Free Republic

11-14-2011 16:38 Food crisis drives more N. Koreans to drugs, suicide, defection North Korea's botched currency reform has aggravated its chronic food shortages, leading people there to use drugs and turn to suicide, civic groups here said Monday, unveiling a rare interview with more than a dozen North Koreans. The civic groups conducted face-to-face interviews with 14 North Koreans living in Pyongyang, Sinuiju and Hamgyong Province. Those interviewed came from different age groups and occupations, with one being a soldier, though their identities were withheld for security reasons. The interviews were conducted jointly by Greater Korea United and the Committee...

Map of Recent Unrests in N. KoreaIllustration: clockwise from the top center. Jan., 2010, Hamheung -- old currency notes were burned in protest. Jan., 2011, Yonsa County -- forestry employees were killed after they confiscated firewood early Feb., 2011, Chongjin -- former chief of public securiy(police) was killed (RFA report) Feb., 2010, Pyungsung & Nampo -- stones thrown at the home of a policman, along with a threatening letter Nov., 2009, NK authorities launch currency reform Jan. 17, 2011, Jangryong County -- soldiers at 47th Brigade under 131 Directorate protest lack of food (NK Intellectual's Alliance report) Feb. 14, 2011,...

More Middle-Class N.Koreans Defect There appears to have been a shift in the profile of defectors fleeing North Korea since a botched currency reform late last year. Before the reform, most of the defectors were so poor that they did not care whether they would be killed if they were caught fleeing the North. But since the currency reform, more middle-class North Koreans have been fleeing the North, a South Korean security official speculated. A North Korean source on Tuesday said the currency reform alienated many people from the regime, and the spread of South Korean pop culture through videos...

Talk of North Korean Collapse Rekindled By Currency Reform Fallout Kurt Achin | Seoul30 April 2010 For the first time in years, international experts say North Korea's isolated government is increasingly frail, and potentially unstable. Part of the reason, they say, is Pyongyang's attempt at currency reform last year. /snip "The currency revaluation has shaken the foundation, as North Korea continues to be penetrated by the forces of globalization," said Scott Snyder. The currency misstep play into what some scholars describe as a "perfect storm" of factors that could shatter the fragile stability North Korea has enjoyed for decades. /snip...

N.Korea Distributes Rice from Military Storage Food prices in North Korea have stabilized because the regime took the emergency measure of distributing rice stored for the military, a high-ranking South Korean government official said Thursday. The Unification Ministry told the National Assembly on April 13 that the price of rice in North Korea was around 20 won per kilogram right after the botched currency reform late last year but soared to 1,000 won in mid-March. In early April, the price dropped to 500-600 won. At the time, experts predicted that the lean season in April and May coupled with the...

North Korean prof says private markets must go ‘Markets will be removed. People are buying daily necessities in them.’ April 03, 2010 PYONGYANG - North Korea will phase out private markets and rely on state-controlled outlets, a senior economist said in a rare interview, amid speculation the country’s reclusive leader could soon visit China to secure much needed investment. Impoverished yet nuclear-armed North Korea has in recent years allowed some free markets for food and consumer items, while others not sanctioned by the state have sprung up as the public turned to private enterprise to cope with declining living standards...

SEOUL, South Korea -- North Korea executed a former senior official last week as punishment for the country's botched currency reform, a news report said Thursday....

March 20, 2010 North Koreans fear the country is on the verge of a new famine Jane Macartney, Tumen Once again, rice has disappeared from tables in North Korea. A famine looms and — as happened in the 1990s — millions could die. Desperation is stamped on the faces of those few who have braved barbed-wire fences, armed guards and patrols to slip into neighbouring China. They seek food over freedom. The Times met four women in a safe house in China this week who fled recently across the frontier. They described despair in North Korea at the growing prospect...

/begin my excerpts Sources: N. Korea' Park Nam-ki Shot by Firing Squad...Blamed for Currency Reform Fiasco Accused of deliberate destruction of economy, but few believe it Similar to Seo Kwan-hi execution during 'March of Suffering'(great famine) in 90's (Seoul-Yonhap News) Choi Sun-young & Chang Yong-hoon: Park Nam-ki, the N. Korea's former Director of the Planning and Financial Department of the Central Committee, was shot by firing squad in Pyongyang last week, blamed for the failed currency reform, according to sources. On Mar. 18, sources told Yonhap News, "N. Korean authorities executed the former director Park last week at the firing...

N.Korean Economy Grinds to a Halt North Korea's economy is essentially paralyzed since a disastrous currency reform in December. Radio Free Asia on Wednesday quoted a member of an American NGO who recently visited the North to deliver aid as saying shops in Pyongyang are empty, there are few foreigners in hotels, and construction has come to a standstill. The American recalled that even no kimchi, the staple spicy delicacy of Korea, was found among dishes of Korean food served in the Koryo Hotel. He wondered if the hotel could not afford to make it due to skyrocketing prices. He...

