The latest from the land of the disappearing currency:
North Korea reportedly plans to ban foreigners from the country from Sunday until early February, apparently to allow unrest caused by this month's shock currency reform to die down.
Ju Sang-song, the minister of People's Security, is in China, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency, though it gave no reason for his visit. The trip by the North's top internal security official may aim to seek cooperation from Beijing in preventing a mass exodus of North Korean middle class citizens angry over the devaluation of their savings.
This follows yesterday's news of summary executions in response to the widespread protests, as the government hastily tries to reassert control:
North Korean authorities are apparently trying to placate people outraged at a shock currency reform announced on Dec. 1, raising the maximum amount of old bills that can be exchanged into new ones, sources in North Korea said on Monday. The decision follows reports of market riots in response to skyrocketing commodity prices that caught authorities on the back foot....
The announcements came after rioting by market traders in the Hamhung region was reported on Dec. 5-6 amid sympathy from ordinary people, sources said. The riot was apparently of such proportion that 12 "masterminds" were summarily executed, with authorities on heightened alert for mass defections, suspending issuance of border passes and reinforcing border guards.
See also this report (via), which warns of a disastrous winter ahead, after the worst harvest for years:
North Korea's beleaguered people are used to running on empty. But a silent catastrophe that is looming in the secretive dictatorship may push the poorest beyond the point of no return.
A sudden revaluation has left the currency worthless, threatening collapse of the fragile food market.
"This could start widespread starvation deaths in the hungry season, after the last harvest runs out," said Andrew Natsios of Georgetown University, author of The Great North Korean Famine. "There are a number of alarming things happening at once, and people may not be able to cope." [...]
The move undermined many of the private markets, which had been a runaway success, selling not only food but South Korean items such as videos that are banned by the authoritarian regime.
It may also be an effort to claw back the Communist government's control over the economy, before leader Kim Jong-il – in doubtful health after an apparent stroke in August 2008 – relinquishes power. But the currency shock comes at a critical time for North Korea's hungry people.
"It's the worst harvest since the mid 1990s," said Natsios. "And all the estimates say there will be a doubling of food prices over the next year, including rice, which is North Korea's staple food."
There is also a cut-off of cross-border trade with China, which has its own food production problems. And South Korea has halted a program that supplied fertilizer to Pyongyang.
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