North Korea officially operates as a planned economy, where the government controls most aspects of production, distribution, and pricing. However, due to the insufficient supply of assets since the collapse of a state ration system in the 1990s, North Korea’s local market “Jangmadang” has been a significant source of food and other necessities. More than 72% of defectors who arrived between 2016 and 2020 said they never received government food rations in North Korea.

*North Korea's chronic food insecurity is the product of decades of economic mismanagement and the internal and external policies of the incumbent political regime (38north)

Despite its illegalness, such marketplaces sprung up across North Korea, being known as “the asset for North Korean women with their blood and sweat to protect their lives.”

"North Korea is a place where the rich, who are active in the market are punished. But the market is a place where it cannot operate without money, and the rich are considered criminals and taken to prison," said Kim Ji-young, the North Korean defector in the event hosted by the non-profit Defense Forum Foundation.

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Sadie Kim (rkim2025@chadwickschool.org)

However, Jangmadang has apparently been a concern for North Korean leader Kim Jong-un as it is being operated as a mixed market, opposing the central system of the government. Citizens are being awakened to new ways of life while experiencing new cultures through smuggled videos and other products.