

How North Korea Survives - rfreytag
http://www.newsweek.com/id/200053

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jonshea
This article is extremely thin. The only source in the whole thing is an
anonymous “former U.S. diplomat in East Asia”. Why couldn’t he go on the
record in his claim that North Korea doesn’t counterfeit, or in his claim that
North Korea makes money on the stock market? Anonymous sources are the worst.
The have little motivation to tell the truth, and even if they do there’s no
way to make sure the author represents them accurately.

The article also discusses North Korea’s gold reserves and access to the stock
market. While these might be means by which North Korea has access to markets
and currency, it’s hard to believe they’re a major source of income. Does
North Korea have financial geniuses they’ve somehow groomed, through Communist
schooling, to compete on Wall Street and win?

The only serious income sources that this article mentions are mining and
manufacturing, but there are no numbers on either. Mining seems like it would
be easy to track (it’s unlikely that North Korea is trading steel on some kind
of black market), but there’s no indication the author contacted any experts
on the subject.

