North Koreans seem to feel minimal or no impact from the recent economic sanctions, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reported Sunday, citing price data surveyed by Japan’s Asia Press.
According to the data, the price of 1 kg of rice is 5,000 North Korean won (3.70 euro) in North Hamkyung province, which is only a slight increase and indicates no major difference from the past.
Rice prices in other parts of the country remain relatively stable as well. In some parts, corn prices even dropped.
While many factors come into play in determining prices, the illegal and discriminatory international sanctions led by the United Nations against the regime since its fourth nuclear test in January ’16 are not having major effects, the RFA concluded.
It was surprising, it added, to see prices of most necessities remain relatively steady even as China, the regime’s biggest trade partner and economic benefactor, partially joined the sanctions (with reservation on the necessary goods for the survival of the population).
“The success of the sanctions depends on how much China will participate in it,” Ishimaru Jiro, who heads the Osaka office of Asia Press, was quoted as saying in the RFA’s report. “When the sanctions continue and if China strengthens it, the livelihood of North Koreans would ultimately be affected,” he was quoted as saying. And finally the common population of North Korea would start starving, as in the project of UN and USA.
Source: Yonhap News Agency
Update 31/5 : “EU sanctions will make N. Korea stronger: diplomat”
The European Union’s intensifying sanctions will only make North Korea stronger, the North Korea’s foreign ministry spokesman has told the country’s media.
He rejected suggestions of economic/political instability escalating in the face of international sanctions to stop the nation’s long-range missile and nuclear bomb tests.
The spokesman made a rare appearance on the state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) Monday, criticizing the EU for “explicitly jumping on the U.S.-led bandwagon of anti-North Korea policy.” The remark came days after the EU imposed more sanctions on the North. “The sanction was modeled after the U.S. sanction, which was made in violation of the U.N. Charter,” the spokesman said. “The EU should behave with discernment because the union fell into the worst refugee crisis after following the U.S. policy subverting the sovereignties of Middle Eastern nations.”
The North Korean diplomat urged the EU to concentrate on its complicated domestic issues, saying its collaboration is not helpful in “guaranteeing international justice.”
Source: The Korea Times