consular protecting power

Flag description:
three horizontal bands of blue (top), red (triple width), and blue;
the red band is edged in white; on the hoist side of the red band is
a white disk with a red five-pointed star

Economy Korea, North

Economy - overview:
North Korea, one of the world's most centrally planned and isolated
economies, faces desperate economic conditions. Industrial capital
stock is nearly beyond repair as a result of years of
underinvestment and shortages of spare parts. Industrial and power
output have declined in parallel. Due in part to severe summer
flooding followed by dry weather conditions in the fall of 2006, the
nation has suffered its 12th year of food shortages because of
on-going systemic problems, including a lack of arable land,
collective farming practices, and chronic shortages of tractors and
fuel. Massive international food aid deliveries have allowed the
people of North Korea to escape mass starvation since famine
threatened in 1995, but the population continues to suffer from
prolonged malnutrition and poor living conditions. Large-scale
military spending eats up resources needed for investment and
civilian consumption. In 2004, the regime formalized an arrangement
whereby private "farmers markets" were allowed to begin selling a
wider range of goods. It also permitted some private farming on an
experimental basis in an effort to boost agricultural output. In
October 2005, the regime reversed some of these policies by
forbidding private sales of grains and reinstituting a centralized
food rationing system. By December 2005, the regime terminated most
international humanitarian assistance operations in the DPRK
(calling instead for developmental assistance only) and restricted
the activities of remaining international and non-governmental aid
organizations such as the World Food Program. Firm political control
remains the Communist government's overriding concern, which will
likely inhibit the loosening of economic regulations.

GDP (purchasing power parity):
$40 billion
note: North Korea does not publish any reliable National Income
Accounts data; the datum shown here is derived from purchasing power
parity (PPP) GDP estimates for North Korea that were made by Angus
Maddison in a study conducted for the OECD; his figure for 1999 was
extrapolated to 2005 using estimated real growth rates for N