Shenanigans Abroad: N. Korea's "Revaluation"

To call the revaluation of currency in North Korea a shenanigan would be a severe understatement. In an attempted to quickly fight inflation the government has declared that all 10,000 won bills must be exchanged for the new 10 won bill by the Saturday deadline. Ok, I'll get my cash and swap it no problem.

It gets a little stickier, there has also been a limit placed on the amount of money that may be converted. Originally set at 100,000 won, people took to the streets, and since the limit has been raised to 150,000 won.

Took to the streets you say... 150,000 sounds like a lot. Take your 150,000 won in walk out with 15 won, everyone's happy with their roughly $130 US, maybe they can find a nice shed to live in somewhere.

The terribly nervous laughter comes about when you break down the social system in order to determine who will really be affected in the end:

• Wealthy Traders - Typically deal in the Chinese yuan or US dollars.
• The Poor - In N. Korea these folks are POOR and I mean POOR so it doens't matter much to them either.
• The Large Middle Class

Apparantely, the middle class men are required to work for the state for no pay leaving woman earn the bread in the private markets, which works out since North Korean law restricts private market trading to middle-aged women and younger women with children.

The private markets are the chief way for millions to get by in the face of state failure. The regime of Kim Jong Il views the markets as an erosion of state authority. It has sent huge numbers of private traders to prison camps, mainly those who cannot bribe their way out. And it is attempting to re-establish the public distribution system for food staples that broke down during and after the terrible famine of the mid-1990s. In short, Mr Kim's men want to reassert a Stalinist state. - Banyan, Ecomonist

Shenanigans!

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