By Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein
Daily NK recently reported on a conference in Seoul, where one scholar working on the North Korean economic system, Jung Eun Lee, said that there’s at least anecdotal evidence to suggest that some North Koreans, who have (bravely) chosen to deposit money in regular banks, are actually getting paid interest on their deposits:
Another researcher at the press conference stated that system-wide, market-friendly reforms have occurred in the financial sector following Kim’s rise to power. North Korea under Kim Jong Un has been implementing a policy where “idle currency” is absorbed into the official economy. The policy is significant because it shows that the state is partially adopting capitalist practices.
“The North Korean authorities are emphasizing bank credit and releasing articles saying that ‘banks do not ask about the state of [customers’] ownership or the source of their deposit balance,” said Jung Eun Lee, another research fellow at KINU. “There are more and more North Koreans who say they have received both the principal and interest from their money deposited in North Korean banks.”
“What is more interesting is that the North Korea’s Central Bank launched a domestic electronic payment card called the Jongsong Card in 2015, and the number of stores accepting the card is increasing […] The use of electronic payment cards is increasing in Pyongyang and their use is expanding because [consumers] benefit by being able to prevent exposure of their identities, and are not burdened by the need to accept change during their financial transactions,” Jung concluded.
Full article:
Increasing autonomy for North Korean enterprises
Ha Yoon Ah
Daily NK
2018-09-10
There is likely much more happening under the surface in North Korean financial development than what reaches the audience in South Korea in the rest of the world. (See, for example, Peter Ward’s recent twitter-thread on financing of state-owned enterprise operations). If this assessment is true – that North Koreans have, in sizable numbers, been receiving interest on their deposits, it’s pretty significant. I’m not fully sure it’s a new development, but given the backdrop of the past few years – not least the currency revaluation in 2009 – it would mean that the official banking system has been able to gain some hard-earned trust back from at least a portion of citizens.
Now, it’s entirely possible that people are primarily depositing money for other reasons than savings. For example, with the payment cards that have popped up in recent years, people by definition have to deposit their cash with state-owned banks to use these cards, which many may do simply out of convenience. And then, the deposits earn interest as a nice side-effect. It’s certainly notable if more North Koreans trust that state-owned banks won’t confiscate the hard-earned cash that they choose to deposit, but it might not be a revolutionary development.
