Posted on 06/26/2010 6:18:29 PM PDT by TigerLikesRooster
North Koreans Shun New Won
2010-06-23
The national currency hasn't yet collapsed because there's so little of it circulating, North Koreans say.
| Images released by Chosun Sinbo, a pro-North Korean newspaper in Japan, show the front and back of the newly issued North Korean 5,000, 2,000, and 1,000 won bills, Dec. 4, 2009. |
SEOUL—North Koreans who can afford to save their money are ignoring a new currency brought in by the ruling Workers' Party in the isolated Stalinist state in favor of the more trusted renminbi yuan from China.
"Our [North Korean] money is now called ‘the commoners’ currency,’ used only as a means of exchange when goods are purchased, but not as a means of saving," a resident of Chungjin city in the northern province of Hamgyeong said.
"North Koreans [still] hold their savings in Chinese money," the resident said.
On the country's black markets—the chief source of essential goods for many under a planned economy in which products are scarce and often monopolized by the country's elite—any buyer offering to pay in yuan can expect a large discount, residents say.
"Nowadays even children look for Chinese money, knowing that a hefty discount may be available if Chinese money is used in an exchange," another source said, speaking during a visit to relatives in the northeastern Chinese city of Dandong, which borders North Korea.
The renminbi—known in North Korea simply as "B"—is strongly preferred to the local currency, as it can buy anything, the second source added.
Purported crackdown
North Korean authorities including the state security department claim to be cracking down on the use of the yuan for transactions, he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at rfa.org ...
P!
Bump
communist paradise
Just wait until the US Dollar is made non-controvertible. Maybe we will be scrambling to get renminbi as well.
The people are demonstrating that their DPRK experience TEACHES them something; the old currency they trusted was deemed old currency, and because they had saved in that old currency they lost their wealth.
Via shunning the new currency they are stating, “We know you, the authorities, could easily do the same unpleasant thing to us as before, and we do not wish to again have our savings suddenly go to zero...”
So of course, lone wolf by lone wolf, they are more or less veto’ing the new currency.
Don’t you wonder how long this horrible place can survive? It’s amazing to me that it hasn’t collapsed yet.
It’s survived for over 60 years. The kindest thing we could do is nuke the entire country until there’s nothing left twitching. In a couple of decades the SK’s could move in and build some decent golf courses.
Ouchie! You have the same sense of humor as my husband and sons.
Socialism has never been an economic system.
It is entirely a political system, with but one consequence - suffering and eventual death.
You have my most profound sympathies.
You have my most profound sympathies.
I wonder how many of the North Korean counterfeit $100 bills it would take to buy 5000 New Won?
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