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V12 2009 INDEX       E-SYLUM ARCHIVE

The E-Sylum: Volume 12, Number 49, December 6, 2009, Article 16

ANGRY NORTH KOREANS BURN BANKNOTES IN PROTEST

Loren Gatch writes:

To curb unauthorized market activity, the North Korean government has forced a revaluation of the currency, lopping off two zeros from old denominations and limiting the ability of people to change old money supplies for the new notes.

The effect will be to sharply reduce the money supply, effectively confiscating the balances of black market traders.

The things you can do when you run a dictatorship! Gorbachev pulled off something similar in Russia in 1991.

Loren referenced a New York Times article (http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/business/global/02korea.html), but here's another one with an interesting twist. -Editor

2009 North Korean banknotes People in North Korea have been setting fire to old notes of the national currency, the won, a report says.

The Daily NK website said people had been burning piles of old bills in anger over the government's reported redenomination of the currency. The move is said to have knocked two zeros off the nominal value of each banknote, although Pyongyang has not confirmed the action. An image of the new notes has appeared in the Japan-based Choson Sinbo paper.

North Korea's official media has kept quiet over any reform of the currency, but newspapers based in South Korea and Japan have said that the government informed citizens and foreign embassies of the move on Monday.

To read the complete article, see: North Korea currency reform sparks anger (news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8395268.stm)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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