TOKYO (AP) — North Korea is trying to invigorate its hidebound economy by offering more control and possibly more personal rewards to key sectors of its workforce in the country's biggest domestic policy experiment since leader Kim Jong Un assumed power. The measures give managers the power to set salaries and hire and fire employees, and give farmers more of a stake in out-producing quotas. Some outside observers say they're a far cry from the kind of change the North really needs, but they agree with North Korean economists who say it is starting to pay off in higher wages and increased yields. The changes were introduced soon after Kim took over in late 2011, codified last May and, according to North Korean economists who recently spoke to The Associated Press and AP Television News, are now being expanded to cover the whole country. The survival of the ruling regime is the primary driver behind all policy decisions, so there is little appetite in Pyongyang for the kind of economic shakeup that helped lift communist ally China out of poverty and onto the world economic stage. Fundamental changes necessary to create real prosperity — such as fiscal reform, increased transparency and accountability and consistent compliance with international norms to bolster trade and investment — don't appear to be on the table. North Korea's "Military First" policy, which sucks resources into a million-man army and the development of nuclear weapons that has brought heavy international sanctions down on its head. Once an enterprise has paid the state and reinvested income to expand production, develop technology and pay for the "cultural welfare" of its employees, it can use the remaining funds to determine pay levels.
N. Korea Shifts More Responsibility To Factories, Farmers
By ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle: World
Wed, 03/04/2015 - 1:01am
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