Some N. Korean Officials Take on 2 Jobs

By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter

In the wake of North Korea allowing its people to buy and sell products at markets again in February, some money-smart workers in the public sector are working day and night to make more cash, according to a news outlet.

This signals the resurgence of wholesalers there, said the Daily NK, run by a group of North Korean refugees in South Korea.

North Korea watchers observed that the new merchant class was the major target the authorities attempted to control through the currency reform last November.

The Daily NK reported Friday that some government officials work in the office during daytime, but become small wholesalers at night.

Officially, North Korean government employees are not allowed to sell products or undertake profit-making activities.

But, the report said, some of them play a facilitating role in ``a market economy'' as middlemen. They purchase products from nearby state-run factories and re-sell them to small wholesalers.

The latter, who are called ``Mr. or Ms. Runner'' because they travel from one city to another across country in search of higher profits, sell what they bought from the government employees to market vendors who directly deal with consumers.

The items they deal in include personal belongings acquired as bribes from others.

The report said there is another type of wholesaler who purchase products directly from government offices dealing with foreign trade and re-sells them to runners.

Included in the wholesalers are Chinese-North Koreans, Japanese-North Koreans and family members or relatives of those who are involved in trade with foreign nations.

North Korea experts said the state distribution system stopped in the North from the mid-1990s. A large portion of its population had made ends meet through trade before the currency revaluation last November.

After Pyongyang adopted a set of measures for economic reform on July 1, 2003 following the worsening food situation, the number of wholesalers soared.

The spreading market economy there was considered a threat to the communist regime.

North Korea authorities attempted to control the new merchant class with the currency reevaluation.

The North directed its residents to turn in a limited number of old bills in exchange for new currency. The measure caused soaring prices, making it more difficult for North Koreans to make ends meet.

Feeling pressure for the worsening food situation and growing public discontent, the North reopened hundreds of markets three months later.

The Daily NK said reopening markets helped curtail soaring rice prices. Rice prices have dropped from 1,300 won per kilogram at their highest level to 600 won.

hkang@koreatimes.co.kr

북한에도 `투잡족’

북한 당국이 2월부터 시장에서 물건을 사고 파는 것을 허용하면서 더 많은 돈을 벌기 위해 밤낮으로 일하는 관료들이 늘어난 것으로 알려지고 있다.

북한 관측통들은 북한정부가 지난 11월 화폐개혁을 통해 통제하려던 대상이 바로 새롭게 부상한 상인 계급이라고 설명한다.

데일리NK 신문은 북한 정부 관료들 중 일부는 낮에는 정부기관에서 일하고, 밤에는 상행위를 한다고 전했다. 북한 정부 관료들은 물건을 팔거나 이익을 내는 행위가 공식적으로 금지되어 있다.

이 신문은 이러한 행위가 사실상 “시장 경제”의 중간 역할을 한다고 전했다. 이들은 정부 운영 공장에서 물건을 사, 그것을 도소매상에 팔고 있다. 또 정부 기관으로부터 직접 산 물건을 외국 상인에게 되파는 경우도 있다.

북한 전문가들은 1990년대 중반부터 북한의 분배 시스템이 붕괴되면서 화폐개혁 전까지 대부분의 사람들이 이러한 거래를 통해 생계를 유지한 것으로 분석한다. 북한 정부는 이러한 새 상인 계급을 화폐 개혁을 통해 통제하려 했으나, 이것이 물가 폭등을 일으켜 3개월 후 다시 100 여 개의 시장을 열도록 허용했다.

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