North Korea Revalues Its Currency

North Korea has revalued its currency yesterday at a rate of 100 to 1, against the old notes. A further tragedy for the North Korean people is that the dictator Kim Jong Il’s Worker’s Party is only allowing people to change 150, 000 Won in cash and 300, 000 Won in savings accounts into the new currency. That means that people that have saved up more many will lose their savings. It is clear that the government wants to keep its people poor, as the poorer they are, the more dependent they are on the dictator government.According to South Korea’s Chosun Ilbo (as cited by AFP), a reason for this revaluation is to “tighten control over society before an eventual power transfer from leader Kim Jong-Il to his son Jong-Un.”

I would have thought that the South Korean expat blogosphere would be buzzing with thoughts about this, but to my surprise it doesn't seem to be newsworthy to my fellow expat bloggers at all. The only blog I've found so far to have mentioned it is Northeast Asia Matters: The Korean Peninsula. You can read the Northeast Asia Matters' update on the story here.