Mick Hartley

Back to North Korea, and here, from the Chosun Ilbo, is how the market works now in the Democratic People's Republic:

One Korean Chinese, who visited Pyongyang recently, said, "Department store shelves are stacked with goods that the state confiscated from market traders in return for nothing on Jan. 1, and they are selling those goods at prices readjusted at the exchange rate of 100 old won for one new won. Huge crowds rushed to buy them, so they ran out of stock immediately."

Brilliant. And, as if the market traders didn't have enough to worry about, having been robbed blind by the state, there's now, as mentioned here on Monday, hyper-inflation to contend with:

But commodity prices skyrocketed. Inflation is soaring as market traders are hoarding goods, anticipating that the real value of the new currency will plummet. According to a North Korean source, 1 kg of rice cost about 30 won right after the currency reform but is now closing in on 1,000 won. The U.S. dollar was exchanged at the rate of 75 won to the greenback right after the currency reform but soared to 400 won in late December. There is speculation that it is now only a matter of time before the rate will reach 3,000 won, the same as the unofficial exchange rate of the old won.

Market traders are angry as they have realized that they were robbed of nearly everything they earned. A former senior North Korean official said, "The latest currency reform is more cruel than the previous reform in 1992. It's tantamount to the state confiscating 99 percent of people's money."

Authorities have been handing out food rations in Pyongyang and other regions since December, but North Koreans already know that the food cannot last them more than a month or two. Urban residents are experiencing particular hardship.

Still, even as the wretched people of North Korea brace themselves for another desperate winter struggling to survive, they can gaze up at the latest propaganda posters just issued to reinforce the official New Year Statement from the Dear Leader: “Bring about a decisive change in the people’s lives by accelerating once again light industry and agriculture this year, as we look to the 65th anniversary of the founding of the Party!”, and reflect that somewhere, in some imaginary socialist paradise, in a land far far away, there are happy smiling people with plenty to eat….