Video: North Korea: Following the Chinese Road?

Is isolated and reclusive North Korea tinkering with Chinese-style economic reform? In the hope of reviving a shattered economy, Beijing has been pressing North Korean leader Kim Jong Il to do so for years. Now, there are some intriguing signs that Kim just might be listening.

U.S.-China Institute Senior Fellow Mike Chinoy has just completed his fifteenth visit to North Korea. He began his talk by noting that conventional thinking of North Korea consists of the "five Ms":

• misery
• malnutrition
• missiles
• mania
• menace

During his recent visit, however, Chinoy observed "five new Ms":

• money
• mobiles
• markets
• motorcars
• middle class

To watch Chinoy's presentation, please click on the play button below.

For a quarter century, Chinoy reported from Asia for CNN. He’s the author of China Live: People Power and the Television Revolution and Meltdown: The Inside Story of the North Korean Nuclear Crisis. At the USC U.S.-China Institute, he's worked on our documentaries, including the just released first segment of Assignment: China.

This video is also available on the USCI YouTube Channel.