North Korea's economy and the standard of living of ordinary people seem to have improved, according to the U.S. Congressional Research Service.
| From 'torpid' to 'languishing'... |
"Since early 2015, reports have trickled in about modest economic growth in North Korea," the CRS said in a recent report. "A series of tentative economic reforms announced in 2014 appear, according to some sources, to have lifted the living standard for a portion of ordinary North Koreans."
"The reforms, which appear to apply market principles to some sectors of North Korean business and agriculture, have created opportunities for economic growth in the impoverished country," it adds.
The situation has improved considerably as managers in the cities are allowed to set salaries and hire and fire workers, while farmers in rural areas are permitted to keep a larger portion of their harvests.
But the report adds, "Economists caution that these reforms are modest in scale and are far from irreversible, but they may be enough to lift North Korea's moribund economy from its low base."
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