North Korea---Revolution through Market Activities???

Kim Yong Ill is trying to tamp down on the "informal" economy in North Korea.  Informal economies (we might use the term "black markets") are those that exist outside of offically sanctioned economic activities.  Informal markets are very prevelent in countries that have command and control type policies towards the economy. 

North Korean leader Kim Jong Il moved early this month to wipe out much of the wealth earned in the past decade in his country's private markets....the kind of command that for more than six decades has been obeyed without question in North Korea. But this time, in a highly unusual challenge to Kim's near-absolute authority, the markets and the people who depend on them pushed back...The change is driven by private markets that now feed and employ half the country's 23.5 million people, and appear to have grown too big and too important to be crushed, even by a leader who loathes them. (Italics mine)

We must not forget the power of markets to change the lives of ordinary people who live under repressive regimes or live in places that do not respect and encourage people to do for themselves to make their lives better.

But capitalism seems to have already taken root. U.N. officials estimate that half the calories consumed in North Korea come from food bought in private markets, and that nearly 80 percent of household income derives from buying and selling in the markets,

Cheers to the people of North Korea who defy their dictator and work everyday to evolve a system to take care of their needs and want.

(source article HERE and idea from Carpe Diem)