Those observers who deny changes are taking place, have become a minority. There is simply too much evidence that changes have taken place. Following a revision of the constitution in 1998, Pyongyang set out to restructure the moribund industrial sector. Stimulating markets, as has obviously occurred, has major social and also political implications. Markets erode the monopoly not only of state distribution, but also of state information.
Market places are a bourse for the exchange of goods, and information of all kind.
It has always been dangerous to make assumptions regarding the political developments in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. We simply lack the information needed for well-founded analysis. Nevertheless, North Korea watchers these days are telling us, that intensive ideological debates are taking place in the upper echelons of the Pyongyang regime. A leading South Korean newspaper reported that Kim Jong-il was stressing the need for a perestroika of sorts, to cope with the many challenges lying ahead. Still, the crucial question remains, to what extent the North Korean regime is actually capable of reforming.