Rice and corn prices hit record highs in North Korean markets
Rice and corn prices in North Korean markets have surged to record highs in June 2026, deepening food shortages as growing numbers of rural...
North Koreans skip state mobilization to run private gold operations from their homes
North Korean people living near gold mines in North Pyongan province have converted their homes into makeshift processing operations, crushing and washing ore to...
North Korean farms grind to a halt as fuel shortages cripple rice planting season
Fuel shortages are forcing North Korean farms to abandon mechanized equipment during the critical rice transplanting season, with workers left to haul seedlings by...
North Koreans credit rice price stability, but quality and affordability remain concerns
More than five years after North Korea's state-run grain stores were introduced, North Korean people say the outlets are operating more smoothly than in...
High school students in North Korea rack up bank debt via mobile phones, alarming...
North Korean high school students are taking out bank loans through their mobile phones without their parents' knowledge, spending the money on smartphone games...
Solar power touted as fix for North Korea’s electricity crisis, but few can afford...
North Korean authorities are actively encouraging state institutions, enterprises, and neighborhood watch units to generate their own electricity through solar power as the country's...
North Korea’s donju hand over rice and cash to the state — and call...
North Korean authorities are pressuring wealthy private traders known as donju — loosely translated as "masters of money," referring to a class of entrepreneurs...
Mass livestock deaths at Kim Jong Un’s model farm trigger political crisis in Kangwon...
Hundreds of pigs, goats, and rabbits have died at a state breeding farm in North Korea's Sepho district, and authorities have dispatched a high-level...
Young North Koreans turn to flexible 8·3 labor as state wages fail to cover...
Young workers in North Korea are increasingly using a practice known as "8·3 labor" — paying a fee to their state-assigned workplace in exchange...
North Korea grain prices fall across markets as imported supply increases
Grain prices at North Korean markets fell across the board in late May 2026, reversing a sustained period of increases, according to Daily NK's...
