Reports: North Korea bans use of foreign currencies

Seoul - Pyongyang banned the use of foreign currency among its people and foreigners at all sales outlets effective January 1, in an apparent move to reassert control over the struggling economy, news reports said Thursday. The North Korean won is to be the only valid currency for all commercial activities for both citizens and foreigners, a report by China's CCTV said.

"Foreign visitors must exchange foreign currency with local won currency for purchases at foreign currency service centers that we are opening at our banks," CCTV quoted the directive from North Korea's Ministry of People's Security as saying.

The ban is likely to keep traders from trying to hoard hard currency, as the latest ban also puts a cap on holding foreign money, South Korea's Yonhap news agency said.

The ban comes weeks after Pyongyang suddenly revalued its currency on a 100-for-one basis, slashing citizen's savings and reasserting its control over the economy.

The new currency regulations follow years of black market trading that motivated some traders to hoard dollars, euros or yuan, and weakened the grip of the communist state on commercial activities outside its controlled economy.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/301576,reports-north-korea-bans-use-of-foreign-currencies.html.