＜Video＞ Call with a N. Korean Woman (2) What is daily life like for residents now? "It's not a time when just anyone can do business. People are really exhausted"

Following the COVID pandemic, the Kim Jong-un regime made a major shift in domestic economic policy. One key change was strict control over private economic activities. Markets (jangmadang) that had previously supported people’s livelihoods through the trade of all daily necessities—clothing, food, miscellaneous goods, and even grain—were restructured so that business could only be conducted under state registration. Starvation deaths have occurred among urban residents who lost their cash income. How are North Korean residents managing to survive under such controls? We present the voice of a female reporting partner residing in the northern region who participated in a telephone interview in June 2025. (KANG Ji-won / HONG Mari)

The female reporting partner explained the current government policy as follows: " They've put strict controls on private transactions and brought business operations under state control. It's not a time when just anyone can do business." She lamented that the reduction in cash income has made it difficult to even purchase daily necessities, saying "Living is really hard."

Regarding people’s living standards, she said, "This year there haven't been people starving to death, but you could say more than half of those around me are just malnourished." She also mentioned the tourism business that the Kim Jong-un regime is promoting: "I had really high expectations, but as time goes by, it gets harder. When will we live well? I really have a lot of doubts. Our people are really exhausted."

The details of the conversation can be heard in the video.

※ ASIAPRESS communicates with its reporting partners through Chinese cell phones smuggled into North Korea.