A narrow strip of similarly fertile land runs through the eastern seaboard Hamgyŏng provinces and Kangwŏn Province, but the interior provinces of Chagang and Ryanggang are too mountainous, cold, and dry to allow much farming. The mountains contain the bulk of North Korea's forest reserves while the foothills within and between the major agricultural regions provide lands for livestock grazing and fruit tree cultivation.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Since self-sufficiency remains an important pillar of North Korean ideology, self-sufficiency in food production is deemed a worthy goal. Another aim of government policies—to reduce the gap between urban and rural living standards—requires continued investment in the agricultural sector. The stability of the country depends on steady, if not rapid, increases in the availability of food items at reasonable prices. In the early 1990s, there were severe food shortages.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The most far-reaching statement on agricultural policy is embodied in Kim Il-sung's 1964 "Theses on the Socialist Agrarian Question in Our Country", which underscores the government's concern for agricultural development. Kim emphasized technological and educational progress in the countryside as well as collective forms of ownership and management. As industrialization progressed, the share of agriculture, forestry, and fisheries in the total national output declined from 63.5% and 31.4%, respectively, in 1945 and 1946, to a low of 26.8% in 1990. Their share in the labor force also declined from 57.6% in 1960 to 34.4% in 1989.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In the 1990s, the decreasing ability to carry out mechanized operations (including the pumping of water for irrigation), as well as lack of chemical inputs, was clearly contributing to reduced yields and increased harvesting and post-harvest losses.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Incremental improvements in agricultural production have been made since the late 1990s, bringing North Korea close to self-sufficiency in staple foods by 2013. In particular, rice yields have steadily improved, though yields on other crops have generally not improved. The production of protein foods remains inadequate. Access to chemical fertilizer has declined, but the use of compost and other organic fertilizer has been encouraged.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korean fisheries export seafood, primarily crab, to Dandong, Liaoning, illicitly. Crabs, clams and conches from the Yellow Sea waters of North Korea are popular in China, possibly because the less salty water improves taste.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Since the 1950s, a majority of North Koreans have received their food through the public distribution system (PDS). The PDS requires farmers in agricultural regions to hand over a portion of their production to the government and then reallocates the surplus to urban regions, which cannot grow their own foods. About 70% of the North Korean population, including the entire urban population, receives food through this government-run system.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Before the floods, recipients were generally allotted 600–700 grams per day while high officials, military men, heavy laborers, and public security personnel were allotted slightly larger portions of 700–800 grams per day. As of 2013, the target average distribution was 573 grams of cereal equivalent per person per day, but varied according to age, occupation, and whether rations are received elsewhere (such as school meals). However, as of 2019, this number has been reduced to 312 grams per day according to an investigation conducted by the United Nations between March 29 and April 12.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Decreases in production affected the quantity of food available through the public distribution system. Shortages were compounded when the North Korean government imposed further restrictions on collective farmers. When farmers, who had never been covered by the PDS, were mandated by the government to reduce their own food allotments from 167 kilograms to 107 kilograms of grain per person each year, they responded by withholding portions of the required amount of grain. By 2008, the system had significantly recovered, and, from 2009 to 2013, daily per person rations averaged at 400 grams per day for much of the year, though in 2011 it dropped to 200 grams per day from May to September.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: It is estimated that in the early 2000s, the average North Korean family drew some 80% of its income from small businesses that were technically illegal (though unenforced) in North Korea. In 2002 and in 2010, private markets were progressively legalized. As of 2013, urban and farmer markets were held every 10 days, and most urban residents lived within 2 km of a market, with markets having an increasing role in obtaining food.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: From 1994 to 1998, North Korea suffered a famine. Since North Korea is a closed country, the number of specific deaths in the incident is difficult to know. According to different literature, the starved or malnourished death toll is estimated to be between 240,000 and 480,000. Since 1998 there has been a gradual recovery in agriculture production, which by 2013 brought North Korea back close to self-sufficiency in staple foods. However, as of 2013, most households have borderline or poor food consumption, and consumption of protein remains inadequate.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In the 1990s, the North Korean economy saw stagnation turning into crisis. Economic assistance received from the Soviet Union and China was an important factor of its economic growth. Upon its collapse in 1991, the Soviet Union withdrew its support and demanded payment in hard currency for imports. China stepped in to provide some assistance and supplied food and oil, most of it reportedly at concessionary prices. The North Korean economy was undermined and its industrial output began to decline in 1990. Deprived of industrial inputs, including fertilizers, pesticides, and electricity for irrigation, agricultural output also started to decrease even before North Korea had a series of natural disasters in the mid-1990s. This evolution, combined with a series of natural disasters including record floods in 1995, caused one of the worst economic crises in North Korea's history. Other causes of this crisis were high defense spending (about 25% of GDP) and bad governance.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In December 1991, North Korea established a "zone of free economy and trade" to include the northeastern port cities of Unggi (Sŏnbong), Ch'ŏngjin, and Najin. The establishment of this zone also had ramifications on the questions of how far North Korea would go in opening its economy to the West and to South Korea, the future of the development scheme for the Tumen River area, and, more important, how much North Korea would reform its economic system.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea announced in December 1993 a three-year transitional economic policy placing primary emphasis on agriculture, light industry, and foreign trade. However, lack of fertilizer, natural disasters, and poor storage and transportation practices have left the country more than a million tons per year short of grain self-sufficiency. Moreover, lack of foreign exchange to purchase spare parts and oil for electricity generation left many factories idle.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The 1990s famine paralyzed many of the Stalinist economic institutions. The government pursued Kim Jong-il's "Songun" policy, under which the military is deployed to direct production and infrastructure projects. As a consequence of the government's policy of establishing economic self-sufficiency, the North Korean economy has become increasingly isolated from that of the rest of the world, and its industrial development and structure do not reflect its international competitiveness. Domestic firms are shielded from international as well as domestic competition; the result is chronic inefficiency, poor quality, limited product diversity, and underutilization of plants. This protectionism also limits the size of the market for North Korean producers, which prevents taking advantage of economies of scale.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The food shortage was primarily precipitated by the loss of fuel and other raw materials imports from China and the Soviet Union which had been essential to support an energy intensive and energy inefficient farming system. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former concessional trade relationships which benefited the North Korea were not available. The three flood and drought years between 1994 and 1996 only served to complete the collapse of the agriculture sector.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2004, more than half (57%) of the population did not have enough food to stay healthy. 37% of children had their growth stunted and of mothers severely lacked nutrition.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2006, the World Food Program (WFP) and FAO estimated a requirement of 5.3 to 6.5 million tons of grain when domestic production fulfilled only 3.825 million tons. The country also faces land degradation after forests stripped for agriculture resulted in soil erosion. In 2008, a decade after the worst years of the famine, total production was 3.34 million tons (grain equivalent) compared with a need of 5.98 million tons. Thirty seven percent of the population was deemed to be insecure in food access. Weather continued to pose challenges every year, but overall food production grew gradually, and by 2013, production had increased to the highest level since the crisis, to 5.03 million tons cereal equivalent, against a minimum requirement of 5.37 MMT.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2014, North Korea had an exceptionally good harvest, 5.08 million tonnes of cereal equivalent, almost sufficient to feed the entire population. While food production had recovered significantly since the hardest years of 1996 and 1997, the recovery was fragile, subject to adverse weather and year to year economic shortages. Distribution was uneven, with the Public Distribution System being largely ineffective. North Korea now has in most years lower malnutrition levels than in some richer Asian countries. However, in 2019 North Korea had the worst harvest in over a decade, which the United Nations described as a "hunger crisis".


