{"id":2850,"date":"2016-12-22T17:50:28","date_gmt":"2016-12-22T08:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/12\/report\/20161222-market-economy-realty-04\/"},"modified":"2018-08-24T18:20:48","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T09:20:48","slug":"20161222-market-economy-realty-04","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/12\/society-economy\/20161222-market-economy-realty-04\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Expansion of the market economy as the driving force behind social transformation--based on sources from inside N.Korea. (PART4) Marketization leads to rapid development of the transport system. by ISHIMARU Jiro"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/a>

The back of this military truck is full of people. To receive money for gasoline and equipment, the military also runs a \u2018servi car\u2019\u2014a transport service. In September 2008 in a suburb of Pyongyang. Taken by Chang Jeong-gil (ASIAPRES)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

2016\/Dec\/22<\/em><\/p>\n

3-2 The emergence of a marketized transport system<\/strong><\/p>\n

The marketized transport system started as the state-owned transport system collapsed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Trucks and dump trucks started to work as passenger vehicles called \u201cservi car.\u201d\u00a0 The word \u201cservi\u201d comes from the English word \u201cservice.\u201d\u00a0 In some areas, it is also called \u201cboricha\u201d\u2013\u201cbori\u201d meaning to earn in Korean.\u00a0 The official state organizations\u2014the military, the police, the Party, the administration, the intelligence agency, and youth associations\u2014run the servi-car business and take passengers to their destinations for money.\u00a0 They also temporarily lend vehicles to individuals in return for commission fees from them.\u00a0 The latter case is a form of \u201coutsourcing\u201d where the driver has to pay for the cost of gasoline and equipment, which goes straight to the organizations.
\n Related Article:\u00a0\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Expansion of the market economy as the driving force behind social transformation\u2013based on sources from inside North Korea. (PART1)<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A \u201cBori bus,\u201d a developed version of a service car, is also a popular choice for mid to long distance transportation.\u00a0 People called \u201ctonchu\u201d (lords of money), new entrepreneurs, import second-hand buses and pay money to the government in order to operate a company under the name of the state.\u00a0 Since private corporations can not operate in North Korea, there are companies called \u201cbasement,\u201d superficially operating under the name of sate-owned companies but are essentially private businesses.<\/p>\n

<\/a>

The bus terminal of a \u201cboricha\u201d in a suburb of Sariwon City, North Hwanghae Province. The destinations are written on the windows of the buses. Soldiers also use this transportation method. September 2013. Taken by our Team \u201cMindeulle\u201d (ASIA PRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

The fare of a state-owned transport like trains and the city buses is a fixed price, however, that of \u201cservi car\u201d and \u201cbori bus\u201d depend on market prices that depend on resource prices (such as gasoline prices).\u00a0 The graph below shows the fares of trains and buses for main lines, based on our survey inside North Korea.
\n Next page: The fare table of the state-owned railway connecting northern parts of North Korea and Pyongyang<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a>

[Table 1] The fare table of the state-owned railway connecting northern parts of North Korea and Pyongyang. (As of September 2015). [Note]: as of September 2015, 1 USD was equal to 8200 Won.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Black markets tickets are sold by workers from the train stations. The price for each train line, according to our reporting partner inside North Korea who works for the railway industry said that in September 2015,<\/p>\n

\u201cThe price of tickets differs depending on the demand and also the season, however, it is more or less 5 to 6 times higher than that of the official one.\u00a0 Tickets to Pyongyang are expensive due to a shortage of them; the government restricts the number of people going there.\u00a0 A ticket from Mosan to Pyongyang is sold at 20,000 Won per seat\u201d.
\n <\/strong>Related Article:\u00a0\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Market survey shows \u201cResolution 2270\u201d, the toughest-ever sanctions, didn\u2019t work<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

According to our reporting partner, the state-fixed monthly wages of railway workers varied from 1,080 Won to 1,900 Won as of September 2015.\u00a0 The workers were divided into seven grades that affected their wages.\u00a0 At the same time rice was sold at 5,000 Won to 6,000 Won per kg in the markets, so the railway workers could not even buy 500g of rice from a month\u2019s wage.\u00a0 Worse yet at this time the food supply had stopped.\u00a0 To survive the railway workers in charge of passengers now make their livings from selling tickets in the black market.
\n Next page: Examples of the boricha\u2019 price...<\/strong><\/p>\n

In addition to the existing trains, diesel locomotives were installed on some of the train lines in early 2015.\u00a0 The state-fixed price of the tickets between Hyesan and Pyongyang for sleepers was 85,000 Won, thirty times higher than the normal price.\u00a0 The price of the state-owned train system is set low since it is solely run on electricity.\u00a0 However, diesel locomotives running on oil, charge more since their operation costs are higher.\u00a0 Being expensive, yet punctual, the diesel trains were popular among the richest of the country.
\n Related Article:\u00a0[Video Report] National bus network of the North Korean market economy<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

The list below shows the examples of the \u201cboricha\u201d price as of September 2013 according to a reporting partner inside North Korea.<\/p>\n

Pyongyang\u2015Sariwon 3,500 Won \/51km
\n Pyongyang\u2015Pyongsong 3,000 Won \/41km
\n Pyongyang \u2015Hamhung 35,000 Won\u3000Distance unknown
\n Pyongyang \u2015Wonsan 15,000\uff5e17,000 Won 200km
\n Hyesan\u2015Chongjin 100,000\uff5e110,000 Won\u3000 Distance unknown<\/p>\n

As of December 2013, 1,000 Won is equal to 0.12 USD based on my research.<\/p>\n

As long as one has money, one can move across the country in a day.\u00a0 Therefore, the flow of people and goods, or commerce, has become much more efficient.\u00a0 In a period of fewer than 20 years, surprisingly, the nationwide long-distance bus network has been established.\u00a0 Interestingly enough, it was not achieved through policy or the leadership of the Party, but by the force of the markets.<\/p>\n[To be continued in part 5<\/a><\/span>]\n

\uff1cMarket Economy in N.Korea\uff1e View article sections<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"north-korea-map\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u3010Related Article<\/strong>\u3011
\n \u25c6 Is Economic Sanction Really Effective? Searching Effect from Retail Price Index<\/a><\/span>
\n \u25c6 Delinquent Juveniles Mobilized For Forced Labor<\/a><\/span>
\n \u25c6 [Video Report] Back alley of Pyongyang: Never let foreigners go. Residents of central Pyongyang live on businesses in the market<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"rimjingang_banner001\"*\u00a0<\/span><\/a>Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a>
\n <\/a>ALL REPORTS >>><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
\n ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
\n DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  2016\/Dec\/22 3-2 The emergence of a marketized transport system The marketized transport system started as the sta\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2850"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2850\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3569"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2850"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2850"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2850"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}