Jangmadang teaches North Koreans to break rules: Expert | NK News
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September 20, 2026Sep 20, 2026

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Jangmadang teaches North Koreans to break rules: Expert

Sokeel Park of LiNK says underground market economy teaches those who've grown up in it more than making money

North Korea’s “Jangmadang generation” has learned more than just how to make money – they have learned to break rules, one expert said.

The term “Jangmadang (market) generation” denotes that, even though North Korea has educated people that capitalism is the enemy, young people have grown up in a different reality.

The NK News podcast interviewed Sokeel Park, director of research and strategy for Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) about the Jangmadang generation.

Park said that this generation was born in the 1980s, 1990s and after and sprung up during the famine of the 1990s. They did not come