title: Economy of North Korea

text: According to a 2012 report by South Korea-based North Korea Resource Institute (NKRI), North Korea has substantial reserves of iron ore, coal, limestone, and magnesite. In addition, North Korea is thought to have tremendous potential rare metal resources, which have been valued in excess of US$6 trillion.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: It is the world's 18th largest producer of iron and zinc, and has the 22nd largest coal reserves in the world. It is also the 15th largest fluorite producer and 12th largest producer of copper and salt in Asia. Other major natural resources in production include lead, tungsten, graphite, magnesite, gold, pyrites, fluorspar, and hydropower.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: However, starting from February 2017 China suspended all North Korean coal imports, although according to China overall trade with North Korea increased.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea has a developing information technology industry. In 2018, a technological exhibition unveiled a new Wi-Fi service called Mirae ("Future"), which allowed mobile devices to access the intranet network in Pyongyang. The exhibition also showcased a home automation system using speech recognition in Korean.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea's cartoon animation studios such as SEK Studio sub-contract work from South Korean animation studios. Mansudae Overseas Projects builds monuments around the world.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea's economy has been unique in its historical suppression of markets. By the 1960s, market elements had been suppressed almost completely. Almost all items, from food to clothes, have traditionally been handed out through a public distribution system, with money only having a symbolic meaning. Ratios of food depend on hierarchy in the system, wherein the positions seem to be semi-hereditary. Until the late 1980s, peasants were not allowed to cultivate private garden plots.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Since the government is the dominant force in the development and management of the economy, bureaus and departments have proliferated at all administrative levels. There are fifteen committees—such as the agricultural and state planning committees—one bureau, and twenty departments under the supervision of the Cabinet; of these, twelve committees—one bureau, and sixteen departments are involved in economic management. In the early 1990s, several vice premiers of the then State Administration Council supervised economic affairs. Organizations undergo frequent reorganization. Many of these agencies have their own separate branches at lower levels of government while others maintain control over subordinate sections in provincial and county administrative agencies.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Around 1990, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, restrictions on private sales, including grain, ceased to be enforced. It is estimated that in the early 2000s, the average North Korean family drew some 80% of its income from small businesses that were technically illegal (though unenforced) in North Korea. In 2002, and in 2010, private markets were progressively legalized. As of 2013, urban and farmer markets were held every 10 days, and most urban residents lived within 2 km of a market.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2014, North Korea announced the "May 30th measures". These planned to give more freedom to farmers, allowing them to keep 60% of their produce. Also enterprise managers would be allowed to hire and fire workers, and decide whom they do business with and where they buy raw materials and spare parts. Some reports suggest that these measures would allow nominally state-run enterprises to be run on capitalist lines like those in China.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power output have declined in parallel.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: During what North Korea called the "peaceful construction" period before the Korean War, the fundamental task of the economy was to overtake the level of output and efficiency attained toward the end of the Japanese occupation; to restructure and develop a viable economy reoriented toward the communist-bloc countries; and to begin the process of socializing the economy. Nationalization of key industrial enterprises and land reform, both of which were carried out in 1946, laid the groundwork for two successive one-year plans in 1947 and 1948, respectively, and the Two-Year Plan of 1949–50. It was during this period that the piece-rate wage system and the independent accounting system began to be applied and that the commercial network increasingly came under state and cooperative ownership.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The basic goal of the Three-Year Plan, officially named "The Three-Year Post-war Reconstruction Plan of 1954–56", was to reconstruct an economy torn by the Korean War. The plan stressed more than merely regaining the prewar output levels. The Soviet Union, other East European countries and China provided reconstruction assistance. The highest priority was developing heavy industry, but an earnest effort to collectivize farming also was begun. At the end of 1957, output of most industrial commodities had returned to 1949 levels, except for a few items such as chemical fertilizers, carbides, and sulfuric acid, whose recovery took longer.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Having basically completed the task of reconstruction, the state planned to lay a solid foundation for industrialization while completing the socialization process and solving the basic problems of food and shelter during the Five-Year Plan of 1957–1960. The socialization process was completed by 1958 in all sectors of the economy, and the Ch'ŏllima Movement was introduced. Although growth rates reportedly were high, there were serious imbalances among the different economic sectors. Because rewards were given to individuals and enterprises that met production quotas, frantic efforts to fulfill plan targets in competition with other enterprises and industries caused disproportionate growth among various enterprises, between industry and agriculture and between light and heavy industries. Because resources were limited and the transportation system suffered bottlenecks, resources were diverted to politically well-connected enterprises or those whose managers complained the loudest. An enterprise or industry that performed better than others often did so at the expense of others. Such disruptions intensified as the target year of the plan approached.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Until the 1960s, North Korea's economy grew much faster than South Korea's. Although North Korea was behind in total national output, it was ahead of South Korea in per capita national output, because of its smaller population relative to South Korea. For example, in 1960 North Korea's population was slightly over 10 million people, while South Korea's population was almost 25 million people. Annual economic growth rates of 30% and 21% during the Three-Year Plan of 1954–1956 and the Five-Year Plan of 1957–1960, respectively, were reported. After claiming early fulfillment of the Five-Year Plan in 1959, North Korea officially designated 1960 a "buffer year"—a year of adjustment to restore balances among sectors before the next plan became effective in 1961. Not surprisingly the same phenomenon recurred in subsequent plans. Because the Five-Year Plan was fulfilled early, it became a de facto four-year plan. Beginning in the early 1960s, however, North Korea's economic growth slowed until it was stagnant at the beginning of the 1990s.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Various factors explain the very high rate of economic development of the country in the 1950s and the general slowdown since the 1960s. During the reconstruction period after the Korean War, there were opportunities for extensive economic growth—attainable through the communist regime's ability to marshall idle resources and labor and to impose a low rate of consumption. This general pattern of initially high growth resulting in a high rate of capital formation was mirrored in other Soviet-type economies. Toward the end of the 1950s, as reconstruction work was completed and idle capacity began to diminish, the economy had to shift from the extensive to the intensive stage, where the simple communist discipline of marshaling underutilized resources became less effective. In the new stage, inefficiency arising from emerging bottlenecks led to diminishing returns. Further growth would only be attained by increasing efficiency and technological progress.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Beginning in the early 1960s, a series of serious bottlenecks began to impede development. Bottlenecks were pervasive and generally were created by the lack of arable land, skilled labor, energy, and transportation, and deficiencies in the extractive industries. Moreover, both land and marine transportation lacked modern equipment and modes of transportation. The inability of the energy and extractive industries as well as of the transportation network to supply power and raw materials as rapidly as the manufacturing plants could absorb them began to slow industrial growth.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The First Seven-Year Plan (initially 1961–1967) built on the groundwork of the earlier plans but changed the focus of industrialization. Heavy industry, with the machine tool industry as its linchpin, was given continuing priority. During the plan, however, the economy experienced widespread slowdowns and reverses for the first time, in sharp contrast to the rapid and uninterrupted growth during previous plans. Disappointing performance forced the planners to extend the plan three more years, until 1970. During the last part of the "de facto" ten-year plan, emphasis shifted to pursuing parallel development of the economy and of defense capabilities. This shift was prompted by concern over the military takeover in South Korea by General Park Chung-hee (1961–1979), escalation of the United States involvement in Vietnam, and the widening Sino-Soviet split. It was thought that stimulating a technological revolution in the munitions industry was one means to achieve these parallel goals. In the end, the necessity to divert resources to defense became the official explanation for the plan's failure.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The Six-Year Plan of 1971–1976 followed immediately in 1971. In the aftermath of the poor performance of the preceding plan, growth targets of the Six-Year Plan were scaled down substantially. Because some of the proposed targets in the First Seven-Year Plan had not been attained even by 1970, the Six-Year Plan did not deviate much from its predecessor in basic goals. The Six-Year Plan placed more emphasis on technological advance, self-sufficiency ("Juche") in industrial raw materials, improving product quality, correcting imbalances among different sectors, and developing the power and extractive industries; the last of these had been deemed largely responsible for slowdowns during the First Seven-Year Plan. The plan called for attaining a self- sufficiency rate of 60–70% in all industrial sectors by substituting domestic raw materials wherever possible and by organizing and renovating technical processes to make the substitution feasible. Improving transport capacity was seen as one of the urgent tasks in accelerating economic development—it was one of the major bottlenecks of the Six-Year Plan.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea claimed to have fulfilled the Six-Year Plan by the end of August 1975, a full year and four months ahead of schedule. Under the circumstances, it was expected that the next plan would start without delay in 1976, a year early, as was the case when the First Seven-Year Plan was instituted in 1961. Even if the Six-Year Plan had been completed on schedule, the next plan should have started in 1977. However, it was not until nearly two years and four months later that the long-awaited plan was unveiled—1977 had become a "buffer year".


