ID :
92811
Wed, 12/02/2009 - 18:20
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://oananews.org//node/92811
The shortlink copeid
N. Korea's official media silent about currency reform
By Kim Hyun
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea remained silent to the outside world over
its reportedly drastic currency revaluation while locally implementing the reform
through municipal propaganda channels, a local aid group with inside sources said
Wednesday.
North Korea's official media has yet to announce the currency revaluation that
reportedly took effect on Monday. In a second-hand confirmation, diplomatic
missions in South Korea said their counterparts in Pyongyang received an "oral
briefing" on the revaluation on Tuesday.
"North Korea is disseminating the news of its currency reform through 'Third
Broadcasting' to inform the residents," Lee Seung-yong, a lead staffer with Good
Friends, a Seoul-based aid group that has sources inside North Korea, said.
Third Broadcasting refers to a North Korean municipal network that disseminates
internal information for residents within individual towns or counties. Residents
listen to the broadcasts through speakers installed in homes, farms and public
buildings, with content involving mostly lectures praising the North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il, government notices and sometimes music and readings of
historic novels.
"Central broadcasts are not carrying the news, but the revaluation continues
being disseminated to the people," Lee said. "I don't know why they are not
making an announcement to the outside world."
The media's silence was in contrast to their usual custom of making an official
announcement on the day that past currency reforms took effect, with the latest
case in 1992.
North Korea sharply raised the value of its currency, with a 100 to 1 exchange
rate for new denominations, in an apparent bid to tackle inflation and curb free
market trading, according to various sources here and in China. A kilogram of
rice was set at 44 won at state-run markets in the North's 2002 economic reform,
but the price has now spiked to 2,500 won in free markets, according to Good
Friends.
Shops, public bathhouses and restaurants in the North were mostly closed, the aid
group said, and public anger has mounted over the sudden reform that rendered old
denominations into "useless paper overnight."
The aid group said the maximum amount of the new currency allowed for exchange
was limited to 100,000 won per household.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
SEOUL, Dec. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea remained silent to the outside world over
its reportedly drastic currency revaluation while locally implementing the reform
through municipal propaganda channels, a local aid group with inside sources said
Wednesday.
North Korea's official media has yet to announce the currency revaluation that
reportedly took effect on Monday. In a second-hand confirmation, diplomatic
missions in South Korea said their counterparts in Pyongyang received an "oral
briefing" on the revaluation on Tuesday.
"North Korea is disseminating the news of its currency reform through 'Third
Broadcasting' to inform the residents," Lee Seung-yong, a lead staffer with Good
Friends, a Seoul-based aid group that has sources inside North Korea, said.
Third Broadcasting refers to a North Korean municipal network that disseminates
internal information for residents within individual towns or counties. Residents
listen to the broadcasts through speakers installed in homes, farms and public
buildings, with content involving mostly lectures praising the North Korean
leader Kim Jong-il, government notices and sometimes music and readings of
historic novels.
"Central broadcasts are not carrying the news, but the revaluation continues
being disseminated to the people," Lee said. "I don't know why they are not
making an announcement to the outside world."
The media's silence was in contrast to their usual custom of making an official
announcement on the day that past currency reforms took effect, with the latest
case in 1992.
North Korea sharply raised the value of its currency, with a 100 to 1 exchange
rate for new denominations, in an apparent bid to tackle inflation and curb free
market trading, according to various sources here and in China. A kilogram of
rice was set at 44 won at state-run markets in the North's 2002 economic reform,
but the price has now spiked to 2,500 won in free markets, according to Good
Friends.
Shops, public bathhouses and restaurants in the North were mostly closed, the aid
group said, and public anger has mounted over the sudden reform that rendered old
denominations into "useless paper overnight."
The aid group said the maximum amount of the new currency allowed for exchange
was limited to 100,000 won per household.
hkim@yna.co.kr
(END)
