North Korea’s economy defies easy categorization — a nominally socialist system hollowed out by decades of mismanagement and sanctions, sustained by a sprawling informal market economy that the regime alternately tolerates and suppresses. Daily NK covers the North Korea economy through ground-level price tracking, foreign currency monitoring, reporting on economic policy directives, and analysis of how ordinary North Koreans navigate an environment of chronic scarcity and institutional dysfunction. Our market data — collected through a network of in-country sources — provides economic intelligence on the DPRK unavailable anywhere else in English.
Tag: economy
Grain stores scramble the math on North Korea’s rice prices
For decades, the price of a kilogram of rice at the market has served as the single most important gauge of North Korea’s economy....
Farm workers drop rice bundles to steal grain
North Korean farm workers are siphoning off grain during the 2026 fall harvest by secretly dropping rice bundles on the way to threshing grounds....
Kimchi shortage exposes farm policy flaws
A poor 2026 harvest of radishes and napa cabbage is set to cause a kimchi shortage in parts of North Korea this winter. The...
North Korean women spend on leisure amid currency fears
Small groups of North Korean women with a little money to spare are embracing domestic tourism this fall. Leisure trips of this kind were...
North Korean rice prices top 50,000 won for first time
Rice prices in North Korean markets topped 50,000 North Korean won per kilogram for the first time in late October 2026. The record comes...
For some North Koreans, harvest duty becomes a picnic
North Korea’s 2026 fall harvest mobilization looks very different depending on where people work. At some well-funded state agencies and enterprises in South Pyongan...
Farm workers balk as Pyongyang pushes electronic payment cards
North Korean authorities are pressing South Pyongan province farm workers to load their savings onto electronic payment cards, saying the cashless shift will prevent...
How Kim Jong Un’s state is taming trade outside North Korea’s...
Where do North Koreans buy their food and daily necessities in 2026? Most still go to the general markets that have anchored the country’s...
Rice prices climb again in North Korea as fresh corn drives...
Rice prices in North Korean markets turned upward again in early October 2026, even as corn prices kept falling. The split shows how slowly...
Yuan loses ground against dollar as North Korean market prices keep...
Market prices in North Korea fell for a fourth consecutive week in late September 2026, as a fresh corn harvest and easing exchange rates...
