North Korean state-run grain shops near the Chinese border have begun accepting foreign currency for food purchases, despite official restrictions on foreign currency use.
This policy has sparked discontent among locals, as the government simultaneously cracks down on foreign currency use by the general public, according to a source in North Hamgyong province recently.
Some grain shops intermittently accepted foreign currency from the public before, but recently, they have shown a much stronger preference for foreign currency than local money.
North Korean authorities ban the public from using foreign currency, slapping criminal punishments on people caught using it. Therefore, people are highly displeased that state-run grain shops accept foreign currency.
“Just a few days ago in Hoeryong, the police arrested a money changer and a person who was changing foreign currency into local money and sent them to a forced labor camp,” the source said. “The money was confiscated, and the people got to spend time in a forced labor camp.”
In markets, businesspeople have often had to bribe enforcement personnel to get their cash back after getting caught secretly accepting foreign currency as payment.
However, the open acceptance of foreign currency payments at the shops has earned public ire. This suggests the authorities want to secure foreign currency, which is in short supply, but the policy contradiction is causing public chaos.
“The authorities are cracking down, so you can’t use foreign currency even if you have it, but the grain stores openly ask you to pay in Chinese money or dollars if you have it,” the source said. “That’s why people are complaining that they don’t know what to make of it.”
Foreign currency is also accepted at state-run grain stores in Hyesan, Ryanggang province. The authorities are cracking down on individuals who use foreign currency for food purchases, but some of the grain shops in Hyesan prefer to use the yuan or other foreign currencies instead of local money when they sell food products to the public.
“Public dissatisfaction with the government’s crackdown on the use of foreign currency is growing. This is because grain stores are forcing people to spend foreign currency while the government is policing the public so that they can’t use Chinese money,” said a source in Ryanggang province. “In the past, people would have simply ignored it as absurd. But now that the authorities are cracking down harder than ever on private use of foreign currency, people are really unhappy.”
“With the exchange rate souring every day for the past couple of money, more and more people want to hold foreign currency, so everyone is trying to have a little bit on them, even if it’s a small amount,” the source said. “Since the second half of the year, most transactions have been in yuan, because merchants also prefer foreign currency to local money.”
Daily NK works with a network of sources in North Korea, China, and elsewhere. For security reasons, their identities remain anonymous.
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December 05, 2024 at 12:00PM
by DailyNK(North Korean Media)