Jan 23, 2010
North Korea's politically motivated currency revaluation is forcing its people to barter for food to survive even though the regime promised a new year drive to raise living standards, experts say.
In an policy-setting editorial on January 1, the rulers of the impoverished communist nation stressed efforts to bring about "a radical turn in the people's standard of living".
But analysts say the shock revaluation of the won last November 30 is intensifying the already severe hardships of ordinary people.
"Inflation is widespread despite the regime's desperate efforts to stabilise prices," said Lee Seung-Yong, director of the South Korean Good Friends welfare group, which has extensive cross-border contacts.
Lee told AFP new state prices have yet to be announced following the revaluation "due to a surge in food prices and chaos in the markets, which paralysed daily distribution of commodities and forced some people to rely on bartering.
"This prompted authorities to further strengthen control of market activities. However, the situation is getting worse," he said.
"Without outside help especially from China, North Koreans will suffer from shortages and high prices for a while, maybe throughout this year."
Authorities restricted the amount of old banknotes which could be changed at a rate of 100-for-one for new currency, wiping out savings and sparking widespread anger.
The revaluation was widely seen as an attempt to reassert control over the economy and clamp down on growing free-market activities. Private markets emerged after the state food distribution system collapsed during famines in the 1990s.
A Pyongyang central bank official himself called it an attempt to strengthen "socialist principles and order in economic management".
Seoul-based Internet newspaper DailyNK also reported last week that bartering has made a comeback.
"For now, state-designated prices are still not public, so people think that selling goods for cash now would mean making a loss," it quoted a defector who talked to his family in the North as saying.
"Therefore, bartering has become the main method of trading for the people."
The defector said the barter value of products is decided according to their value in old money, with trade carried out privately to avoid detection.
Before the redenomination, one fish was worth 1,500 won and a kilogram of corn was 900 won, so people barter one fish for a little less than two kilograms of corn, DailyNK said.
"The economy worsened due to the currency change where markets were closed and the public needed necessities which were not provided by the state," Cho Bong-Hyun, of the Industrial Bank of Korea's economic research centre, told a seminar Friday.
A United Nations special envoy also said the revaluation was partly to blame for worsening living conditions, marked by very serious food shortages, political repression and now icy weather.
"The situation is grave for various reasons," Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN rapporteur on North Korean human rights, said in Tokyo.
"The food situation and the clampdown on people's ability to trade, the revaluation of the won as well as the persecution and the punishments against refugees and their families -- all these got worse in the past year."
Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, in a paper published this month, said the currency change would reduce people's well-being "at a time when the country is already struggling with economic stagnation, spiralling prices and a return of chronic food shortages".
The US experts, from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that in the long run it was unlikely even to contribute significantly to the goal of rebuilding socialism.
"Such an effort is doomed to failure as long as the state lacks the resources and capacity to put goods on the shelves," they wrote.
Despite the regime's "sheer ruthlessness" including reported executions, there was little evidence it had succeeded in stamping out the market entirely, they said.
related articles @ link
North Korea's politically motivated currency revaluation is forcing its people to barter for food to survive even though the regime promised a new year drive to raise living standards, experts say.
In an policy-setting editorial on January 1, the rulers of the impoverished communist nation stressed efforts to bring about "a radical turn in the people's standard of living".
But analysts say the shock revaluation of the won last November 30 is intensifying the already severe hardships of ordinary people.
"Inflation is widespread despite the regime's desperate efforts to stabilise prices," said Lee Seung-Yong, director of the South Korean Good Friends welfare group, which has extensive cross-border contacts.
Lee told AFP new state prices have yet to be announced following the revaluation "due to a surge in food prices and chaos in the markets, which paralysed daily distribution of commodities and forced some people to rely on bartering.
"This prompted authorities to further strengthen control of market activities. However, the situation is getting worse," he said.
"Without outside help especially from China, North Koreans will suffer from shortages and high prices for a while, maybe throughout this year."
Authorities restricted the amount of old banknotes which could be changed at a rate of 100-for-one for new currency, wiping out savings and sparking widespread anger.
The revaluation was widely seen as an attempt to reassert control over the economy and clamp down on growing free-market activities. Private markets emerged after the state food distribution system collapsed during famines in the 1990s.
A Pyongyang central bank official himself called it an attempt to strengthen "socialist principles and order in economic management".
Seoul-based Internet newspaper DailyNK also reported last week that bartering has made a comeback.
"For now, state-designated prices are still not public, so people think that selling goods for cash now would mean making a loss," it quoted a defector who talked to his family in the North as saying.
"Therefore, bartering has become the main method of trading for the people."
The defector said the barter value of products is decided according to their value in old money, with trade carried out privately to avoid detection.
Before the redenomination, one fish was worth 1,500 won and a kilogram of corn was 900 won, so people barter one fish for a little less than two kilograms of corn, DailyNK said.
"The economy worsened due to the currency change where markets were closed and the public needed necessities which were not provided by the state," Cho Bong-Hyun, of the Industrial Bank of Korea's economic research centre, told a seminar Friday.
A United Nations special envoy also said the revaluation was partly to blame for worsening living conditions, marked by very serious food shortages, political repression and now icy weather.
"The situation is grave for various reasons," Vitit Muntarbhorn, the UN rapporteur on North Korean human rights, said in Tokyo.
"The food situation and the clampdown on people's ability to trade, the revaluation of the won as well as the persecution and the punishments against refugees and their families -- all these got worse in the past year."
Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, in a paper published this month, said the currency change would reduce people's well-being "at a time when the country is already struggling with economic stagnation, spiralling prices and a return of chronic food shortages".
The US experts, from the Peterson Institute for International Economics, said that in the long run it was unlikely even to contribute significantly to the goal of rebuilding socialism.
"Such an effort is doomed to failure as long as the state lacks the resources and capacity to put goods on the shelves," they wrote.
Despite the regime's "sheer ruthlessness" including reported executions, there was little evidence it had succeeded in stamping out the market entirely, they said.
related articles @ link
North Korea Holds Massive New Year's Rally
Source: AFP Global Edition