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The inability of the planners to continuously formulate and institute economic plans reveals as much about the inefficacy of planning itself as the extent of the economic difficulties and administrative disruptions facing the country. For example, targets for successive plans have to be based on the accomplishments of preceding plans. If these targets are underfulfilled, all targets of the next plan—initially based on satisfaction of the plan—have to be reformulated and adjusted. Aside from underfulfillment of the targets, widespread disruptions and imbalances among various sectors of the economy further complicate plan formulation.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The basic thrust of the Second Seven-Year Plan (1978–1984) was to achieve the three-pronged goals of self-reliance, modernization, and "scientification". Although the emphasis on self-reliance was not new, it had not previously been the explicit focus of an economic plan. This new emphasis might have been a reaction to mounting foreign debt originating from large-scale imports of Western machinery and equipment in the mid-1970s. Through modernization North Korea hoped to increase mechanization and automation in all sectors of the economy. "Scientification" means the adoption of up-to-date production and management techniques. The specific objectives of the economic plan were to strengthen the fuel, energy, and resource bases of industry through priority development of the energy and extractive industries; to modernize industry; to substitute domestic resources for certain imported raw materials; to expand freight-carrying capacity in railroad, road, and marine transportation systems; to centralize and containerize the transportation system; and to accelerate a technical revolution in agriculture.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In order to meet the manpower and technology requirements of an expanding economy, the education sector also was targeted for improvements. The quality of the comprehensive eleven-year compulsory education system was to be enhanced to train more technicians and specialists, and to expand the training of specialists, particularly in the fields of fuel, mechanical, electronic, and automation engineering.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Successful fulfillment of the so-called nature-remaking projects also was part of the Second Seven-Year Plan. These projects referred to the five-point program for nature transformation unveiled by Kim Il-sung in 1976: completing the irrigation of non-paddy fields; reclaiming 1,000 square kilometres of new land; building 1,500 to 2,000 km of terraced fields; carrying out afforestation and water conservation work; and reclaiming tidal land.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: From all indications, the Second Seven-Year Plan was not successful. North Korea generally downplayed the accomplishments of the plan, and no other plan received less official fanfare. It was officially claimed that the economy had grown at an annual rate of 8.8% during the plan, somewhat below the planned rate of 9.6%. The reliability of this aggregate measure, however, is questionable. During the plan, the target annual output of 10 million tons of grains (cereals and pulses) was attained. However, by official admission, the targets of only five other commodities were fulfilled. Judging from the growth rates announced for some twelve industrial products, it is highly unlikely that the total industrial output increased at an average rate of 12.2% as claimed. After the plan concluded, there was no new economic plan for two years, indications of both the plan's failure and the severity of the economic and planning problems confronting the economy in the mid-1980s. From 1998 to 2003, the government implemented a plan for scientific and technical development, which focused on the nation's IT and electronic industry.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In 2019, North Korea was ranked 172nd in the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index with a score of 17 out of 100.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Growth and changes in the structure and ownership pattern of the economy also have changed the labor force. By 1958 individual private farmers, who once constituted more than 70% of the labor force, had been transformed into or replaced by state or collective farmers. Private artisans, merchants, and entrepreneurs had joined state or cooperative enterprises. In the industrial sector in 1963, the last year for which such data are available, there were 2,295 state enterprises and 642 cooperative enterprises. The size and importance of the state enterprises can be surmised by the fact that state enterprises, which constituted 78% of the total number of industrial enterprises, contributed 91% of total industrial output.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Statistics from North Korea's trade partners are collected by international organizations like the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund, and by the South Korean Ministry of Unification.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: It has also been estimated that imports of arms from the Soviet Union in the period 1988 to 1990 accounted for around 30% of the North Korea's total imports, and that between 1981 and 1989 North Korea earned approximately $4 billion from the export of arms, approximately 30% of North Korea's total exports in that period. The nominal dollar value of arms exports from North Korea in 1996 was estimated to have been around $50 million.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North Korea's foreign trade deteriorated in the 1990s. After hitting the bottom of $1.4 billion in 1998, it recovered slightly. North Korea's trade total in 2002 was $2.7 billion: only about 50% of $5.2 billion in 1988, even in nominal US dollars. These figures exclude intra-Korean trade, deemed internal, which rose in 2002 to $641 million. During the late 2000s trade grew strongly, almost tripling between 2007 and 2011 to $5.6 billion, with much of the growth being with China. By about 2010 external trade had returned to 1990 levels, and by 2014 was near double 1990 levels, with trade with China increasing from 50% of total trade in 2005 to near 90% in 2014. In 2015, it was estimated that exports to China were $2.3 billion—83% of total exports of $2.83 billion.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In addition to Kaesŏng and Kŭmgang-san, other special economic areas were established at Sinŭiju in the northwest (on the border with China), and at Rasŏn in the northeast (on the border with China and Russia).


title: Economy of North Korea

text: International sanctions impeded international trade to some degree, many related to North Korea's development of weapons of mass destruction. United States President Barack Obama approved an executive order in April 2011 that declared "the importation into the United States, directly or indirectly, of any goods, services, or technology from North Korea is prohibited". Operational sanctions included United Nations Security Council Resolutions 1695, 1718, 1874, 1928, 2087, and 2094. Reports in 2018 indicated that trade sanctions (bans on almost all exports and the freezing of overseas accounts) were seriously affecting the economy. The main paper Rodong Sinmun was running short of paper and was publishing only a third of its normal print run, two energy plants supplying electricity to Pyongyang had to be shut down intermittently due to lack of coal, causing blackouts, coal mines were operating under capacity due to lack of fuel, coal could not be transported due to lack of fuel and food rations had been cut by half.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The Taep'oong International Investment Group of Korea is the official company that manages oversea investments to North Korea.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: After 1956, North Korea reached out to the Third World in the hope of making trade deals. However, according to analyst Benjamin R Young: "In the end, this approach proved ineffective, and Pyongyang never succeeded in developing robust trade relations with the Global South — a situation that appears unlikely to change anytime soon".


