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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Singapore Asia Pacific World North Korea sets new prices, uncertainties remain Reuters - Saturday, December 19 Send IM Story Print By Lucy Hornby and Christine Kim BEIJING/SEOUL, Dec 18 - North Korea has started announcing new prices after a sudden currency redenomination that froze commerce in the isolated country, but shortages could continue to plague it, observers warned. North Korea earlier this month announced it would redenominate its old currency at a rate of 100 to 1 in an effort to fight inflation. A cap on the amount of currency people could exchange may have wiped out the savings in won of small traders who had flourished in the country's grey markets. Markets officially closed for three days this week, for the government to roll out new state prices, traders in the Chinese border city of Dandong said. Uncertainty over price levels, and how much the new currency would be worth, had effectively halted commerce since the redenomination [ID:nTOE5B80BM]. North Korea has set new prices for grains and other foods roughly in line with price levels this summer, after accounting for the redenomination, according to a list obtained by Good Friends, a Buddhist group with a network of contacts in the North. "The main points are that wages have remained constant after revaluation and prices reflect previous market prices," said Lee Seung-yong, with Good Friends in Seoul. "The main problem is the availability of goods, which dropped sharply after the currency move." The furtive development of North Korea's markets helped fill in the gaps after the state's rationing system fell apart in the 1990s. If many small traders' savings have been wiped out by the currency change, it may be several months before markets can recover, leaving the prospect of shortages during the winter. "The effect will last for two to six months. Everything's all shaken up," a Chinese merchant in Dandong said. While the new prices largely reflect price levels last summer, inflation this autumn drove up prices, leaving open the potential for further shortages if the new prices have not been set high enough. This year's harvest was likely stunted by a cut-off in fertiliser supplies from South Korea, and localised drought. Traders are holding back goods while they wait to see how the new system settles out, aggravating near-term shortages. "People are holding onto their goods because of the uncertainty," Lee said. "Because of this, you can't buy anything at the market anymore because no one is selling. Before, you could buy almost anything there if you had money, but not anymore." Official wages appear not to have dropped by the same factor of 100, thereby raising North Korean citizens' purchasing power if they are paid their official wages. A report this week by the South Korean-based Daily NK says some new wage levels were set at a rate of 400 won per month. "The monthly wages formerly ranged from 3,000 won to 5,000 won and it has been reported that these have remained the same while other reports have shown that they might have fallen by a mere factor of ten," Lee said. An adult would still probably need to spend 150 won a month just to supplement corn and rice rations, based on World Food Program estimates of the average North Korean's meagre diet of cereals, vegetable soup and kimchi. Most people are unable to afford meat or fish on a regular basis, based on World Food Program observations, while Chinese merchants said North Koreans buy vitamins to supplement their diets. (Additional reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Editing by Jerry Norton) Recommend Send IM Story Print Related Articles Applied Materials to close Semitool bid by Dec. 21 AP - 2 hours 35 minutes ago EMC rises as NetApp falls after Goldman report AP - 2 hours 40 minutes ago Multimedia gets OK from Mississippi gaming board AP - 2 hours 46 minutes ago Switch to cash unlikely to slow down checkouts AP - 2 hours 52 minutes ago Shoppers, wary of credit cards, get creative AP - 2 hours 55 minutes ago News Search Top Stories GM sets end of road for Swedish brand Saab Thieves steal infamous Auschwitz death camp sign British borrowing rockets to record high Greek financial sector is hit by new credit doubts Strauss, Trott launch solid England reply More Top Stories » ADVERTISEMENT Most Popular Most Viewed Most Recommended Brazilian confesses to sticking needles into two-year-old Tiger's wife Elin seeking divorce: reports Boeing's Dreamliner in maiden flight BA wins court battle to stop Christmas strikes Asians, Africans 'left out of stem cell research' More Most Viewed » Global stocks mixed amid Dubai debt crisis Tiger's wife Elin seeking divorce: reports Tiny magnetic discs could kill cancer cells: study Virgin unveils spaceship to offer space tourism Tiger Woods' girlfriend apologizes in TV interview More Most Recommended » Elsewhere on Yahoo! 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