Page 7 - Consumer Class News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

It's actually good. after lunch, more shopping. all the art in north korea is state sanctioned, which means a lot of landscapes and plenty of siberian tyingers, considered an unofficial national symbol. pyongyang has a growing consumer class and for them living standards are improving under kim jong-un. the north korean economy grew by almost 4% in 2016, according to south korean central bank estimates. which means people have more ways to enjoy their rare time off, like this group of factory workers, having a picnic and singing karaoke. they're happy to share their meal with us and seem even

That are going to continue? >> reporter: from the north korean perspective and what they've reiterated to me all of this past year including last week, no, jim. they are not afraid of sanctions. when i even asked in pyongyang if china were to cut off that country economically, completely cut them off, they acknowledged it would be painfula growing consumer class in the north korean capital. see chinese goods and gasoline, oil comes from china. and they've acknowledged it would be very difficult. certainly cut into their standard of listening but point out they've survived much worse in north ...

Significant because i can tell you, i've taken many, many flights and you see televisions and large cargo boxes and even plants and a lot of different electronics that are brought into the country on those planes. you see people in north korea wearing nike sneakers and asics track suits. those are brought in. that's fashion that is brought in from china. a lot of it bright in on those trains and also on those trucks and trains. so if china does crack down on trade the way they're saying they might do, it could have a significant dent in the quality of life for north korea's consumer class, the...

Economy and spending more and consuming more. and it's very difficult to get your population to invest more in your future when you've just lost 25% of the value of the stock exchanges. people who have, moreover, very little belief in the long-term strength and well-being of your economy. so the challenge for them is how do you navigate this basket of reforms which you know long term are probably necessary for the country but short term you have a messaging problem. that is, how do you convince the consumer class in china, which soon will be the largest consumer class the world has ever known,...

China which soon will be the largest consumer class the world has known. they need to spend and invest more at a time when all of the indicators would suggest it's not a smart thing to do. >> i have to ask you, you must be watching this republican primary with interest and amusement. you have been through this before. what was your reaction to the debate? what did you think about well? >> amusement to be sure. there is a bit of entertainment value here. i have to say that for all of the negative commentary that the republican bench is deep. it's well-populated and the candidates believe in big...