title: Economy of North Korea

text: North and South Korea's economic ties have fluctuated greatly over the past 30 years or so. In the late 1990s and most of the 2000s, north–south relations warmed under the Sunshine Policy of President Kim Dae-jung. Many firms agreed to invest in North Korea, encouraged by the South Korean government's commitment to cover their losses, should investment projects in the north fail to become profitable.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Following a 1988 decision by the South Korean Government to allow trade with the North (see Reunification efforts since 1971), South Korean firms began to import North Korean goods. Direct trade with the South began in the fall of 1990 after the unprecedented September 1990 meeting of the two Korean Prime Ministers. Trade between the countries increased from $18.8 million in 1989 to $333.4 million in 1999, much of it processing or assembly work undertaken in the North.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: During this decade, the chairman of the South Korean company Daewoo visited North Korea and reached agreement on building a light industrial complex at Namp'o. In other negotiations, Hyundai Asan obtained permission to bring tour groups by sea to Kŭmgang-san on the North Korea's southeast coast (see Kŭmgang-san Tourist Region), and more recently to construct the Kaesŏng Industrial Park, near the Korean Demilitarized Zone (DMZ), at a cost of more than $1 billion.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: In response to the summit between Kim Jong-il and Kim Dae-jung in 2000, North and South Korea agreed in August 2000 to reconnect the section of the Seoul–Pyongyang Gyeongui Railway Line across the DMZ. In addition, the two governments said they would build a four-lane highway bypassing the truce village at Panmunjeom.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: TV commercials for Samsung's Anycall cell phone featuring North Korean dancer Cho Myong-ae and South Korea's Lee Hyo-ri were first broadcast on June 11, 2006.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Trade with South Korea declined after Lee Myung-bak was elected President of South Korea in 2008, who reduced trade to put pressure on North Korea over nuclear matters. Trade with South Korea fell from $1.8 billion to $1.1 billion between 2007 and 2013, most of the remaining trade being through the Kaesŏng Industrial Park. The Park has been subject to frequent shutdowns due to political tensions.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: With the collapse of the Soviet Union, China has been North Korea's primary trading partner. Bilateral trade rose sharply after 2007. In 2007 trade between the two countries was $1.97 billion (₩1.7 trillion). By 2011 trade had increased to $5.6 billion (₩5.04 trillion). Trade with China represented 57% of North Korea's imports and 42% of exports.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Chinese statistics for 2013 indicate that North Korean exports to China were nearly $3 billion, with imports of about $3.6 billion. Exports to China in 2015 were estimated at $2.3 billion.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Some South Korean companies launched joint ventures in areas like animation and computer software, and Chinese traders have done a booming business back and forth across the China–North Korea border. In a 2007 survey of 250 Chinese operations in North Korea, a majority reported paying bribes. Robert Suter, who headed the Seoul office of Swedish-Swiss power generation company ABB, says ABB was staking out a position in North Korea, "It is the same as it was in China years ago. You had to be there and you had to build trust." A number of South Korean enterprises were mainly active in a specially developed industrial zone in Kaesong Industrial Region and Chinese enterprises were known to be involved in a variety of activities in trade and manufacturing in North Korea. European enterprises founded in 2005 the European Business Association (EBA), Pyongyang, a "de facto" chamber of commerce representing a number of European-invested joint ventures and other businesses. Ch'ongryŏn, the pro-North Korean General Association of Korean Residents in Japan, broadcast on their TV channel in 2008 a TV film in three parts featuring foreign investment and business in North Korea. This film was put on a YouTube channel called "BusinessNK" and could be watched together with a number of other videos on foreign joint ventures as well as other investment and business activities in North Korea.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: Though no international banks operated in the isolated socialist state in 2013, foreign companies were said to be increasingly interested in dealing with North Korea.


title: Economy of North Korea

text: The Rason Special Economic Zone was established in the early 1990s, in the northeastern corner of the country bordering China and Russia. In June 2011, an agreement with China was made to establish a joint free trade area on North Korea's Hwanggumpyong and Wihwa Islands and China's border area near Dandong.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: "The Twilight Zone" Tower of Terror, also known as Tower of Terror, is a series of similar accelerated drop tower dark rides located at Disney's Hollywood Studios, Tokyo DisneySea, Walt Disney Studios Park, and formerly located at Disney California Adventure. The attraction is inspired by Rod Serling's anthology television series, "The Twilight Zone", and takes place in the fictional Hollywood Tower Hotel in Hollywood, California. The Tokyo version features an original storyline not related to "The Twilight Zone" and takes place in the fictional Hotel Hightower. All versions of the attraction place riders in a seemingly ordinary hotel elevator, and present a fictional backstory in which people have mysteriously disappeared from the elevator under the influence of a supernatural element many years previously.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The original version of the attraction opened at Disney's Hollywood Studios, then named Disney-MGM Studios, at Walt Disney World in July 1994. A decade later, Disney began plans to add similar versions of the attraction to their newest parks at the Disneyland Resort in California, Tokyo Disney Resort in Japan, and Disneyland Paris. In California and Paris, Disney sought to use the popular attraction to boost attendance at the respective resorts' struggling new theme parks. The California and Tokyo versions of Tower of Terror opened in 2004 and 2006, respectively, while financial problems delayed the opening of the Paris version until 2007. The California version closed in January 2017 and was replaced by , which was later incorporated into Avengers Campus in 2021.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The Tower of Terror buildings are among the tallest structures found at their respective Disney resorts. At , the Florida version is the second tallest attraction at the Walt Disney World Resort, with only Expedition Everest at Disney's Animal Kingdom being taller by . After its retheme, the structure at the Disneyland Resort is still the tallest building on the property, as well as one of the tallest buildings in Anaheim. At Disneyland Paris, it is the second tallest attraction.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: In the late 1980s, a second phase of development was being designed for Disneyland Paris (then known as Euro Disney). Included was a free-fall type ride in Frontierland that was to be named Geyser Mountain. It would have been part roller coaster and part free-fall ride that shot guests up a vertical shaft. The plan was scrapped, but was picked up by Disney's Hollywood Studios (then named Disney-MGM Studios) as part of a massive expansion to their U.S. park. Several attractions had already been proposed, including "Dick Tracy's Crimestoppers", which would be later made into Indiana Jones Adventure at Disneyland. Still needing a major "E-ticket" attraction, the idea of a drop-shaft ride came up and was chosen. There had been several proposed ideas for haunted attractions, including a ride based on Stephen King's novels, a Vincent Price ghost tour, a Mel Brooks-narrated ride, a real hotel, an awards show honoring classic movie monsters starring Godzilla hosted by Eddie Murphy and Elvira, and a whodunit murder mystery, but none progressed into development.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Walt Disney Imagineering eventually took inspiration from Rod Serling's anthology stories featured in "The Twilight Zone", as a foundation for the attraction's original story. Imagineers mused that the attraction would be able to take guests into the Fifth Dimension that Serling always described as unlocking in every episode of the series. With the project in firm development, Disney licensed the rights to use the "Twilight Zone" intellectual property from CBS. The Imagineering team settled on a 1930s-era Hollywood hotel with a "Twilight Zone" theme, but a new ride system had to be built, which would allow both more capacity inside the ride and make the drop fast. Otis Elevator Company created the vertical ride system, and Eaton-Kenway a ride vehicle that could drive itself horizontally. Joe Dante directed the ride's preshow film.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Disney felt Rod Serling needed to be part of the attraction, although he had died almost two decades earlier. In order to include Serling in the attraction, Disney opted to hold auditions to cast his voice, with Carol Serling, Rod's widow, serving as a consultant for the casting. After many auditions, Mark Silverman was chosen by Carol to provide her late husband's voice. The archival footage of Serling used in the preshow was taken from the episode, "It's a Good Life". Silverman would later reprise this voice role for additional lines for the Disney California Adventure attraction. He also reprised the voice of Serling for the first season finale of the 2019 revival of "The Twilight Zone".


