She asked that her first name be identified using initials, citing worries for the safety of relatives in North Korea. “Using foreign currency is officially illegal but few ran into troubles or got arrested for using it,” said Paek, 47. About 50 professional money changers operated in Musan, she said. Paek H.O, who defected from the northeastern North Korean town of Musan in 2018, said she used the yuan to buy expensive goods and the won for cheap items such as sodas, vegetables and bread sold at markets. He kept a small amount of North Korean won for occasions like donating money to village campaigns to support military units. Most of his savings were stored in yuan and dollar bills. Jeon said he used the yuan to buy clothes, rice and other daily necessities, eat out or pay bribes to bosses. But the trend poses a potential threat to Kim as it has undermined his government’s control over money supply and monetary policies. The so-called “dollarization” helped ease inflation and stabilize exchange rates, enabling leader Kim Jong Un to establish a stable hold on power after he inherited that role in late 2011. dollars and Chinese yuan since a bungled revaluation of the won in 2009 triggered runaway inflation and public unrest. ![]() North Korea has tolerated the widespread use of more stable foreign currencies like U.S. “Even the quality of North Korean bills was awful as they often ripped when we put them in our pockets.” ![]() “There were not many places to use the won, and we actually had little faith in our currency,” Jeon said during a recent interview in Seoul. He used the domestic currency, the won, only occasionally. dollars as a store of value and used Chinese yuan to make everyday purchases at markets, restaurants and other places. ![]() SEOUL, South Korea (AP) - Before fleeing North Korea in 2014, Jeon Jae-hyun kept U.S.
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