Market Chaos In North Korea: Currency Crisis Devastates Trade
September 2nd, 2025
Via Daily NK, an article on how a currency crisis is devastating North Korean trade: A wave of inflation is crushing North Korean markets as exchange rates soar and the local currency plummets. The dollar’s value has jumped 20-30% virtually overnight, throwing market merchants into turmoil. Yet instead of giving traders more freedom to adapt, authorities are tightening their grip on market activities. […]
Read more »North Korea’s Processed Goods Push Meets China’s Cold Market Reality
August 31st, 2025
Via The Diplomat, a report on how Chinese traders want North Korean companies to continue to export raw materials, which conflicts with the North Korean regime’s policy of exporting processed goods: As North Korea seeks to develop its economy by exporting more processed goods, Chinese buyers still prefer raw materials, putting North Korean traders in a pickle. “Trading companies that work with China in […]
Read more »North Korea’s Glossy New Surface: Apps, Beaches and a Fake Starbucks
August 25th, 2025
Courtesy of the New York Times, a report on some videos taken by visitors to North Korea provide a rare glimpse of how it’s mimicking the consumerism of the outside world: North Korea is taking inspiration from the West. In Pyongyang, elites drink coffee at a fake Starbucks and pay by mobile phone. About 100 […]
Read more »China Trade With North Korea Jumps As Neighbors Rebuild Economic Ties
July 21st, 2025
Via Nikkei Asia, a look at increasing trade between China and North Korea: Economic exchanges between China and North Korea are picking up, with cross-border train service set to resume and bilateral trade between January and June jumping roughly 30% on the year. China’s exports to North Korea in the first half of 2025 grew […]
Read more »Apples, Sausages, and Workers: North Korea and Russia Deepen Economic Ties
July 20th, 2025
Courtesy of The Financial Times, a report on growing economic ties between Russia and North Korea: North Korean apples have begun appearing on Russian supermarket shelves and exporters from the reclusive dictatorship are planning to enter the Russian market, as closer ties between President Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un begin to bear fruit for […]
Read more »Kim Jong-un Hails New North Korean Beach Resort as One of Country’s ‘Greatest Feats’ This Year
June 25th, 2025
Courtesy of The Guardian, a report on a new North Korean beach resort, hailed as one of country’s ‘greatest feats’ this year: Kim Jong-un is more accustomed to overseeing ballistic missile launches and political purges, but this week the North Korean leader opted for a change of pace with a family visit to a new beach resort – […]
Read more »Focusing primarily on The New Seven Sisters - the largely state owned petroleum companies from the emerging world that have become key players in the oil & gas industry as identified by Carola Hoyos, Chief Energy Correspondent for The Financial Times - but spanning other nascent opportunities around the globe that may hold potential in the years ahead, Wildcats & Black Sheep is a place for the adventurous to contemplate & evaluate the emerging markets of tomorrow.