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The new ride was formally announced on September 30, 1991, and it was later described as a haunted attraction with a "stomach-churning 130-foot drop" for its finale, a contrasting experience to the friendlier Haunted Mansion attraction at Magic Kingdom. Site-clearing and preparation began in early 1992, and the original location was moved slightly after a sinkhole formed. The tower's interior and exterior design took inspiration from existing Southern California landmarks, including the Biltmore Hotel and Mission Inn. The distinctive Spanish Colonial Revival architectural features that are present on and around the attraction's roof were designed so that the rear facade would blend with the skyline of the Morocco Pavilion at Epcot, which is located less than two miles from Disney's Hollywood Studios. After construction ended, the ride was initially set to open on July 4, 1994, however, Tower of Terror opened on July 22, 1994, along with the Sunset Boulevard section of Disney's Hollywood Studios.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The ride system employs specialized technology developed by Walt Disney Imagineering, particularly the ability to move the vehicle in and out of the vertical motion shaft. The elevator cabs are self-propelled automated guided vehicles, which lock into separate vertical motion cabs. The cabs can move into and out of elevators horizontally, move through the "Fifth Dimension" scene, and on to the drop shaft. The Florida ride runs on a unique loop system, with two identical ride systems built within the Tower. There are four shafts in the back section of the building containing the dark-ride portion of the attraction. After the corridor scene, the four shafts merge into two, with identical "Fifth Dimension" scenes, and then a cab enters the single drop shaft. After the drop sequence, the elevators unload in the building's basement, then return to one of the show shafts to re-load the next guests. "The Twilight Zone" Tower of Terror initially featured a single drop until May 1996, when the ride was upgraded with a second one. A third drop was added three years later in 1999. In January 2003, the attraction's triple drop was replaced with randomized multi-drop sequences selected by a computer within the ride.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: In order to achieve the weightless effect the Imagineers desired, cables attached to the bottom of the elevator car pull it down at a speed slightly faster than what a free fall would provide. Two enormous motors are located at the top of the tower, measuring tall, long, and weighing . They are able to accelerate at 15 times the speed of normal elevators. They generate 275 times the torque of a Chevrolet Corvette engine, reaching top speed in 1.5 seconds. The ride's slogan, "Never the Same Fear Twice!", refers to the drop pattern being randomly selected by a computer before the ride begins. The drop reaches a top speed of . Initially, the attraction's vehicles seated 22 guests, restrained by lap bars; in 2002, the vehicles were each removed a seat from the back row and lap bars were replaced by seatbelt restraints.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The design of the 199 ft (60.7 m) tall Tower of Terror was founded on advanced dynamic analysis to model the effects of moving parts on the structural and non-structural elements. Since the facility was intended to provide new and non-repeatable sensations to visitors, a very wide variety of elevator drops and sequences of downward and upward motions, spanning anywhere from 1 floor to 13 floors, were modeled. Each elevator drop mode was analyzed as a time history - in other words accelerations that change in time - applied to the entire structural system. The objective was to push the motion beyond a free fall and provide the thrill to riders while ensuring structural integrity and safety. In addition to the self-weight of the structure, when motors weighing 270 kilo-pounds (123 metric tons) move, the force they exert on the structure is amplified by an order of magnitude. The applied accelerations were tested in the model over a range of 1.0 g (32.2 feet/s/s or 9.81 m/s/s) to 2.5 g (80.5 feet/s/s or 24.5 m/s/s). In addition to strength requirements, the design applied very stringent deflection criteria. In the case of the tower, floors have to support cabs while in horizontal motion in and out of the elevators with minimal deflections to avoid blurry projection screens.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: On August 13, 2014, video recording was added to the ride's on-ride camera, as an additional offering included with on-ride photo through the PhotoPass service. This was the first ride at Walt Disney World to offer on-ride videos. Little over a month later, on September 18, 2014, on-ride videos were also added to Seven Dwarfs Mine Train at Magic Kingdom, making these the only two rides at Walt Disney World to offer videos and photographs.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: In the American and European versions of the attraction, guests make their way to the dilapidated Hollywood Tower Hotel through the front gate to enter the queue through overgrown gardens and then enter the hotel lobby. Once in the lobby, guests are ushered to the hotel library, which houses the hotel's collection of books and antiques. With a crash of thunder and lightning, the power in the library goes out, except for a television set which crackles into life and plays the opening sequence from the fourth and fifth seasons of "The Twilight Zone", hosted by Rod Serling. The episode depicts the events of a stormy night in Hollywood 1939, where a lightning bolt strikes the tower and causes five people—an actor, a singer, a child star, her nanny, and a hotel bellhop—to vanish from the elevator, along with an entire wing of the building. Serling then tells guests that they'll be stepping in a maintenance service elevator to become the stars of an episode of "The Twilight Zone". The television then turns off and then guests are directed through to the boiler room to board the elevator.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: After guests are loaded into the elevator, the doors close, the lights dim and the elevator starts to ascend. Serling's voice greets passengers to "a most uncommon elevator about to ascend into your very own episode of "The Twilight Zone"". The elevator stops and doors open to reveal a dimly-lit hotel corridor, with a single window at the end. The ghosts of the five missing passengers appear, beckoning the guests to join them before disappearing in a burst of electricity. The corridor fades to darkness and transforms into a field of stars, with the window intact until it floats forward and morphs into the window from the Season 5 opening sequence, and breaks.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The elevator doors close and the car continues its ascent, once more, opening its doors open to a maintenance room. The elevator car exits from the lift shaft horizontally into the room, which slowly fades into darkness as it turns into The Fifth Dimension, an element countlessly referred by Serling in "The Twilight Zone". Now, in total darkness, the car reaches a field of stars which splits open and the elevator enters a pitch-black vertical shaft. As Serling's narration ends the elevator begins the drop sequence at a top speed of . At least once during the drop sequence, wide elevator doors in front of the riders open to reveal a view of the park, where the on-ride camera captures the in-ride photograph and video. One of four randomized profiles of drops and lifts are selected by a computer, where the ride vehicle drops or rises various lengths at different intervals. Some effects include projected images of the breaking window, wind effects, lightning flashes, and ominous blue-lit figures of the five ghostly original riders.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Once the elevator finishes its sequence, the car backs up into the hotel basement. A short clip plays, showing elements from the Season 5 opening sequence, along with the 1939 elevator passengers and Serling falling into the "vortex" seen in the Season 3 opening sequence. Serling welcomes back the guests and sends them off after their "visit" to the hotel, as he would normally close an episode of "The Twilight Zone". The car rotates and parks itself at the exit doors that lead to the unload area. Guests exit the elevator, leaving the hotel through the gift shop. After leaving the elevator, guests are led through a hotel corridor towards an old "Lost & Found" desk of the hotel, converted to display the on-ride photographs, serviced by Disney PhotoPass. Guests can use their MagicBands to link the photograph and video to their My Disney Experience account via the RFID touchpoints.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: In February 2010, Disney announced that the Tower of Terror would receive "new lighting effects and a new addition" as part of a summer entertainment package called "Summer Nightastic!". The Fifth Dimension scene was mostly covered by black tarps with fiber-optic stars, and Serling's voice was removed from just before the drop profile. Replacing it is music played in the drop shaft, along with a projected photograph of the riders just before they enter the drop shaft. Similar to the California and Paris versions of the ride, the riders disappear, leaving an empty elevator. A new drop profile was created for "Summer Nightastic!", and replaced the other drop profiles on all rides. After the music played, three sudden, distorted bell rings were heard, which began the drop profile. The profile mainly consisted of utilizing the entire tower for the drop sequences, as compared to the numerous faux and shortened drops in the randomized version. The changes were implemented on June 5, 2010, but were officially introduced the day after. All changes were temporary, and lasted until August 14, 2010.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: While similar in concept and theme to the original attraction in Florida, the version of Tower of Terror at Disney California Adventure, which opened in 2004 and closed in 2017, and its identical clone at Walt Disney Studios Park which opened in 2007, feature some significant differences. The exterior of these rides use architectural features reminiscent of Pueblo Deco styles found throughout Southern California during the Golden Age of Hollywood. The designs for this version were originally designed for the Paris park. However, when California Adventure was in need of an additional crowd-puller, the Paris version's plans were used for its version. When financial troubles hit Disney's Parisian resort, the attraction had to be put on hold.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The Paris version of the ride was green-lit in 2005 and was under construction in the center of the park, behind the "La Terrasse" seating area, by early 2006. Upon completion, it was joined by a new Hollywood Boulevard lined by faux movie sets. The attraction opened in 2007 and, unlike its American cousins, it was constructed using concrete rather than steel due to French construction guidelines and standards, at a total cost exceeding €180 million.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The Paris and California versions were originally intended to be almost identical upon completion, but there are differences, notably the height of the building and the location of some rooms backstage, as well as other differences due to different construction and work regulations in France. In Paris, the default language for the pre-show library video and the ride is French, but can be changed to English by the Cast Member upon request. The library video is the same as the American version, but is dubbed in French and subtitled in English. These versions have a slightly different queue area. The boiler room scene in the queue area has two floors, instead of the one floor in the original Florida version. The two floors allow for one elevator in one shaft to have guests on the ride, while the other elevator of the same shaft was loading guests. There are three elevator shafts, with two elevators per shaft, for a total of six ride vehicles operating.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Imagineers redesigned the ride system for the attraction in California and Paris and made some changes to the show scenes. Instead of the autonomous vehicle found in the original incarnation, the new ride system limits the elevator car to a single shaft, three shafts in total in the newer versions. Each shaft was its own separate ride with its own separate operating system. This makes it easier to repair individual areas of the attraction without causing the entire attraction to go down. Each shaft has the capacity to accommodate two vehicles operating from two load levels, each vehicle loading and unloading at the same point. The ride was designed so that one vehicle can be in its ride profile while the other is at its loading level, giving each ride shaft the ability to accommodate more riders. Disney used this ride system again for Tokyo DisneySea's Hotel Hightower.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: As the elevator doors close, the lights of the service elevator flicker out. The elevator itself is pushed into the shaftway by a mechanical arm in front of the doors. With a flash of lightning, the walls of the basement disappear altogether, leaving only a star field around the service doors with a rotating purple spiral. The elevator rises quickly, where the doors open on an ornate, wood-framed mirror in a brightly lit corridor of the hotel and riders see their reflection in its glass. Lightning strikes the hotel and the lights of both the corridor and elevator flicker out. A ghostly wind blows through a window and the reflection of riders in the elevator becomes distorted. With another blast, the elevator rumbles and shakes, and with a final blast of lightning, the electrified reflection disappears, leaving only the image of the empty elevator in the mirror as the doors close. The elevator descends and opens to reveal the corridor scene with an image of another elevator at the other end of the corridor. The five missing passengers appear in the corridor beckoning riders to join them, then disappear in a bolt of electricity as the walls in the corridor become a star field, leaving just the other elevator. The other elevator doors open to reveal the lost passengers inside as both elevators appear to float through space.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The distant guests fall, then the distant elevator, followed by the ride elevator. This version of the ride does not have a randomized drop sequence, so the ride experience is identical in every drop shaft, regardless of which floor passengers board on. Two small drops occur in pitch-black darkness, followed by a rise to the top of the tower as in-cabin lights flicker. The doors then open out to reveal the view from the top floor before the car drops briefly, pauses, and drops along the remainder of the shaft. The elevator then rises almost to the top, and immediately drops without stopping, in complete darkness. The elevator then ascends all the way to the top of the tower, shudders, and falls to the bottom of the shaft, to the area in between the two loading floors, with the elevator being finally returned to its load level and horizontally pulled back into place at the boiler room service doors. The service doors open and guests exit the hotel through the basement and the gift shop.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: On September 10, 2019, it was announced that the Paris version would be "reimagined" to "The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror - A New Dimension of Chills". The ride was enhanced with new ride profiles, drop sequences, effects, and storylines that expand upon the original one. According to Imagineer Tom Fitzgerald, the reimagining introduced three new "Twilight Zone" storylines, each starring the little girl who disappeared in the hotel's elevator from the original story and the attraction's name was changed to "The Twilight Zone" Tower of Terror - A New Dimension of Chills, which opened on September 28, 2019.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: On July 23, 2016, at San Diego Comic-Con, Disney announced that the California version would be replaced by an attraction based on Marvel Studios' "Guardians of the Galaxy" film series, titled , which opened in May 2017 and uses the same structure and ride system. This is the first American Disney attraction to be based on the Marvel Cinematic Universe (Marvel Entertainment having been wholly acquired by Disney in 2009).


