{"id":2845,"date":"2016-12-21T11:39:02","date_gmt":"2016-12-21T02:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.01.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang-2\/2016\/12\/report\/20161221-market-economy-realty-03\/"},"modified":"2021-07-13T15:42:04","modified_gmt":"2021-07-13T06:42:04","slug":"20161221-market-economy-realty-03","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/2016\/12\/society-economy\/20161221-market-economy-realty-03\/","title":{"rendered":"\uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Expansion of the market economy as the driving force behind social transformation--based on sources from inside N.Korea. (PART3) State-owned transportation is in a miserable state. by ISHIMARU Jiro"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A train stopped on the tracks. There are almost no windows. August 2002, a suburb of Hyesan City, Ryanggang Province. Taken by ISHIMARU Jiro from Chinese side(ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

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2016\/Dec\/21<\/em><\/p>\n

 \u25c6<\/strong> Transportation and traffic have greatly increased and developed due to marketization.<\/strong><\/h2>\n

3-1 State-owned transportation has become dysfunctional<\/strong><\/p>\n

For many years the train system had been the primary means of transport in North Korea.  City buses, trolley buses, the subway in Pyongyang, had been a form of short form transportation and it was a state-owned enterprise. It took most of the responsibility for transporting the country\u2019s citizens. Long-distance buses openly connecting each city on a daily basis were also prevalent, including trucks carrying passengers in the back. <\/p>\n

As market activity became vibrant, people started to go to distant places to bring items for their businesses.  With a demand for more transport, traffic exploded while the vested state-owned transport became outdated and under-developed.  Now, the marketized transportation system has increased its footprint, playing an essential role for the people in North Korea to get around the country.<\/p>\n

Related Article: \uff1cInside N. Korea\uff1e Expansion of the market economy as the driving force behind social transformation\u2013based on sources from inside North Korea. (PART1)<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

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Hamhung Station in South Hamkyung Province, full of the merchants with large baggage. June 2005. Taken by Lee Joon (ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

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Following the mess of the collapse of the planned economy, the state-owned transportation system went into further disarray.  Train rails, railway sleepers, tunnels, bridges, locomotives, and passenger cars and all kinds of related facilities were never renovated, which caused them to became useless.  In the late 1990s the trains in North Korea were completely disorganized and unusable.  Windows on the trains were stolen or broken by passengers when they got on and off the trains, never to be repaired.  People stole and burned the train seats to use them as fuel for fire in an effort to warm up themselves up during the harsh winters.  The railway sleepers were taken out by passengers for personal use and power cables were stripped and sold for their copper.
\nRelated Article: Market survey shows \u201cResolution 2270\u201d, the toughest-ever sanctions, didn\u2019t work<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>

A train stopped due to a power shortage. Passengers get off the train and wash their faces using water from the street gutter. June 2005. Taken by Lee Joon(ASIAPRESS)<\/p><\/div>\n

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The power shortages made the train situation worse.  Most of the trains in North Korea run by electricity, with frequent blackouts it made it impossible for the trains to continue operating.  People started to take it for granted that trains wouldn\u2019t suddenly stop on a track at any given time.  Even now North Koreans sometimes get stuck inside the trains for a few days.  According to an ASIAPRESS reporting partner, Choi Kyoug-ok, in Hyesan City, northern Ryanggang Province, \u201cAs of October 2015, it usually takes three to six days between Hyesan City and Pyongyang City via the east coast train route, which is supposed to take only 22 hours.\u201d  [To be continued in part 4<\/a><\/span>]\n

\uff1cMarket Economy in N.Korea\uff1e View article sections<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u3010Related Article<\/strong>\u3011
\n\u25c6 Expansion of the market economy as the driving force behind social transformation\u2013based on sources from inside North Korea. (PART2)<\/a><\/span>
\n\u25c6 Is Economic Sanction Really Effective? Searching Effect from Retail Price Index<\/a><\/span>
\n\u25c6 Delinquent Juveniles Mobilized For Forced Labor<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\"rimjingang_banner001\"* <\/span><\/a>Editor\u2019s notes on North Korean reporters<\/a><\/a> <\/strong><\/span>
\n ARCHIVE(pdf) >><\/a><\/span>
\n DPRK MAP >><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  2016\/Dec\/21  \u25c6 Transportation and traffic have greatly increased and developed due to marketization. 3-1 Sta\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3570,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0},"categories":[12,13],"tags":[20],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2845"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2845"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2845\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2845"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.02.asiapress.org\/rimjin-gang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}