N.Korea's Currency Reform Could End in Chaos
January 4, 2010
The North Korean military is on alert for a possible civil uprising following last week's sudden currency reform, according to a Russian business newspaper citing foreign diplomats in the communist country. The currency reform involved the exchange of only limited amounts of old bills at a rate of 100:1, with the state confiscating the remainder. People who are afraid of exposing the size of their wealth have no choice but to hide their old bills. It is difficult to ascertain the actual circumstances, but it is apparent the North Korean regime is virtually stealing money equivalent to two or three months' wages for the average worker. And public discontent is rising to the degree that the regime had to order the military on standby to quell riots.
The currency reform may seem illogical, but it appears to follow careful political considerations. Ever since the regime became unable to feed its own people, a primitive form of the market economy in the form of open-air markets emerged everywhere as North Koreans struggled to stay alive. A certain group of North Koreans were able to amass a little wealth that way, and when the gap between rich and poor began to widen in a country where such differences are acutely visible, the regime probably began to view them as a threat to the system.
In other words, the currency revaluation was probably aimed at destroying the middle class before it swells any further and becomes a real threat...
Continues: http://english.chosun.com/site/data/...120700659.html
SOURCE: http://solari.com/blog/