North Korea Has Lifted All Restrictions On Private Markets

N. Korea Lifts Ban On Private Markets To Prevent Famine -- Washington Post

SEOUL -- Bowing to reality, the North Korean government has lifted all restrictions on private markets -- a last-resort option for a leadership desperate to prevent its people from starving.

In recent weeks, according to North Korea observers and defector groups with sources in the country, Kim Jong Il's government admitted its inability to solve the current food shortage and encouraged its people to rely on private markets for the purchase of goods. Though the policy reversal will not alter daily patterns -- North Koreans have depended on such markets for more than 15 years -- the latest order from Pyongyang abandons a key pillar of a central, planned economy.

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My Comment: North Korea is on the verge of famine .... with only a few months left in the growing season they had no choice but to capitulate, or face the wrath of a starving population this winter.

What is my take .... this is a significant admission from North Korea that communist dogma is a failure .... it also reveals to me that the North Korean government views (and fears) that their own hold on the country is now becoming very fragile.