英语新闻阅读：朝鲜人依赖非正规市场

英语自学网

　　An American expert on North Korea says a growing number of people in the
impoverished state are depending on informal markets to make up for shortages of
food and other necessities.Stephen Linton, chairman of the Eugene Bell
Foundation, told an audience in Washington Tuesday that the communist government
turns a blind eye to many practices that are inconsistent with Pyongyang's
state-controlled economy. He said people from various socioeconomic groups,
including farmers, factory workers and government officials, increasingly
benefit from these unauthorized markets. These markets, he said, thrive
especially along the border with China, North Korea's closest ally.
        　　Abraham Kim, vice president of the Washington-based Korea Economic
Institute, told VOA he had seen the same thing on a visit to North Korea last
month.Kim said the government appears to be a contradiction between the markets
and the government's strict state control of the economy. But he said officials
tolerate the situation because the markets are making needed food and consumer
goods available to the public.