Editing Economy of North Korea (section)

===Manufacturing===
[[File:Fábrica máquinas-herramienta Huichón (5).jpg|thumb|Tool-machine factory in [[Huichon]]]]

North Korea also implements planned economy in industry. The government will provide fuel and materials for a factory, while the factory will manufacture products and quantities according to the government's requirements.

North Korea's self-reliant development strategy assigned top priority to developing heavy industry, with parallel development in agriculture and light industry. This policy was achieved mainly by giving heavy industry preferential allocation of state investment funds. More than 50% of state investment went to the industrial sector during the 1954–1976 period (47.6%, 51.3%, 57.0%, and 49.0%, respectively, during the [[Three-Year Plan]], Five-Year Plan, First Seven-Year Plan, and Six-Year Plan). As a result, gross industrial output grew rapidly.<ref name="Savada1994" />{{rp|123–127}}

As was the case with the growth in national output, the pace of growth has slowed markedly since the 1960s. The rate declined from 41.7% and 36.6% a year during the Three-Year Plan and Five-Year Plan, respectively, to 12.8%, 16.3%, and 12.2%, respectively, during the First Seven Year Plan, Six-Year Plan, and Second Seven-Year Plan. As a result of faster growth in industry, that sector's share in total national output increased from 16.8% in 1946 to 57.3% in 1970. Since the 1970s, industry's share in national output has remained relatively stable. From all indications, the pace of industrialization during the Third Seven-Year Plan up to 1991 is far below the planned rate of 9.6%. In 1990 it was estimated that the industrial sector's share of national output was 56%.<ref name="Savada1994"/>{{rp|123–127}}

Industry's share of the combined total of gross agricultural and industrial output climbed from 28% in 1946 to well over 90% in 1980. Heavy industry received more than 80% of the total state investment in industry between 1954 and 1976 (81.1%, 82.6%, 80%, and 83%, respectively, during the Three-Year Plan, Five-Year Plan, First Seven-Year Plan, and Six-Year Plan), and was overwhelmingly favored over light industry.<ref name="Savada1994"/>

North Korea claims to have fulfilled the Second Seven-Year Plan (1978–1984) target of raising the industrial output in 1984 to 120% of the 1977 target, equivalent to an average annual growth rate of 12.2%. Judging from the production of major commodities that form the greater part of industrial output, however, it is unlikely that this happened. For example, the increase during the 1978–1984 plan period for electric power, coal, steel, metal-cutting machines, tractors, passenger cars, chemical fertilizers, chemical fibers, cement, and textiles, respectively, was 78%, 50%, 85%, 67%, 50%, 20%, 56%, 80%, 78%, and 45%.<ref name="Savada1994"/>{{rp|123–127}}
Raw materials were in short supply and so were energy and hard currency. Infrastructure decayed and machinery became obsolete. Unlike other [[Eastern Bloc|socialist countries in the Eastern Bloc]], North Korea kept planning in a highly centralized manner and refused to liberalize economic management.

[[File:Fabrica de cristal duro Huichon4.jpg|left|thumb|[[Huichon#Huichon Hard Glassware Factory|Huichon Hard Glass Factory]]]]
In the mid-1980s, the speculation that North Korea would emulate China in establishing Chinese-style [[special economic zone]]s was flatly denied by then deputy chairman of the Economic Policy Commission [[Yun Ki-pok]] (Yun became chairman as of June 1989). China's special economic zones typically are coastal areas established to promote economic development and the introduction of advanced technology through [[Foreign direct investment|foreign investment]]. Investors are offered preferential tax terms and facilities. The zones, which allow greater reliance on market forces, have more decision-making power in economic activities than do provincial-level units. Over the years, China has tried to convince the North Korean leadership of the advantages of these zones by giving tours of the various zones and explaining their values to visiting high-level officials.<ref name="Savada1994"/>

In April 1982, [[Kim Il Sung]] announced a new economic policy giving priority to increased agricultural production through [[land reclamation]], development of the country's infrastructure—especially power plants and transportation facilities—and reliance on domestically produced equipment. There also was more emphasis on trade.

