＜Inside N. Korea＞ Bicycle Repair Brought Under State Control as Crackdown on Private Economic Activity Intensifies

◆ "They're Not Catching Bicycle Thieves — They're Going After Repairers": Resident Discontent

The reporting partner described how people are reacting to the crackdown:

"Life is so hard that some people are out at night stealing bicycles — but the police aren't going after the thieves. They're just targeting the ones making money from repairs. People are furious."

As severe inflation continues to erode cash incomes, the lives of urban residents are growing increasingly difficult. The Kim Jong-un regime's apparent goals are twofold: to tighten control over the population by centralizing private economic activity under state management, and to channel the profits into state coffers. Restrictions on private business operators are likely to expand further going forward.

＜Inside N. Korea＞ Kim Jong-un Regime Extends Control to Tailors — Private Economic Activity on the Brink

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