Question

The U.S. would be LEAST inclined to export this product

Answer 1

North Korea's economy is a centrally planned system, yet the role of market allocation is limited. Although there have been scattered and limited attempts at decentralization, as of mid-1993, Pyongyang's basic adherence to a rigid centrally planned economy continues, as does its reliance on fundamentally non-pecuniary incentives. There have been reports of economic liberalisation, particularly after Kim Jong-un assumed the leadership in 2012, but recent reports conflict over what is happening. The collapse of communist governments around the world in 1991, particularly North Korea's principal source of support, the Soviet Union, forced the North Korean economy to realign its foreign economic relations. Economic exchanges with South Korea have begun: see Kaesong Industrial Region. North Korea had a similar GDP per capita to its neighbor South Korea until the mid-1970s starting from the aftermath of the Korean War, but with a GDP per capita of less than $2,000 in the late 1990s and early 21st century, North Korea remains as one of the world's poorest and least developed countries, in sharp contrast to South Korea, which has one of the largest and most diversified economies in the world.