Despite the risks, most entrepreneurs are moving forward incrementally with prescribed businesses that avoid illegal foreign media.
And while you’re watching the Olympics, keep in mind North Korea’s cheerleading squad is from the same country, with regime leadership that’s growing its nuclear arsenal and, according to the United Nations, has committed crimes against humanity that has no “parallel in the contemporary world.”
Human rights abuses and nuclear weapons are important issues, but there’s no doubt the socio-economic reality underpinning them has radically altered, according to Haggard. And it’s in this surreal mashup of North Korea that expanding marketization and entrepreneurship offer a pathway forward.
Said Geoffrey See, founder of Choson Exchange, “Having a channel of communication, even if it’s only with entrepreneurs who are not politically influential, gives us a way to communicate what the international community is thinking. It is a way to shape the future of an isolated country.”
— By Heesun Wee, special to CNBC.com
