Capitalism Works!

Image from below cited article, with caption: A hair salon at the Hungnam Fertilizer Complex this month in Hamhung, North Korea

"Some residents pay fees to be exempt from showing up to their official state-assigned jobs, which offer paltry salaries. They then make money in the informal market economy, and hand over a portion to their official job’s manager, who doesn’t report their absence to higher officials, according to former residents and researchers.

One North Korean escapee who left the country in 2017 said he made a living by setting aside some shrimp and fish he caught while working at a seafood company to sell through the black market. Other families he knew made shoe soles and sold them to other families that made shoe tops.

'It’s all capitalism there now,' he said of North Korea."

--Eun-Young Jeong and Dasl Yoon, "The New Look of North Korea’s Economy: ‘It’s All Capitalism There Now’," The Wall Street Journal, Feb. 25, 2019