Finiances and Purges in the North

I had heard a lot about the currency reform last November north of the 38th. The idea was to exchange the 'old' currency for the new one at the rate of either 100 Won -> 1 Won or 1,000 -> 1 Won. The changes caused people's savings to disappear and will likely cause a rift with the people.

Being fare, this was no the first time their currency was re-evaluated. And actually I was surprised that there used to be an official exchange rate between North Korean Won and the US Dollar.

So with a tight economy they are looking for investors, like from Germany. There already is an industrial city open to outside investment but workers do run the risk of arrest for trying to preach what the outside looks like (true story, don't have time to find the link). And with the recent boat sinking hasn't helped matters much either.

But reading some (not exactly new news), I discovered the finance chief was executed by firing squad for the currency reform. Official statement "a son of a bourgeois conspiring to infiltrate the ranks of revolutionaries to destroy the national economy". Some people believe that this could mark the start of another purge within the North.