page_title: Jangmadang
section_title: Background
hierarchical_section_title: Jangmadang / Background
caption_attribution_description: North Korea tractor
context_page_description: Jangmadang, Korean for 'market grounds', are the North Korean farmers' markets, local markets and black markets. Since the North Korean famine, they have formed a large informal economy. Since the 1990s, the government has become more lenient towards them; however, merchants still face heavy regulations. Currently a majority of North Koreans are dependent on markets for their survival.
  The North Korean government has tried to regulate growth of the market economy in North Korea with a variety of methods. Some of them such as regulating the age of traders has caused some societal changes such as making women more responsible for earning money for their families. This has resulted in changing gender roles in North Korean society.
  There have been speculations on the possible role of black markets in causing reforms of the North Korean government and its economy, as happened in China.
context_section_description: After the collapse of the public distribution system in North Korea, the North Korean government allowed private markets. They originally sold essential items, rice and vegetables. Private markets evolved from local communities involving various organizations, workplaces, relatives and neighbors, that helped people to survive during the famine. Many of these mutual-help arrangements broke up later on, as markets developed.
  Unlike in cities, the people use bartering instead of money to engage in trade.
  China dominates both the official and unofficial economies in North Korea. Some people received their start-up capital from relatives in China. Many of these relatives also became partners and advisers in business.
caption: The North Korean famine in the 1990s contributed to the birth of the black market economy.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 30D", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image Software": "Picasa 3.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:08:19 15:23:05", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "2274", "Image Padding": "[]", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "9072", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4277", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/640", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Action", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "400", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:08:19 15:23:05", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:08:19 15:23:05", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "305461/32768", "EXIF ApertureValue": "6", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "17", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2838", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1417", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "8948", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "233600/59", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "7a9e378a30fc8bcfd6c5b5566de0447b", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF Padding": "[]", "EXIF OffsetSchema": "4138"}