Desperate N.Koreans 'Riot Over Food' Violence is growing in North Korea amid a worsening food shortage after the disastrous currency revaluation last December, according to sources in the hermit country. One person was killed by armed guards on Feb. 16 when a group of people attempted to rob a food train at Komusan Railway Station in Puryong-gun, North Hamgyong Province, defector group North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity said. The attack came on North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's birthday after a disastrous currency reform sent food prices skyrocketing. The train was loaded with rice imported from China, the group said. Workers, outraged...

/begin my translation [No. 331] Flood of Reports to Central Party "People on the Verge of Starvation Death" 02/16/10 (According to sources,) an official from the central party revealed, "There are 5,660 reports which reached the central party from provinces, saying that food situation is dire or people are on the verge of death from starvation. Of them, 2,000 reports even spelled out names of people died in their city or county." According to the reports, commerce has collapsed, food supply is completely cut off, and people are barely getting by eating food substitute such as residue from liquor and...

N.Koreans Abandon Worthless Won for Yuan North Koreans in the border area with China have abandoned the won since a shock currency reform, Internet broadcaster Open Radio for North Korea reported. The regime in December suddenly introduced a new won at an exchange rate of 100:1 to the old currency, a move which instead of curbing inflation sent it sky-high. The broadcaster quoted a North Korean source as saying North Korean banknotes are nothing but pieces of paper, and almost all goods are traded in yuan. "Not even cart pushers would accept won for their work," the source said. Having...

North Korea's regime trips up Market forces 1, brute force, 0 An embarrassing climb-down puts Kim Jong Il in a difficult position Feb 11th 2010 | SEOUL AND TOKYO | From The Economist print edition Reuters HOWEVER loathsome his neighbours find Kim Jong Il, the nuclear-armed North Korean dictator, most admit that beneath the big hair lurks the mind of a tactical genius with a flair for survival. At home North Koreans are smothered by his ruthless personality cult. Abroad, he is an adept blackmailer: act mad enough to be dangerous; then conciliate for cash. Recently, however, he has made...

100 Items, 100 Fixed Prices By Kim Tae Hong [2010-02-11 15:42 ] The North Korean authorities released the fixed prices for one hundred items on February 4th. The Daily NK, which reported on the issue at the time, has now received the full list of prices. By announcing fixed state prices, the authorities de facto removed much of the existing market regulation, albeit that they simultaneously attempted to control prices, which had been running wild since the botched redenomination of November 30th. On the ground in the jangmadang, The Daily NK has heard that people are selling goods for market...

N.Korea Climbs Down Over Anti-Market Reforms A North Korean source has shed more light on an apology by Premier Kim Yong-il on Feb. 5 which apparently acknowledged that the currency reform in late December went disastrously wrong. The source said Kim, not to be confused with leader Kim Jong-il, read out an hour-long statement before village chiefs and other party officials at the People's Palace of Culture in Pyongyang on Monday morning. "I sincerely apologize for having caused great pain to the people by recklessly enforcing the latest currency reform without making sufficient preparations or considering the circumstances," the source...

N.Korea eases market curbs as anger grows: Seoul By Jun Kwanwoo (AFP) – 10 hours ago SEOUL — North Korea is relaxing restrictions on private markets because of mounting anger at a chaotic currency change that worsened food shortages and sparked unrest, South Korea's spy agency said Thursday. "North Korean authorities have been easing restrictions on markets. Such signs have been detected in various places," a spokesman for the National Intelligence Service (NIS) told AFP. "They may not have been able to keep ignoring people's demands." The communist regime had launched a progressive crackdown on street markets in recent years...

Discontent in N.Korea Turns to Anger After Currency Debacle The fallout from North Korea's disastrous currency reform is mounting, with public discontent at skyrocketing prices reportedly growing into serious unrest in places. Radio Free Asia reported Wednesday that an anti-regime mood is growing among people who are prevented from earning a living by a crackdown on the use of foreign currency and closure of open-air markets. Quoting sources in North Korea, the exile radio station said North Koreans now call leader Kim Jong-il simply by his name without using any honorific, which is unprecedented in the North. One Korean Chinese...

North Korea 'struggling against civil unrest' The revaluation of the won has led to rampant inflation and civil disorder Richard Lloyd Parry, Asia Editor The North Korean dictatorship is struggling to contain civil unrest and runaway inflation caused by a drastic revaluation of its won currency, which is threatening new food shortages in the already hungry nation, according to reports in South Korea. /snip Agents of the People’s Safety Agency (PSA), which is conducting a so-called “Fifty Day Battle” against illegal enterprise, were reported to have been attacked and driven away as they sought out market activity in the city...

N.Korean Finance Chief Sacked Over Currency Debacle Pak Nam-gi, director of the planning and fiscal affairs department of the North Korean Workers The North Korean regime apparently sacked the Workers' Party's Finance Director Pak Nam-gi, letting him take the fall for the failed currency reform late last year. Pak was appointed finance director in July 2007 to oversee North Korea's economic policies and has spent the past few years trying to root out a nascent market economy. "Right now, North Korean officials are busy blaming each other for the failed currency reform and Pak, who spearheaded the revaluation, is believed...