The North Korean leadership's recent integration of financial committees and microeconomic agricultural and enterprise reform may indicate a willingness to pursue economic development.

Bradley O. Babson, Chair of the DPRK Economic Forum at the U.S.-Korea Institute, John Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), told NK News that North Korea has the potential to grow like other Asian "miracle" economies like Japan, South Korea or Taiwan. However, Babson, who is also a member of the Advisory Council of the Korea Economic Institute of America, believes that the question is whether North Koreans have "the will to develop policies that will integrate with the regional and international economy much more effectively than they have been able to" and "to build institutions for managing what's becoming a larger market economy."