In North Korea, angry crowds and rising prices spur power plays

The mounting shortages evoke memories of the famine of the 1990s, in which 2 million people are estimated to have died from starvation and disease. Daily NK, another organization here that puts out reports based on source inside North Korea, reported “an explosion in the number of casualties resulting from popular resentment at harsh regulations of market activities.”

Among signs of restiveness, said Daily NK, were attacks on government security agents attempting to crack down on smuggling food and selling it on open markets. One agent reportedly was shot and critically wounded after a protester grabbed his gun – a level of protest almost unheard of in the North’s tightly controlled system.

Daily NK also reported the easing of regulations in two provinces at the beginning of February – and stabilization of prices in those areas. The real significance, however, was not clear.

“We’re not sure if it’s removal of the crackdown or just local behavior,” says Mr. Ha.

In any case, loosening of rules is not believed likely to undo the underlying problem of a country that does not have enough food, or money, to care for its people.
“It’s too late to give up currency reform,” says Choi Won-ki. “They have tried to control markets for too many years.

Pak himself is believed to have been responsible for reasserting stringent controls several years ago after a brief flirtation with increasingly open markets – and then strengthening controls in early December as free-enterprising merchants again seemed to pose a threat to the regime.

'Bureau 39' chief dismissed

With his disappearance have come reports of the dismissal of the chief of the notorious Bureau 39, a powerful financial sub-agency that deals in everything from counterfeit currency and narcotics to the export of missiles and the import of materiel for weapons of mass destruction.

Pak was believed to have overall control of Bureau 39, whose chief, Kim Dong-un, was reported by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency to have been replaced.

“In the tradition of dictatorial regimes worldwide, scapegoats have apparently also been chosen,” said Daily NK, noting that Pak may face draconian punishment. The agriculture minister during the famine of the 1990s was executed, while the premier at the time was sent off to a state enterprise far from Pyongyang.

The real question is the likely impact of the power struggle in Pyongyang on the rule of Mr. Kim. Analysts believe Kim and his youngest son initiated the reform – and see the dismissal of top finance officials as a reflection on their influence.

“They say there is an advocacy group who favors the succession of Kim Jong-un, and there are those who do not favor it,” says Open Radio's Ha. “And there are those who favor currency reform and those who do not. They hate each other.”

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