Planning a Framework for a Unified Korea: Understanding "Proof of Location" Pt. 1
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Real Estate in North Korea
Currently, North Korea is lagging behind in terms of their housing development in comparison to other thriving countries today, but it's been rapidly developing over the past decade, the housing prices have increased up to 12 times over. North Korea has recently introduced the idea of private ownership, which is unusual for it to be tolerated in the country, as it is authoritarian. It exists, but it's not common, as everything else is of state property.
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The whole situation is really funny, as the North Koreans that manage to legalize the buying and selling of state property, are doing so by finding loopholes in the existing regulations. Even though they are not allowed to directly sell their houses, they are allowed to trade houses between themselves as long as both houses are located within the same jurisdiction. Using this loophole, an interested individual would seek out someone that would be willing to sell their house. On a document, it would say the previous homeowners would be trading their house for a different property, while in reality they are receiving a lump sum of money. The officials would also be paid off to ensure that the transaction went smoothly with no problems.
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The pricing for North Korean housing is vastly increasing in the last 15 years, as a typical apartment in Pyongyang that sold for $5,000 before would cost $160,000 now. Even in North Korea, the location of the housing is extremely significant, so a countryside house would cost several times less. One interesting fact is that most housing transactions are paid in US dollars instead of North Korean Won. This observation can lead to implications of utilizing a borderless currency to enact all kinds of transactions in the near future. Because there are no real statistics to North Korean housing, close observers and analyzers claim that around 80% of the housing is actually built by private companies instead of the government.
Opportunities for North Korean Development Post-Reunification
With this system of essentially loophole-ing around the governmental regulations of real estate, more and more North Koreans are understanding the fact that their real estate is worth a lot of money, in addition to the anticipated further rise that is predicted in the near future. With reunification considerations, this real estate situation can become the liaison to addressing the wealth gap between South and North Korea.
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North Korean cities are going to be scouted out by rich real estate investors from all over the world, primarily South Korea and China. Not all intentions might be good, as they may take advantage of the North Koreans, who may be perceived as gullible in the housing trade. With the tensions being lifted more and more between North and South Korea, with it came a bundle of hope that investments will pay off surrounding the North Korean borders on both sides.