Mr. Jones
English 12 CP
20 March 2015
The Reality of North Korea Economy
On November 24th 2014, Sony Picture Entertainment experienced a severe cyber attack conducted by a group of hackers called “The Guardians of Peace”. The hackers demanded the cancellation of the planned release of the movie “The interview”, which depicted the assassination of North Korean supreme leader Kim Jong-un. Aside from the political and comical meanings of “The interview”, the movie also depicted North Korea a country that is in deep poverty. The fake grocery store contrasts significantly with Kim Jong-un’s paradise-looking palace. For a long time North Korea has been concealing its true economic development. Most people would curious, as the only country …show more content…
What is the reality of North Korea’s economy? A thorough investigation showed that to fully understand the current North Korea’s economic status, the analysis of three perspectives is required: the current economy …show more content…
The answer is not very well. The international trade that North Korea has with other countries is very limited and restrained. However, what interesting about North Korea is that although its foreign trade is singular and limited, almost the entire country depends on the foreign trade (Kaufman). Recently, due to the cyber attack on Sony Picture Entertainment that is possibly conducted by North Korea, the United States imposed a sanction on North Korean economy. Usually sanctions may not have huge effect on large countries like Russia, but to North Korea, the sanction may be disastrous. Alexander C. Kaufman is an associate editor on The Huffington Post 's business desk, and he previously worked as a staff reporter at the International Business Times, The Wrap and The Boston Globe. In his article “North Korea Sanctions Must Target Regime To Bruise Economy”, Mr. Kaufman analyzed that “Such penalties have scarcely hurt North Korea because its economy is small and relies heavily on elaborate smuggling networks used to sell arms and narcotics and to distribute counterfeit dollars” (Kaufman). A significant part of North Korea’s economy depends on its foreign trade, though some parts of the trade are not legal internationally (Kaufman). Millions of North Korean’s lives depend on the profits that gain from the foreign trade. If the trading route was cut by the outside force,