BEIJING: Impoverished North Korea is gearing up to experiment with agricultural and economic reforms after young leader Kim Jong-un and his powerful uncle purged the country’s top general for opposing change, a source with ties to both Pyongyang and Beijing said.
The source added that the cabinet had created a special bureau to take control of the decaying economy from the military – one of the world’s largest – which under Kim’s father was given pride of place in running the country.
The downfall of Vice Marshal Ri Yong-ho and his allies gives the untested new leader and his uncle Jang Song-thaek, who married into the Kim family dynasty and is widely seen as the real power behind the throne, the mandate to try to save the battered economy and prevent the secretive regime’s collapse.
The source has correctly predicted events in the past, including North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006 days before it was conducted as well as the ascension of Jang.
The changes could herald the most significant reforms by the North in decades. Previous attempts at a more market driven economy have floundered, most recently a drastic currency redenomination in late 2009 which triggered outrage and is widely believed to have resulted in the execution of its chief proponent.
“Ri Yong-ho was the most ardent supporter of Kim Jong-il’s ‘military first’ policy,” the source told Reuters, referring to Kim Jong-un’s late father who plunged the North deeper into isolation over its nuclear ambitions, abject poverty and political repression. The biggest problem was that he opposed the government taking over control of the economy from the military, the source said, requesting anonymity to avoid repercussions.
If the reforms do take root, North Korea would be the next Asian pariah state to open up after Myanmar, whose change last year to quasi-civilian government has suddenly started to bring it out from years of seclusion under harsh military rule.
The North Korean Embassy in Beijing declined to comment. (Reuters)
