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Winter is typically a volatile time in North Korea, which struggles with chronic food shortages. What makes this year especially concerning, say analysts who follow North Korea, is the country’s closure of its borders since early 2020, even with critical trading partner China.
In normal economies, currencies weaken in times of difficulty, but something counter-intuitive is happening in North Korea: the won is surging just as things are getting worse.
The North Korean won has jumped 25% against the dollar this year, calculated on a monthly average basis using the numbers reported by the two media organizations that track it.
Despite sanctions, trade hits, floods, and food shortages, the won has surged 25% against the US dollar this year.
It has been a year and a half since the Kim Jong-un regime closed the border with China to prevent