Cash is king in North Korea. Long after credit cards became the norm in other countries, consumers in the DPRK have continued to carry paper currency — either North Korean won or forex like Chinese yuan and the U.S. dollar — to pay for goods at their local markets.

But recent reporting in state media has increasingly drawn attention to Pyongyang’s ambition to introduce a nationwide digital payment system, and the country has already experimented with some limited financial reform.

The COVID-19 pandemic may have been a catalyst for change, with the regime ramping up