north korea

north korea is the only country that has escaped the global downturn,recession,depression that has seized various other parts of the globe.
the parts of africa which are continually witnessing conflicts are the other exceptions.
while china,the erstwhile USSR and the eastern bloc countries have earnestly bought into the western economic methods,north korea has been standing up and out of this global economic machine.
it seems to need help from china but there does not seem to be any economic output from the DPRK into the PRC either.
Cuba has its cigars which are exported globally.
it is hard to think of a country without any manufacturing activity which provides employment to the young children of the farmers,who would feel inclined towards getting exposed to other industries.
agricultural innovations might not be able to satisfy the urge to do things that are new and involve relocating to urban centres.
once ,the west provided the industrial innovations that interested the masses by providing them avenues of upward mobility.
the same masses served as the markets for the western countries.
the innovations might have reached a stage by now,of running out of newer markets,or having innovated to the extent of diminishing the employment opportunities.
china has slipped from a growth rate of 13 % to 9 %.
the chinese left their maoist philosophies behind in order to be able to continue to be the ruling party.
the north koreans,who have lived behind the iron curtain might feel that this is the time to allow the outside world to get a peek into what they have been doing all this while.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_Korea