In the last five to seven years, a consensus has emerged among students of North Korea. Pretty much all now agree that since the mid-1990s, North Korea has undergone a dramatic economic and social transformation. The North Korean government remains remarkably reluctant to admit it, but the transformation has been characterized as the “grassroots” or “spontaneous” marketization of the country.

Beyond the consensus, there continue to exist points of debate. For instance, it remains unclear how large the private economy actually is. Attempts to estimate its size have resulted in figures between 30 percent and 50 percent of North Korean GDP as of 2015. However, such estimates should be taken with a grain of salt, because the relevant statistics are either closely guarded state secrets in North Korea, or do not exist.