20 million North Koreans rely on market economy

SEOUL: More than 80 percent of North Koreans now rely on the market economy to feed themselves as the impoverished communist state's official rationing system shrinks, a report said Tuesday. Chosun Ilbo newspaper, citing a senior Seoul official, said about 83 percent of the North's 24 million people shop at private markets after the state distribution system became increasingly unreliable or stopped altogether. Only four million people, including those living in the capital Pyongyang, get regular food handouts from the government, it said. Private markets began springing up in the 1990s after the state rationing system started to collapse during years of famine. The ruling regime, fearful of losing its grip over the economy, has made sporadic attempts to curb them. But a botched attempt in 2009 to revalue the currency pushed up prices, worsened already severe food shortages and sparked rare public unrest. Market controls were relaxed in the aftermath of the revaluation. "The North's government, wary of possible riots, has no choice but to turn a blind eye to the markets," said the official, quoted by Chosun. The private markets "have now become major, semi-legalised parts of the North's economy," said Professor Yang Moon-Soo of Seoul's University of North Korean Studies. "The marketplace economy will keep thriving unless there is a dramatic change in the country," he told AFP. China, the North's sole major ally, has urged it to adopt Chinese-style free-market reforms.