| Publication |
2010.
|
| Summary/Abstract |
On July 1, 2002, North Korea implemented aggressive measures to ride out the economic hardship by increasing salaries and prices and providing its state-run enterprises with some incentives. As observed, the measures brought economic turmoil rather than prosperity. Intrinsically, North Korea has been hostile toward marketoriented reform. However, with the consistent economic difficulties, the tight grip of the present government is in fact gradually loosening; corruption seems to be out of control and private business is starting to prevail.
It is still arguable that the expansion of markets and emerging entrepreneurship has fundamentally altered the skewed North Korean economy. However, the repressive stance taken by the North Korean government does not allow its citizens to engage in independent economic activities that might compromise the stability of the regime. Without a further reform, it seems unlikely that the North Korean economy can make any meaningful progress in the near future.
|