What about inflation in People ‘s Korea .?

"You asked me if we in Korea, too, are affected by the capitalist economic crisis. Our country is immune to this crisis. I think perhaps ours is the only country in the world which is not affected by it. There has never been a price rise in our country. It is constant and stable today just as it was ten years ago"

KIM IL SUNG , 1983 

                                             

Rising prices/inflation is a hot topic in the UK and other Western countries . Everyone is talking about the cost of living crisis . The other day the price of a Cornish pasty in Lidl  went up from 85p to 99p - an increase of 16 per cent . A meat pie went up in price from £1.15 p to £1.19p and then to £1. 25p , a rise of 8.6 per cent  . Energy prices will go up again in August . When is it all going to end and why does no one in authority seem to care about it ?

People’s Korea is well known as a land of low prices . A Metro ticket is roughly the equivalent  of 2p or 3p and the price has remained unchanged since at least 2012 or even before . Compare this to TFL fares which are about 100 times higher than in the DPRK . A bottle of Taedonggang beer roughly costs about 68p in the hotel shop in the DPRK and is probably much cheaper in local shops . In fact in the DPRK people get a monthly free beer ration .

This notwithstanding , some professional anti-DPRK liars like Radio Free Asia , NKNews and 38THNorth , have alleged that there is inflation in the DPRK ! Of course this is impossible because the DPRK is a socialist planned economy based on meeting people’s needs . However some cynics and doubters will say ‘oh but there must be inflation in the DPRK ‘ .

 So why is People’s Korea not affected by crazy price increases  ? Firstly , because it is a planned economy and has a State Planning Commission . Article 34 of the DPRK Socialist Constitution states “ The national economy of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is a planned economy “ and that  “The State shall ensure a high rate of growth in production and a balanced development of the national economy by implementing unified and detailed planning.” . Secondly , the DPRK is a socialist economy where the means of production ,exchange and distribution are socially owned , there are no big capitalist monopolies who can benefit from constantly increasing profits . In fact in capitalist countries , inflation is a means of redistributing wealth from the working people to capitalists . Thirdly , the DPRK exercises strict price control . It  has a State  Price Commission , which was upgraded from being the State Price Bureau to a commission  back in 2011 , to give it more power to control prices. Even hostile sources such as the Korea Data and History Initiative of the US John Hopkins University were compelled to concede that “The State Price Commission is the administrative body tasked with determining the price of all goods and services in North Korea”.

In his famous 1969 essay “On Some Theoretical Problems Of The Socialist Economy” President KIM IL SUNG said as follows “Further, low prices should be assigned to the mass consumption goods when the prices are fixed. It is a matter of course, as I have mentioned above, that the values of commodities should be taken into account in assessing their prices. But this by no means signifies that the price of a commodity cannot be deviated from its value. The Party and the state of the working class should assign low prices to the mass consumption goods by actively deviating the prices of commodities from their values. That  is to say, rice, cloths, footwear, mosquito nets, thread, matches, school things and other goods indispensable for the people's material and cultural life should be cheap. "

Recently , in an essay by Ri Un Gyong, Faculty of Economics, Kim Il Sung University , it was stressed as follows ‘The socialist commerce is the popular one serving for the interest of the people….Next, the socialist commerce regards it as the supreme principle of its activity to ensure the interest of the people.

From such principle, the socialist commerce controls its activity legally and does not allow any element of infringing upon the interest of the people. The socialist commerce regards it as its principle to supply very useful and necessary goods to the people and has it as its mission to supply more goods at a low price. And when purchasing the agricultural products, it sets its purchase price from the aspect of the farmer's interest in order to ensure their interest”

A 2021 essay by Dr. Associate Prof. Tu Kwang Ik, Faculty of Economics, Kim Il Sung University stated that 

"The popular pricing policy of the DPRK represents the warm and great care of the Workers' Party of Korea that spares nothing if it is for the sake of the people while regarding it as the basic principle in its activities to serve the people."

To conclude the above quotations show that the DPRK is committed to low prices and price control because it is a people-oriented policy based on the great Juche Idea.