Ask a North Korean: How capitalist is North Korea today? | NK News
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September 28, 2026Sep 28, 2026

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Ask A North Korean

Ask a North Korean: How capitalist is North Korea today?

"North Korea has become a capitalist state in a manner that cannot easily be defined with words"

Every week, we ask a North Korean your questions, giving you the chance to learn more about the country we know so little about.

Today’s question is: We always read in the media about how much North Korea’s economy has changed in the last decade or so. But how capitalist is the country really?

Officially, North Korea is a socialist country, but when we look closely at it, it is actually a more strongly capitalist country than anywhere else in the world.

Max Weber, who first introduced the term capitalism, defined modern capitalism as a mental attitude that makes a profession