Despite its officially socialist orientation, North Korea is a country defined by thriving markets, and the private economy now predominantly satisfies the population’s consumption needs. 

Of course, this was not always the case. It’s relatively well-known that the DPRK’s market revolution triumphed in the mid-1990s, as North Koreans facing the collapse of the state distribution system and widespread famine turned to markets for food and other necessities.

What’s less widely known is that the initial indicators of this market revolution were visible as early as the 1980s, when entrepreneurs first laid the groundwork for the informal market economy on which