On the 14th, South Korean Minister of Unification, Kim Young Ho announced that “North Korea’s socialist distribution system has collapsed, and corruption is worsening.”
During the People Power Party’s general meeting in the National Assembly on the 14th morning, he shared the North Korean Economic and Social Status Perception Report published last February. The report was compiled from in-depth interviews with 6,351 defectors.
He explained, “As most North Korean residents don’t have a stable job and have to go to the market to make a living, internal marketization is accelerating,” and “It has been confirmed that there are more than 7 million mobile phones, about 36% of North Korean residents.”
According to Kim, North Korean residents are sharing information using phones and watching Korean dramas, which is highly illegal.
Kim also stated, “Over 50% of defectors have experienced direct corruption such as bribes when they were in North Korea,” and that corruption is inevitable in North Korea.
He mentioned that with the increase in marketization and the availability of information, North Koreans’ perspectives are shifting from collectivism to individualism, which seems to be deepening their distrust of the regime.
“The recent change in North Korea’s unification policy towards the South is a measure to maintain the regime and to keep the socialist structure,” he added.
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