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Tower of Terror's final day of operation at Disney California Adventure was January 2, 2017; the ride then closed January 3. In preparation for the closure, Disney began a "farewell" promotion of the ride on September 9, 2016, which featured a "Late Check Out" option to experience the drop portion of the ride in total darkness. The same audio would play, but the show scenes on the fifth and fourth floors would be completely dark. On the night of September 19 and early morning of September 20, the "Hollywood Tower Hotel" sign was removed to prepare for the new attraction. The other three Disney parks with versions of the Tower of Terror are unaffected, and Disney has stated that there are no plans to change the attraction in its other locations.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The attraction at Tokyo DisneySea is known simply as Tower of Terror and omits any connection or tie-in whatsoever with "The Twilight Zone", as the television series is not well known in Japan. Instead, the attraction focuses on an original storyline, set in the fictional Hotel Hightower. The ride tower is located in the American Waterfront area of the park, close to the "S.S. Columbia" ocean liner, and its facade is an example of Moorish Revival architecture. The ride system for this version is similar to that of the Disney California Adventure and Walt Disney Studios Park versions.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The storyline of the attraction is more complex than that of its American and European counterparts. The scenario involves the adventures of the hotel's famous builder and owner, Harrison Hightower III (modeled after Imagineering executive Joe Rohde), who went on many expeditions throughout the world and collected thousands of priceless artifacts. Most of these artifacts were stolen for personal gain and stored in his hotel, one of them is an idol named Shiriki Utundu, brought in by Hightower from an expedition to Africa. Hightower claimed that the natives were angry to have their beloved god taken, and that they threatened that the idol would curse him.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: On New Year's Eve 1899, Hightower held a press conference about his expedition to Africa, followed by a party, where he boasted about how he acquired the idol and denied claims of it being cursed. Just as he left the party, he mocked the idol, using its head to put out his cigar. Around midnight, he entered the elevator to retire to his private apartments in the hotel penthouse. As the elevator neared the top, the idol came to life. The idol's rage and power caused the elevator to plummet and crash on the ground floor, with Hightower inside it; when the doors were pried open, only his hat and the idol were recovered. The hotel was abruptly closed and condemned for more than a decade, rumored by locals to be haunted. In 1912, following pressure to demolish the hotel, a New York restoration company reopened it because of its historical significance and now offers paid tours of the building. It is on these "tours" that guests embark when they enter the hotel.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The queue area winds through gardens filled with statues from many different countries up to the Hotel Hightower before guests then enter the lobby. On each ceiling arch is painted a mural of Hightower on one of his adventures, portraying his escape from native people with a valuable artifact or item in his possession. At the end of the lobby is the elevator in its destroyed state, its doors left open with only a single plank of wood holding them together. Guests are then ushered into a room filled with many photographs of Hightower, his expeditions, and his hotel.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Guests enter Hightower's office, where a large stained glass window depicts a confident Hightower, while Shiriki Utundu sits on a pedestal nearby the stained glass. A tour guide talks about Hightower, then winds up an old gramophone that plays a recording of Hightower's last interview. The lights dim and the stained glass window changes to show a frightened Hightower holding the idol and then entering the elevator on that fateful night, then shows the outside of the hotel as the elevator ascends. All throughout, Hightower's voice is heard echoing throughout the office warning guests the curse is real and urging them to leave while they can. All the lights in the hotel go out, and a flash of green lightning shatters the bottom of the window. Shiriki Utundu comes to life, laughs mischievously at the guests, and vanishes into a star-field. A gray fog covers the window, which remains the same when the fog lifts. Guests are then ushered into an enormous storage room where Hightower kept his treasures.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The mechanics of DisneySea's Tower of Terror are identical to those of the Californian and Parisian versions, with dual loading floors, horizontal push-back from the doors and into the drop tower, a "corridor" scene, and a mirror scene, but with thematic changes. The order of the mirror and "corridor" scenes is reversed compared to the American and European counterparts.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: As the ride begins, a flash of electricity appears on the top of the elevator doors, the lights flicker, then go out. Hightower explains what happened to him, while the elevator is pushed backward. The glowing green eyes of the idol appear in the darkness as the elevator enters the drop shaft. The elevator begins its ascent, then stops and the doors open to reveal the private apartments of Harrison Hightower, the idol sitting on a table in the center. Hightower's ghost appears beside it and reaches out to touch it. The idol zaps him with a bolt of green electricity, blasting him backward past open elevator doors at the opposite end of the apartments, where Hightower falls down the shaft as the private apartments fade away, replaced by a starfield. The idol turns toward the guests' elevator and laughs before the doors close.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: The elevator ascends again, then the doors open, revealing a large, ornate mirror. Hightower tells the guests to wave and say "goodbye" to themselves. As they do, the lighting of the hotel is replaced with an eerie green glow, which makes the reflections of the guests ghostlike, an effect similar to the California and Paris rides. The ghostly reflection of the riders disappears and leaves the idol alone in the empty elevator. The idol laughs menacingly at the riders and suddenly shoots forward at them. The elevator vibrates, then begins the drop sequence. At the end of the drop sequence, the elevator returns to its loading level, where the idol's green eyes glare one last time in the dark and then disappear.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: In an effort to be true to the spirit of "The Twilight Zone", Disney Imagineers reportedly watched every episode of the original television show at least twice. The attraction buildings are littered with references to "Twilight Zone" episodes.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Jazz music from the 1930s is played throughout the queueing area for the Tower of Terror at Disney's Hollywood Studios, as well as in the lobby and library. The ride's score was composed by Richard Bellis, except for the Tokyo DisneySea version, which was scored by Joel McNeely, who has released the overture on his site. Bellis incorporates the main "Twilight Zone" theme, composed by Marius Constant, to the attraction's theme, which can be found on several theme park albums:


