A new breed of conglomerates is helping to prop up North Korea
Want a flight to Pyongyang? Cigarettes?Potted pheasant? Petrol?
“A UNIQUE and sweet taste,” says a poster describing a new brand of soju, a local firewater, made by Naegohyang. The North Korean company started out making cigarettes(reportedly puffed on by Kim Jong Un, the country’s dictator). It has branched out into a thicket of unrelated items, including playing cards, sanitary towels, sports kit and electronics. It advertises them in the stadium of the women’s football team it sponsors.
Naegohyang, which means “My Homeland”, is one of what appears to be a growing number of large and diversified businesses in North Korea. In Kwangbok Area Shopping Centre in Pyongyang, the capital, Naegohyang’s “7.27” cigarettes compete with “Hanggong” (meaning “airline”)brand, produced by Air Koryo, the national carrier. The latter, too, appears to be expanding into several industries, from making potted pheasant and canned mackerel to operating taxis and petrol stations.
puff: to breathe smoke from a cigarette, pipe, etc., in and out of the lungs ( she sat on the porch puffing on a cigarette)
sanitary: of or relating to good health or protection from dirt, infection, disease, etc.
朝鲜的大垄断公司业务都囊括了很多不想关的产品，从烟草到农药，罐头鱼，出租车和加油站等等...
Such conglomerates are often compared to the chaebol of South Korea, but are best understood as “a private-public partnership” says Chris Green of International CrisisGroup, a think-tank. Under North Korean law the government is the sole economic operator and private business is banned. Although these companies are nominally owned by the state, they are run mainly privately and rely, at least in part, on private funding.
After a famine caused the state rationing system to collapse in the 1990s, Kim Jong Il, Mr Kim’s father and predecessor, turned a blind eye to small markets called jangmadang, where ordinary North Koreans bought and sold goods. Ministries were later given rights to trade in certain goods, creating opportunities for entrepreneurs down the supply chain. The government requires some state-owned companies and agricultural workers to provide fixed quotas of goods, but allows them to use the rest of their output as they see fit.
朝鲜政府是唯一掌控整个经济的运营者，所有企业都是公私混合所有制，但大部分这些企业只是名义上是国有的，实际上都是私人拥有。
nominal: existing as something in name only
Not all the conglomerates grew out of ministries: some started as private companies but became big enough to require state patronage. North Korea’s monied elite provide them with cash and cream off most of the profits. The overseeing ministry provides protection in return for a cut—a tax, in effect. It is usually a fixed sum based on expected profits.
Sanctions, ramped up in recent years, have further encouraged the development of conglomerates, says Andray Abrahamian of the Honolulu branch of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think-tank. He points to the example of Myanmar. Sanctions that blocked access to foreign goods and investment led, he argues, to the domination of the economy by the well-connected. In North Korea, for example, it is often relatives of powerful ministers and bureaucrats who own trading companies. Jang Song Thaek, Mr Kim’s uncle, who was executed in 2013 for treason, controlled fisheries, coal mines and exports of other minerals.
cream off: to remove the best part from something; to take away something or someone for yourself
treason: the crime of trying to overthrow your country's government or of helping your country's enemies during war
不是所有的寡头都是从商务部出资发展起来的，有些是有钱的精英们出钱投资，然后他们拿走大部分的利润，而商务部则负责统筹保护等来收取部分税款
这些企业基本都是政府官员们的亲戚开的，像金正恩的叔叔，（对，就是那个被以叛国罪处决的）就控制着渔业，矿山和矿物质出口！
Unlike his father, Kim Jong Un has not tried to roll back the development of a private economy or large, sprawling companies. Indeed, since 2013 he has stressed the parallel development of nuclear weapons and the economy. He has talked about making more domestically and giving choice to local “consumers”. In 2014 the law was changed to allow managers of state-owned firms to trade and create joint ventures with foreigners, and to accept financing from private investors at home.
The growth of conglomerates initially increased competition: in addition to Air Koryo, for example, a riding club, a ski resort and a phone company also set up taxi services. But the big firms are starting to gobble up or squeeze out the small businesses through which poorer North Koreans make a living. Seafood companies connected to the army are putting fishing co-operatives out of business.
sprawl: to spread or develop in an uneven or uncontrolled way
金正恩和他父亲不一样的地方是他不打算回到那种靠私企和大企业的时候，从2013年开始，他就把核武器和经济发展放在同等重要的位置，2014年修改了法律，允许国企的经理们和外国人合资，接受国内私人资产投资等...
Analysts reckon the big companies are a prop to the regime, too. They not only pay taxes, but can manufacture things that are hard for it to obtain because of international sanctions. The wealthy are presumably happy to have increased opportunities, even if they can be withdrawn at the regime’s whim (one of the reasons for Jang’s execution is said to have been his economic power). The Bank of Korea, in Seoul, reckons the GDP of the North increased by 3.9% in 2016.
But in the long run, a more “aspirational society” and a healthy middle class may lead to the country opening up, says Simon Cockerell, who runs Koryo Tours, a travel agency based in Beijing, and has visited North Korea 168 times. These companies have been able to grow thanks in part to a growing consumer class, albeit mainly confined to Pyongyang. Sokeel Park of Liberty In North Korea, a Seoul-based organisation, reckons the development of new centres of power, which follow economic incentives, will ultimately increase pressure on the regime.
prop: something that is used to support something and keep it in position
prop up: to give help. encouragement, or support to someone
总结：在朝鲜，政治制约着经济，经济制约着政治。这篇文章，可以了解一点我们知之甚少的北朝鲜，了解金正恩在经济上的小改革
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Results
Lexile®Measure: 1200L - 1300L
Mean Sentence Length: 20.21
Mean Log Word Frequency: 3.17
Word Count: 768
这篇文章的蓝思值是在1200-1300L， 适合英语专业大三的水平学习，是经济学人里中等难度
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