Over the past two decades, North Korean authorities have struggled hard to keep up Stalinist appearances. Generally speaking, they have succeeded: for the casual short-term visitors can be forgiven for their belief that North Korea is still a Stalinist state. What is on display has not changed much – posters with sadistic U.S. imperialist monsters and muscular shock workers, military tunes booming out of loudspeakers and the pompous Stalinist architecture of Pyongyang being chief among them. However, there are things that officials cannot hide: the booming private economy and its unavoidable result – the growing gap between the haves and