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: "The Twilight Zone" Tower of Terror was featured in the 1994 Halloween edition of Disney Channel's "Walt Disney World Inside Out", hosted by Scott Herriott, where guest star Gilbert Gottfried set out to experience Tower of Terror himself. The attraction is also one of various featured in the Disney+ docu-series "Behind the Attraction", produced by Dwayne Johnson, released on July 21, 2021. The episode dedicated to the attraction also features the Tokyo variant and the transformation of the Disney California Adventure version to .


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: Following the attraction's success, Walt Disney Television produced the TV film "Tower of Terror", starring Steven Guttenberg and Kirsten Dunst. Based on the attraction itself and not "The Twilight Zone", it is Disney's first film based on one of its theme park attractions and the only one made for television to date. Many scenes were filmed in the attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios, when it was still named Disney-MGM Studios, while other scenes were filmed in Disney's Burbank studios.


title: The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror

text: On June 23, 2021, it was reported that Walt Disney Pictures was developing a new film based on the attraction, starring Scarlett Johansson, who would also produce the project through her production company, These Pictures, alongside Jonathan Lia, while Josh Cooley would write the script. Development on the film was initially canceled following Johansson's lawsuit against Disney after the company released the Marvel film "Black Widow" on the streaming service Disney+, but resumed after the lawsuit was settled.


title: Olivia Jade

text: Olivia Jade Giannulli (born September 28, 1999) is an American YouTuber, and daughter of fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli and actress Lori Loughlin. While in high school, Giannulli began a social media career on YouTube and Instagram. As of 2019, both accounts have amassed more than one million followers. Giannulli's fraudulent application to the University of Southern California was a prominent part of the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal.


title: Olivia Jade

text: Giannulli is a daughter of actress Lori Loughlin and fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli. Giannulli has an older sister, Isabella, and a half-brother, Gianni.


title: Olivia Jade

text: In 2017, Giannulli crashed her car while singing along to Stevie Wonder's "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" as she filmed herself with her mobile phone, prompting expressions of concern about her driving habits among her social media followers.


title: Olivia Jade

text: She attended the John Thomas Dye School for kindergarten through sixth grade followed by the Marlborough School until she transferred after 9th grade.


