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zeppelin
Joined: 08 Jan 2005
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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 Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 12:57 am Post subject: |
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| There were reports of public outrage and confusion after the announcement of the measure, which requires North Koreans to swap existing won notes for new ones at an exchange rate of one to 100 � effectively knocking two zeroes off their value. Because of a cap of 100,000 won per family (�475 at the official exchange rate), anyone with significant holdings of cash will have their savings wiped out. |
Wow, that is ridiculous. But I'm sure any smart North Koreans who have any money keep their savings in foreign currency rather than North Korean won.
This is why there's a currency black market, and the official exchange rate is like 142.45 KPW to the USD, while the black market rate is more like 3,000 KPW to the dollar!
This move made the price of rice in their country 15 times more expensive overnight, and just at the beginning of winter at that. These boneheads don't deserve to run a country, we should have finished what we started 60 years ago. |
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cdninkorea
Joined: 27 Jan 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:52 am Post subject: |
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| redaxe wrote: |
| These boneheads don't deserve to run a country, we should have finished what we started 60 years ago. |
Agreed, and that's exactly what would've happened had China not gotten involved. Funny how none of the Japan-hating Koreans I know have any hostility toward the Chinese. |
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Chambertin
Joined: 07 Jun 2009
Location: Gunsan
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 9:34 am Post subject: |
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| cdninkorea wrote: |
| redaxe wrote: |
| These boneheads don't deserve to run a country, we should have finished what we started 60 years ago. |
Agreed, and that's exactly what would've happened had China not gotten involved. Funny how none of the Japan-hating Koreans I know have any hostility toward the Chinese. |
Anti china sentiment wasn�t popular with the pro Chinese government. After all Korea was essentially two communist countries until the 1990's.
But if you talk about that you die of fan death so shhh....
Even more interesting is if you look at the fight that created Colonial Korea China had as big a part in it as Japan and Russia had chips on the table too. In fact Russia did some real bunk stuff to the Koreans they could get their hands on.
Hating who you copy takes the pain out of not making it yourself I always say. |
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loyfriend
Joined: 03 Aug 2009
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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Anti china sentiment wasn�t popular with the pro Chinese government. After all Korea was essentially two communist countries until the 1990's.
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What do you mean by that comment? I have read some Korean history, and and talk to Koreans all the time. The books and the people tell me they were a free nation. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 5:39 pm Post subject: |
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| loyfriend wrote: |
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Anti china sentiment wasn�t popular with the pro Chinese government. After all Korea was essentially two communist countries until the 1990's.
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What do you mean by that comment? I have read some Korean history, and and talk to Koreans all the time. The books and the people tell me they were a free nation. |
What he means is that the South Korean economy had a lot of government intervention prior to the 90's. More of a command-style economy with way more leeway given to them that North Koreans can't even imagine. Companies focusing on industries that the government though would be lucrative in the future received tons of government money (ie. electronics, steel and cars).
Koreans traditionally view the Chinese as the devil they got to live with, as long as the Chinese don't get involved in their domestic affairs they'll do as the Chinese please. Kind of like what Canada does to please the Americans. |
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Xuanzang
Joined: 10 Apr 2007
Location: Sadang
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:12 pm Post subject: |
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| I didn't know the North Korean won had any value to devalue. |
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redaxe
Joined: 01 Dec 2008
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Xuanzang wrote: |
| I didn't know the North Korean won had any value to devalue. |
Actually it did. But the problem was not that they devalued it (which by itself would cause massive inflation). The problem is that they printed all new notes, ordered businesses to stop accepting the old ones, and gave everyone a week to exchange their old notes for new notes, and there is a cap of 100,000 won per family. So anyone who had large savings in North Korean won has had their savings completely wiped out overnight. Basically they instantly took a whole bunch of cash OUT of circulation and reined in the money supply. That's a lot different from just a devaluation.
Of course, now the new bills are nearly worthless because nobody trusts in the currency anymore, so North Korea will become even more of a barter economy with a few lucky rich people hoarding foreign currencies. |
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jvalmer
Joined: 06 Jun 2003
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| Posted: Thu Dec 03, 2009 6:28 pm Post subject: |
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| If anyone decides to take the grand tour of NK via the Beijing route, slip your tour guide/minder a few US dollars out of site of other North Koreans. I'll bet he'll really appreciate it now. |
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