Introduction

Upon entering the mid-1990s, North Korea’s resource distribution mechanism separated into two sectors; planned and market. And by early-2000s, the regime succeeded in stabilizing this new dual structure through its recognition of the market transaction of consumer and certain production goods. The growth in such transactions has generated data on the prices of items being traded in North Korean markets via Chinese merchants, North Korean defectors, and other information sources.1 The changes in market prices do not represent the overall North Korean economy. However, they can be used as indicators for the conditions in the supply and demand of items related to household consumption, because the public rationing system has yet to be fully resorted.

Accordingly, this study analyzes the recent trends in North Korean market’s prices and exchange rate using data on market goods as published in the Korea Rural Economic Institute’s Quarterly Agricultural Trends in North Korea and Daily NK’s ‘Trends in North Korea’s Jangmadang.’ The analysis focuses on the market prices of food and beverage, and the market exchange rate between the US dollar and North Korean won and that between the North Korean won and Chinese yuan.

* This article is part of 2019 The DPRK Economic Outlook

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