An NK Pro analysis of largely unnoticed North Korean publications in law and economics journals indicates that the DPRK under Kim Jong Un has, since 2014, seen significant change in how State-owned Enterprises (SOEs) trade with one another and sell to the consumer.

Analysis indicates that:

Previous reforms that legalized some forms of inter-enterprise trade were far more limited, and treated markets as supplementary mechanisms rather than as a core part of enterprise activities; Market contracting (transactions) between SOEs for labor, land, capital, industrial goods (supplies, equipment), intangible goods (technology transfers), services (construction), and consumer goods now