The paper on cryptocurrency, or “North Korea Express: Virtualization Pay,” published in the North’s leading economic journal, “Economic Research,” is drawing keen attention as it shows interest in issuing its own cryptocurrency.
According to sources in North Korea on Thursday, the January 2019 issue of “Economic Research” carried a two-page paper titled “The Appearance and Its Impact of Virtualized Pay.” The main theme is that cryptocurrency is the inevitable result of the development of the information industry, and that it has shown the possibility of a new form of money appearing that completely reverses existing perceptions of money.
Although it is a general story in general, there are significant points to be interpreted in connection with the recent news that North Korea is interested in issuing cryptocurrency.
In September last year, the U.S. media reported that North Korea is developing its own cryptocurrency and is currently in the early stages of development. The report said the reason behind North Korea’s development of its own cryptocurrency is that it can “avoid international sanctions and generate funds for the regime.”
North Korea is reportedly developing its own cryptocurrency. [Photo=PIXABAY]
The economic research paper included a statement that cryptocurrency would completely change the existing concept of money and its distribution, and that characteristic could free it from U.S. or U.N. economic sanctions.
The paper stressed that “encrypted currency can be circulated with a payment method function that is not interfered with by a particular country,” a difference from the existing currency.
He then introduced examples of other countries that are considering issuing cryptocurrency. The Venezuelan government announced in 2018 that it would issue new cryptocurrency to revive the economy in the doldrums due to hyperinflation, adding that some countries are testing their own issuance of new cryptocurrency as legal currency used in conjunction with their own currency.
It also cited “a favorable aspect of confidentiality” as the characteristic of cryptocurrency, saying it is being used as a “powerful means to avoid financial sanctions.”
It is also the view of experts, adding that while measures are being taken in some countries to limit virtual currency transactions, including bitcoin, the volume of circulation will not decrease.
Capture Economic Research Papers
Economic research is a representative academic quarterly magazine in the North’s economic field and will be published by the “Science Encyclopedia Publishing” under the North’s top scientific research institute, the Academy of Sciences. This is why the paper should be viewed as a reflection of the North Korean regime’s view of cryptocurrency.
It is still uncertain whether the North will actually release its own cryptocurrency, but it seems certain that it is working not only in terms of technology but also in terms of global economic changes.
The paper suggested at the beginning that former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il should do well on research projects on the global economy and capitalist markets, stressing that cryptocurrency is bringing about changes in the existing economic system.