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Chapter 1: What surprising statistics reveal about North Korea's economy?
Some of the most enduring images of North Korea are these satellite pictures taken at night. You've probably seen them. The neighboring countries are ablaze with the lights of cities and towns. But once you hit North Korea's borders, it's just black. Everything's dark. North Korea is very poor and has very poor infrastructure that includes electricity because of years of sanctions from the U.S.
and other countries aimed at punishing it for its nuclear program. Until now, that's how we've understood North Korea. But the Wall Street Journal recently reported a staggering statistic. Last year, in the capital Pyongyang, more than 10,000 homes were built. That's more than were thrown up in either Los Angeles or Chicago. Something is happening in North Korea.
The image that's been painted for us by recent visitors to the North Korean capital is an economy that's on the uptick, an economy that's thriving. And that was hugely surprising to us.
Coming up on Today Explained from Vox, boom times in the Hermit Kingdom.
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Chapter 2: How is North Korea modernizing despite its past struggles?
So anytime there's a pandemic or a broad health scare, they have to shut everything down. So they closed its borders and that cut off their trade, particularly with China. And that really asphyxiated the economy. So even by North Korea's own sort of unique standards of economic vibrancy, they were at a weak point. And this is where Kim Jong-un was five years ago.
in a shocking way, issuing a mea culpa to his people saying, we're not doing well. And what we've seen over those five years, it's a bit of luck. It's a bit of focus. It's a bit of Kim Jong-un wanting to reassert control over his economy. But they've had multiple ways to produce this economic rebound. North Korea got a break, if you will, with Russia's invasion to Ukraine.
What did North Korea do? They first began offering munitions, supplying munitions en masse to Russia's war machine, We see how much military support Russia gets from North Korea. North Korea is providing significant munitions to Russia and other weapons. And the two countries signed a mutual defense pact.
And that laid the legal groundwork for what took the North Korea-Russia relationship to a whole new level.
Now to a development in the war in Ukraine. The U.S. State Department says there are signs that North Korean troops are in Russia. According to Ukrainian intelligence, Pyongyang is sending up to 30,000 more troops to bolster Russian forces along the front lines. North Korea initially sent some 11,000 troops to Russian territory last year.
And that was the deployment of thousands of North Korean troops to the Russian front lines to fight the Ukrainians. And this provided Putin and Russia something it really needed, bodies and soldiers. And North Koreans fought and died for this war with Ukraine on Russia's behalf. So this injected billions of dollars into the regime.
And to give you some perspective, North Korea's GDP is estimated to be about $27 billion annually. And... They've accrued, according to some estimates, more than $10 billion just in the past two and a half years or so.
Whoa.
It's a significant amount of money or assets flowing into North Korea. So the Russia part is very important. There are two other pieces to this. China is North Korea's main benefactor and trading partner. It warehouses many of Kim Jong-un's cyber warriors who... again, to the point of North Korea's relatively small GDP, which is not even 1% of what the U.S.
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Chapter 3: What role does Kim Jong-un's daughter play in his leadership?
The country still is very poor, malnourished. Half the population doesn't have enough food. So, yes, it's disproportionately going to Pyongyang and the elites, but it's not the only area where North Korea is seeing growth.
If the economic growth is based on a war that will someday hopefully end and some scams, however successful, is that really a recipe for a strong economic future for this country?
Many of these drivers could be fleeting for sure. Russia's war machine could rev down if there's an end to the war in Ukraine. But I think there would be a long tail there in terms of Russia wanting a cheap way to replenish many of its munitions. So how sustainable is this? I think Kim Jong-un has a degree of comfort politically, militarily, and now economically.
And that allows him to sort of call the shots. Does he want to re-engage with the U.S.? Does he even need a sanctions deal at this point?
Chapter 4: How has Kim Jong-un's parenting style been perceived?
One of the benefits of where Kim Jong-un has his economy at the moment is he can do what he wants. There aren't tough questions being asked. He's controlling the inflow and outflow of massive parts of the economy.
If you imagine a world where sanctions are lifted and tons of outside capital from South Korea or the US or Japan is flowing in, these are foreigners bringing the investment, snooping around, seeing if their money is being properly deployed. That's a risk to Kim Jong-un.
Ultimately, there's probably a way he tries to achieve an economy that has outsiders coming in and investing in the country that can lift more of the country out of poverty. But I think for right now, he's very comfortable.
That's Tim Martin, the Korea bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal.
Chapter 5: What implications does Kim Joo-ae's public presence have for North Korea's future?
Coming up, Kim Jong-un's heir apparent. She's stylish. She can fire a rifle. She can drive a tank. And she's a teenager. Support for Today Explained comes from Built Rewards. Is housing one of your biggest monthly expenses? Why not make that expense work for you? Built can help you do that. It's a membership program for where you live that gives you points on every housing payment.
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