Mass Privatization and Economic Reform in North Korea: Towards a Hard State Approach

Abstract

As seen in Eastern European nations and former Soviet Union mass privatization is an intense political process that requires strong leadership from the top as well as bottom-up political support from workers, managers, and the population at large. Given that North Korea's productivity is likely to be in less than that of other former socialist nations, simultaneous restructuring and reform programs are essential. This makes mass privatization all the more critical. The primary goal of mass privatization plan should be to create well-functioning market economy, which is best achieved by selling off SOEs as quickly as possible. Other economic and social concerns should not detract the government. In sum, it is important to establish an economic reform agenda early; otherwise, the window of opportunity available in reforming transition economies might be lost, which will only make the reform process much harder to implement in future date.