Wages in North Korea have increased 20-fold!
"The most surprising economic success story in the world."
On June 10 (local time), The Wall Street Journal published an article referring to North Korea as "the most surprising economic success story in the world."
North Korean wages have risen 20 times.
Is it a miracle? No, it's fascinating.
Despite prolonged international sanctions, North Korea’s economy has defied the odds, achieving a GDP growth rate of 3.7% in 2024—the highest in eight years—with notable increases in industrial and mining output.
The urban landscape of Pyongyang has changed dramatically, with a significant number of new residential buildings constructed, nighttime luminosity greatly enhanced, and new consumer business models gradually spreading.
This economic revival is primarily driven by three key forces: first, cooperation with Russia has brought substantial foreign exchange, energy supplies, and construction materials; second, improved border trade with China has helped fill critical supply gaps; third, diversified trading methods have enabled circumvention of sanctions, allowing concentrated resource allocation toward core industries in key regions.
However, this growth has clear shortcomings: development resources are heavily concentrated in Pyongyang, while living conditions in remote areas have seen limited improvement, and many citizens still face issues of nutritional deficiency.
Meanwhile, the economy remains highly dependent on external factors, its overall scale is relatively small, and future development continues to be influenced by geopolitical tensions and external conditions.
The publication also points out that, in fact, over the past two to three years, North Korea has experienced extremely high inflation and depreciation of its domestic currency.
Specifically, according to data from the Institute for National Security Strategy, as of the first quarter of this year, the price trends of major daily necessities were strikingly similar: rice +251.5%, corn +145.9%, pork +253.3%, gasoline +272.1%, diesel +282.3%.
The primary cause behind this situation is the sharp increase in money supply in North Korea, driven by a nominal wage surge of 10 to 40 times (averaging 20 times) between late 2023 and 2024, along with massive government spending during large-scale national projects.
These factors triggered a chain reaction of increased speculative demand for foreign currencies and food, further "fueling" inflation.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1867658182641672/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author(s) alone.