Kim Dan-bi's brother is the model of the establishment North Korean: an army veteran and member of the ruling Workers' Party, he is now a manager at a state enterprise.
But when he has the time, according to Kim, a defector now living in South Korea, her brother helps trade goods such as TVs and bedding smuggled from China, a sideline lucrative enough for him to have recently bought a car.
"Being in the party doesn't really help financially," she said. "It is even burdensome to those who are running their own businesses."