When the Soviet Union and the East Bloc collapsed North Korea would have followed if not for the intervention of China. That was the precursor to the famine which is estimate to have killed at least 1 million North Korean citizens. If not for intervention from the UN's World Food Program and charities such as Oxfam many more would've perished. Then Kim Dae-jung was elected President of South Korea and who through his Sunshine policy managed some rapprochement with the North including the building of tourist resort, allowing separated families to hold reunions and the building of the Kaesong industrial complex located a short distance inside North Korea. Kim Jong-il even allowed for some private enterprise to exist. Yet on Monday that was all brought to halt when the North Korean government decided to devalue won by removing a couple of zero's which made the currency worthless on top of which they gave the people one week to exchange their old currency. Given how poor North Koreans already were before Monday's announcement one might ask why you would then want to make them even poorer. Because then government seems to be afraid of several things: A growing income gap, the existence of private as well as Black Markets and of course control of the population.
The reaction of the populace was quite surprising in that they actually held protests against the changes.
North Korea once agian shows just how far a small group of elites is willing to go just to retain their power no matter the cost.
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