Wednesday, October 02, 2002
I've meaning to post more on the recent reforms in the DPRK but haven't had the time. To briefly re-cap, wage and price reforms appear to be leading to dramatically higher rice prices . The announcement of the proposed creation of a Special Economic Zone in Sinuiju has attracted the attention of GE but many express doubts about the project and the proposed particpation of the shadowy Dutch/Chinese businessman Yang Bin. It is hard to know what to make of all of this. Making historical parallels is always dangerous but the combination of economic reform and the growing refugee problem both seem to echo the USSR and Eastern Europe in the late 1980's. Is the end of the DPRK in sight? Too soon to tell but I would venture that it is closer now than it was a few years ago (how's that for uselessly vague prognostication?)
