SEOUL, Dec. 4 (Yonhap) -- North Korea's recent currency reform was implemented for the political, not economic, purposes of rebuilding its regime's ruling system, a South Korean lawmaker said on Friday.
"There must be two objectives behind North Korea's latest currency reform," Rep. Hwang Jin-ha, a chief policymaker of the ruling Grand National Party (GNP), said at a party meeting. "One is a desperate bid to maintain the regime. The other is to consolidate the ground for its power succession."
| Neither have anything to do with currency reform or economics ... |
Hwang said he believes the redenomination was aimed largely at reinforcing the communist Workers' Party's control over the society and increasing Jong-un's power base in the face of fledgling market economy brewing in the North.
"As long as the North takes a political approach to the economy, its economy can never be restored," the lawmaker stressed, noting North Koreans are suffering more than ever before because of the sudden reform.
The socialist state on Monday conducted its first currency revaluation in 17 years, according to various sources in China and South Korea. North Koreans have become angry and frustrated because most of their stashed-away money based on the previous banknotes has been chipped away, according to the sources. |