Over the past decades, South Korea’s Ministry of Unification (MOU) has conducted surveys among newly arrived North Korean refugees. In addition to this, over the past ten years (2013-22), the MOU has surveyed over 6,500 North Korean refugees on the state of the North Korean economy, society, and politics. 

An NK Pro analysis of the previously classified survey results that were released last week indicates:

Markets appear to dominate the lives of the North Korean people and are the primary source of subsistence, income and wealth  The kinds of market activities that North Koreans engage in