In September 1984, North Korea promulgated a [[joint venture]] law to attract foreign [[Capital (economics)|capital]] and [[technology]]. The new emphasis on expanding [[trade]] and acquiring technology was not, however, accompanied by a shift in priorities away from support of the military. In 1991, North Korea announced the creation of a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the northeast regions of [[Rason]] ([[Rason Special Economic Zone]]) and [[Chongjin|Ch'ŏngjin]]. Investment in this SEZ has been slow in coming. Problems with [[infrastructure]], [[bureaucracy]], uncertainties about the security of investments, and viability have hindered growth and development. Nevertheless, thousands of small Chinese businesses had set up profitable operations in North Korea by 2011.<ref name="bbc-20111220">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16254565 |title=Kim's death and the North Korean economy |author=Tony Michell |publisher=BBC |date=December 20, 2011 |access-date=April 10, 2012 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425011744/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16254565 |archive-date=April 25, 2012 }}</ref>

A government research center, the [[Korea Computer Center]], was set up in 1990, starting the slow development of an [[information technology]] industry.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://38north.org/2011/10/ptjia102611/ |title=North Korea: An Up-and-Coming IT-Outsourcing Destination |author=Paul Tjia |date=November 18, 2011 |work=[[38 North]], [[School of Advanced International Studies]] |publisher=Johns Hopkins University |access-date=November 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130005525/http://38north.org/2011/10/ptjia102611/ |archive-date=November 30, 2011 }}</ref>

In 2013 and 2014, the [[State Economic Development Administration]] announced a number of smaller special economic zones covering export handling, mineral processing, high technology, gaming and tourism.<ref name="tribune-20141217">{{cite news |url=http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2014/12/pyongyang-shows-signs-of-change/ |title=Pyongyang shows signs of change |author=Glyn Ford |newspaper=Tribune |date=December 17, 2014 |access-date=December 20, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141220180930/http://www.tribunemagazine.org/2014/12/pyongyang-shows-signs-of-change/ |archive-date=December 20, 2014 |url-status=dead |author-link=Glyn Ford }}</ref> International conferences on special economic zones took place in 2013 and 2014, and the concept of many provincial economic zones was considered. However from 2019 these possibilities have diminished, partly out of a concern of excessive foreign influence on North Korean society.<ref name=38north-20221221>{{cite web |url=https://www.38north.org/2022/12/understanding-kim-jong-uns-economic-policymaking-rolling-out-economic-development-zones/ |title=Understanding Kim Jong Un's Economic Policymaking: Rolling Out Economic Development Zones |last1=Carlin |first1=Robert |last2=Minyoung |first2=Rachel Lee |publisher=The Henry L. Stimson Center |work=[[38 North]] |date=21 December 2022 |access-date=10 January 2023 |archive-date=January 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230110132314/https://www.38north.org/2022/12/understanding-kim-jong-uns-economic-policymaking-rolling-out-economic-development-zones/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

====Garment industry====
The most successful export industry is the [[Clothing industry|garment industry]]. Production is by a North Korean firm for a European or other foreign partner, by a Chinese firm operating in North Korea with a North Korean partner, or by North Korean workers working in Chinese or other foreign factories.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.nknews.org/2015/01/twelve-north-koreans-to-work-in-factory-in-europe/ |title=Twelve North Koreans to work in factory in Europe |date=January 14, 2015 |website=[[NK News]] |access-date=August 9, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160719100526/https://www.nknews.org/2015/01/twelve-north-koreans-to-work-in-factory-in-europe/ |archive-date=July 19, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/brexit-who-ll-do-your-job-now-channel-4-dispatches |title=Brexit: Who'll Do Your Job Now? |date=August 7, 2016 |website=Channel 4 Dispatches – Channel 4 – Info – Press |publisher=Channel 4 UK TV |access-date=August 9, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160819120332/http://www.channel4.com/info/press/news/brexit-who-ll-do-your-job-now-channel-4-dispatches |archive-date=August 19, 2016 }}</ref> Wages are the lowest in northeastern Asia.<ref name=38N83012>{{cite web |title=Garment Production in North Korea |url=http://38north.org/2012/08/tjia082912/ |publisher=[[38 North]].Org, The U.S.-Korea Institute (USKI) at SAIS, Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), Johns Hopkins University |access-date=September 26, 2012 |author=Paul Tjia |date=August 30, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120926083556/http://38north.org/2012/08/tjia082912/ |archive-date=September 26, 2012 }}</ref>

====Automotive industry====
[[File:Pyongyang bus.jpg|thumb|A North Korean manufactured trolleybus, a Chollima 90]]
{{Main|Automotive industry in North Korea}}
The North Korean motor vehicle production establishes military, industrial and construction goals, with private car ownership by citizens remaining on low demand. Having Soviet origins (the subsequent practice of cloning foreign specimens, and a recent automobile joint-venture), North Korea has developed a wide-range automotive industry with production of all types of vehicles. The basis for production is in urban and off-road minis; luxury cars; SUV cars; small, medium, heavy, and super-heavy cargo; construction and off-road trucks; minibuses/minivans, coach buses, civilian and articulated buses, trolleybuses, and trams. However, North Korea produces far fewer vehicles than its production capability due to the ongoing economic crisis. North Korea has not joined or collaborated with the [[Organisation Internationale des Constructeurs d'Automobiles|OICA]], or with any other automotive organization, so any critical information about its motor vehicle industry is limited.