While world attention has focused on Kim Jong-un’s recent missile tests, a monthlong surge in petrol prices in Pyongyang is showing no signs of slowing – a puzzling problem that if allowed to drag on could be very bad news for the North Korean…
While world attention has focused on Kim Jong-un’s recent missile tests, a monthlong surge in petrol prices in Pyongyang is showing no signs of slowing – a puzzling problem that if allowed to drag on could be very bad news for the North Korean economy. Prices have shot up to about US$6.44 a gallon since the surge began in mid-April. That means North Korea has some of the highest petrol prices in the world. The price in April last year was only about US$2.24. The cause and extent of the surge remains a mystery. Officially, there has been no comment. There’s no obvious sign of less traffic on the streets, at least in Pyongyang, which is more affluent and developed than other North Korean cities. Taxis appear to be operating normally and have not raised their fares. The North’s by now pervasive market economy, which is tolerated by the ruling regime in exchange for its own cut of the profits, has made fuel and the ability to transport goods and people so essential that demand for petrol is not so sensitive to price. But many petrol stations around the capital, if they are selling fuel at all, have been limiting who they sell it to and how much each customer can buy. The long queues and mad dashes to fill petrol tanks and large plastic storage cans that marked the beginning days of the surge appear to have subsided, though stations’ operations remain irregular and unpredictable. North Korean petrol stations generally belong to chains associated with large government enterprises or sometimes the military. Petrol is also sold through more informal channels, including roadside stalls and the black market.
