I recently heard this one thanks to the NPR news app: Out Of Desperation, North Korean Women Become Breadwinners : NPR I didn't know about how people weren't being paid there or having to pay 20x to 30x their salary to not work. As some of you might know Eric Schmidt of Google and Bill Richardson recently went to NK. CNet put up this piece today: Schmidt, daughter open up about trip to North Korea | Internet & Media - CNET News. Most interesting to me was this link to Eric Schmidt's daughter's post at Sophie In North Korea about their trip. I didn't realize she was on the trip nor that he had a daughter. Post other interesting NK related stuff here...
I don't usually have much opportunity to hear NPR, but did hear that story on its original broadcast. The NK economy is a basket case. As it continues to collapse, that women's market -- originally a black market of not-employed/not-supported women desperate for food -- appears to be the primary remaining economic activity. Nearly all other adults, essentially all men and some women, are conscripted government employees. The government is no longer able to provide rations or paychecks to many of them, but won't release them from their assigned make-work posts to allow them time to fend for themselves. Failure to appear at their assigned jobs is harshly punished. They are unpaid government slaves. The consequences of all this are awful.