title: Olivia Jade

text: In 2018, Giannulli graduated from Marymount High School in Los Angeles and enrolled at the University of Southern California. As of October 2019, both Giannulli sisters are no longer enrolled at USC.


title: Olivia Jade

text: In 2018, according to an indictment by the United States Government, Giannulli posed for a photo on an ergometer rowing machine. The photo was later submitted as part of her application to the University of Southern California (USC) with the implication she was a competitive rower, though she was not and had no interest in becoming one. At the same time, it is alleged, her parents paid $500,000 in bribes to a coach at the university to designate her and her older sister Isabella as athletic prospects for the team, enabling them to gain admission to the school. According to the federal criminal complaint against her father, Olivia Jade was confused about how to complete the USC application, and an employee of the alleged conspiracy's ringleader ultimately had to fill it out on her behalf. "Teen Vogue" has reported that "it is undetermined if Olivia Jade knew about the alleged scheme."


title: Olivia Jade

text: Before starting classes at USC, Giannulli prompted criticism when she posted a statement to her YouTube channel in which she said, referring to her upcoming attendance at USC, "... I do want the experience of like game days, partying ... I don't really care about school, as you guys all know." According to "Newsweek", Giannulli had been actively giving advice on applying to university to her social-media followers days before federal agents arrested her parents on fraud charges for their alleged involvement in the conspiracy. On March 13, 2019, media sources reported that when news of the scandal broke, Giannulli was in the Bahamas on Rick Caruso's $100 million yacht. Giannulli is friends with Caruso's daughter Gianna, and Caruso is the chairman of the USC Board of Trustees.


title: Olivia Jade

text: Olivia Jade is featured in Netflix's film Operation Varsity Blues that retraces Rick Singer's college admission scheme. The documentary recreates some wiretapped conversations obtained by the FBI between Singer and the many people he worked with and for including Olivia's parents, Lori Loughlin and Mossimo Giannulli.


title: Olivia Jade

text: On March 14, 2019, two days after the scandal broke, Sephora distanced itself from Giannulli, announcing that the company would be ending its makeup partnership with her. TRESemmé also dropped her as a sales partner. Some media outlets had reported that Giannulli dropped out of USC due to fears of being "viciously bullied"; however, a university spokesperson later confirmed that Giannulli remained enrolled at the school.


title: Olivia Jade

text: Giannulli was subjected to public shaming and generalized ridicule through social and traditional media after allegations of the scandal surfaced. Giannulli's social media platforms were inundated with critical comments and she ultimately disabled the comment features on her Instagram account. "Slate" writer Heather Schwedel said that Giannulli checked "all the right boxes for ridicule", while comedian John Oliver, speaking on "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver", opined that "death threats" were inappropriate but a limited period of joke-making at Giannulli's expense would be socially acceptable. On December 2, 2019, Giannulli broke her silence on the scandal in a video posted to her YouTube account titled "Hi Again." However, she did not address the scandal directly, saying in the video that she had been legally barred from doing so.


title: Olivia Jade

text: USC scheduled a hearing in March 2019 to determine if Giannulli should be identified as a "disruptive individual", which could result in a lifetime ban from the university.


title: Olivia Jade

text: In October 2019, the USC Registrar confirmed that Olivia and her sister were no longer enrolled at the university, but the university said that because of student privacy laws it would not confirm whether the sisters were expelled.


title: Olivia Jade

text: While in high school, Giannulli started a lifestyle YouTube channel. She then started an Instagram account. Each account has over a million subscribers/followers and were monetized through commercial endorsements and advertisements for Amazon, Sephora, and other companies.


title: Olivia Jade

text: Giannulli appeared in a 2016 episode of the game show "Tap that Awesome App", competing for a prize for charity.


title: Olivia Jade

text: In 2018, Giannulli trademarked "Olivia Jade" and "Olivia Jade Beauty". Her applications had at first not been processed by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office due, in part, to what media outlets described as "poor punctuation." Her trademark application was approved in April 2019.


title: Olivia Jade

text: In 2019 Giannulli opened an account on TikTok and has accumulated over 200k followers and over 3.9M likes.


title: Olivia Jade

text: In September 2021, Giannulli was announced as one of the celebrities competing on season 30 of "Dancing with the Stars". She and her partner, Val Chmerkovskiy, were the eighth couple to be eliminated, ultimately finishing in 8th place.


title: Belisarius

text: Belisarius (; ; – 565) was a military commander of the Byzantine Empire under the emperor Justinian I. He was instrumental in the reconquest of much of the Mediterranean territory belonging to the former Western Roman Empire, which had been lost less than a century prior.


title: Belisarius

text: One of the defining features of Belisarius' career was his success despite varying levels of available resources. His name is frequently given as one of the so-called "Last of the Romans".


title: Belisarius

text: He conquered the Vandal Kingdom of North Africa in the Vandalic War in nine months and conquered much of Italy during the Gothic War. He also defeated the Vandal armies in the battle of Ad Decimum and played an important role at Tricamarum, compelling the Vandal king, Gelimer, to surrender. During the Gothic War, despite being significantly outnumbered, he and his troops recaptured the city of Rome and then held out against great odds during the siege of Rome.


title: Belisarius

text: He also won an important battle against the Persians at Dara but was defeated at Callinicum. He successfully repulsed a Hunnish incursion at Melantias. He was also known for military deception; he repulsed a Persian invasion by deceiving their commander and lifted the siege of Ariminum without a fight.


title: Belisarius

text: Belisarius was probably born in Germania, a fortified town of which some archaeological remains still exist, on the site of present-day Sapareva Banya in south-west Bulgaria, within the borders of Thrace and Paeonia, or in "Germen", a town in Thrace near Orestiada, in present-day Greece. Born into an Illyrian, Thracian, or Greek family that spoke Latin as a mother tongue, he became a Roman soldier as a young man, serving in the bodyguard of Emperor Justin I.


title: Belisarius

text: After coming to the attention of Justin and Justinian as an innovative officer, he was given permission by the emperor to form a bodyguard regiment. It consisted of elite heavy cavalry that he later expanded into a personal household regiment, 7,000 strong. Belisarius' guards formed the nucleus of all the armies he would later command. Armed with lances, (possibly Hunnish style) composite bows, and spatha (long sword), they were fully armored to the standard of heavy cavalry of the day. A multi-purpose unit, the Bucellarii ("biscuit-eaters") were capable of shooting at a distance with bows, like the Huns, or could act as heavy shock cavalry, charging an enemy with lance and sword. In essence, they combined the best and most dangerous aspects of both of Rome's greatest enemies, the Huns and the Goths.


title: Belisarius

text: In his early career, Belisarius participated in multiple Byzantine defeats. In the first battle where he held an independent command (together with Sittas, most likely a dual command) he suffered a clear defeat, but he and Sittas were noted as successful raiders, plundering Persian territory, for example, during the first invasion of Persarmenia of the war, taking place shortly before. The next battle was fought at Tanurin (south of Nisbis), where Belisarius played a leading role again. He fled with his troops after his colleagues were lured into a trap. His army was then defeated at Mindouos, but he was promoted shortly afterward, meaning he was not likely held responsible for the defeat. At first, he was likely a junior partner to some higher placed commander like Sittas, while at Thanurin there was no overall commander. Mindouos was probably the first battle in which he led the army entirely on his own.