LONDON -- There is a bustle on the streets of Pyongyang that has been sorely missing for at least five years. The shops -- never consumers' havens -- have some goods on the shelves. Restaurants on Changgwang Street, North Korea's pale equivalent of Tokyo's Ginza, are open and serving. Even street vendors have a market for their wares. Things are beginning to move.
The economy seems to be on the rebound from a year or so ago, the lowest point since the aftermath of their "Fatherland Liberation War," which we call the Korean War. Factory chimneys that stood in serried ranks etched on the skyline 12 months ago are now broken by the occasional fuzzy pall of smoke around the tips, and there are cars on the road.
The fuel crisis has eased a little. Power cuts are rare events rather than daily features. The explanation provided is that this is due to the easing of demand as small hydroelectric schemes, pioneered some years ago in Kangye, come on stream, providing surrogate off-grid power supplies for individual factories and workshops.