As the economy has collapsed in North Korea, a new emerging market economy has begun to germinate. This will likely be more powerful than politics in terms of change. Young North Koreans know about – and at times gets their hands on – illegal cell phones, and that opens up information.
On this edition of The Story, host Dick Gordon speaks with Sokeel Park of the U.S.-based NGO Liberty in North Korea about this and the slowdown of people escaping North Korea as security has tightened in the past year or so.
Hear the full conversation at The Story's website. Also in this show: two teenagers outside a movie theater in a small North Korean town; and Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, and how it grew in an organic way.