You have commented 339 times on Rantburg.

Your Name
Your e-mail (optional)
Website (optional)
My Original Nic        Pic-a-Nic        Sorry. Comments have been closed on this article.
Bold Italic Underline Strike Bullet Blockquote Small Big Link Squish Foto Photo
Submit your comments on this article
China-Japan-Koreas
Nork Troops 'Ready to Shoot' After Currency Reform
2009-12-07
The North Korean Army is on standby and ready to quell any protests against last week's drastic currency reform, Russian business daily Kommersant last Friday quoted diplomatic sources in North Korea as saying. The sources said authorities had ordered the Army to stand by as outrage grew in cities across the North, with critics describing the reform as daylight robbery.

North Koreans are panicking as all shops were ordered closed during the currency reform period and they can no longer use any money they have saved up. Foreign diplomats are meeting with North Korean authorities in efforts to persuade them to reverse the reform, the sources added. The North last week revalued the won at a rate of 100:1.

According to sources in the North, the National Defense Committee has ordered guards on the border with China to shoot at will at anyone who crosses without permission. This is seen as an attempt to thwart defections by people disgruntled by the currency reform.
The guards are likely to be little better off, and little better fed, than the people trying to defect. At what point do they refuse to shoot their own people?
The sources said there could be a mass defection of middle-class North Koreans who have suddenly been deprived of their money. One South Korean intelligence officer said, "We don't have any information that there'll be a riot or a mass defection, but since North Koreans have never so far taken collective action, they are more likely to choose defection if the situation gets worse."

The Ministry of Public Security has been on emergency alert after old 5,000-won bills carrying the image of Kim Il-sung were found torn or damaged on piles of garbage in Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province, Hamhung, South Hamgyong Province, and Pyongsong, South Pyongan Province. Graffiti and leaflets criticizing North Korean leader Kim Jong-il have also started to appear, the sources added. North Koreans are reportedly reluctant to replace old bills with new ones as a gesture of protest against the currency reform.
It's going to generate hyperinflation in North Korea: now traders and other street-level business types understand that they can't hold any large amount of Nork currency since the government can always spring another sudden 'reform' and make their holdings worthless. They'll try instead to hold Chinese, Japanese or South Korean currency to the extent they can get it. That puts a lot of pressure on the Nork won and makes their economy even more difficult to sustain.
The authorities have apparently caved in to some extent by raising the maximum amount of old bills that can be exchanged from 100,000 won per household to 150,000.
Josh Stanton at OneFreeKorea notes the anger of the North Korean people has never been higher than now.
Posted by:Steve White

#6  Interesting concept, Mojo.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2009-12-07 17:35  

#5  Yep. Excellent plan.

Mess with our money, will ya? You thought your "super bills" were sooooo smart...

How ya like our air-drops of millions of "new Won", bubela?
Posted by: mojo   2009-12-07 17:31  

#4  From OneFreeKorea:

If North Korea had an organized opposition, and if that opposition was prepared to continue the currency exchange program without limits and with counterfeit versions of the new North Korean currency, that opposition would make itself very popular over the course of this coming winter. IÂ’m just saying Â….

Heh!
Posted by: CrazyFool   2009-12-07 14:22  

#3  100:1 for the first 100,000

After that, it's 1000:1

Enjoy.
Posted by: mojo   2009-12-07 12:56  

#2  The North last week revalued the won at a rate of 100:1.

Had they had more time they could have devalued at a rate of 100:1 via our own annual inflation model, ie, over a 30-35 year period. Of course when our time comes our annual inflation old model will go out the window, banks and shops will close, and the guns will be pointed at us as well.
Posted by: Besoeker   2009-12-07 04:53  

#1  Wow, it's like a news item from USA 2011 after Goldman Sachs gets done with us.
Posted by: gromky   2009-12-07 01:23  

00:00