The North Korean government has grappled for years with how to address the de facto privatization across many sectors of its economy. 

The spread of private ownership in the “socialist paradise” is ideologically unwelcome, generating potential instability for the Kim leadership. But Pyongyang also recognizes that private entrepreneurs generate much-need hard currency and other resources that the state cannot.

One of the most compelling sectors to observe these tensions is the North Korean fishing sector. Seafood sales, especially to China, constitute a large source of export revenuefor the DPRK, and private fishing is a major source of income for