Reformist leader makes comeback in N. Korea

SEOUL, Aug 21 AFP - A veteran North Korean politician who was sacked over the failure of a 2002 economic reform, has returned to government as Pyongyang struggles to recover from a bungled currency revaluation.

Pak Bong-Ju, 71, was reinstated as a first vice director of the ruling communist party’s central committee, Yonhap news agency said.

His new title was mentioned on Pyongyang’s Chungang Bangsong TV when it reported Saturday that Pak took part in a ceremony marking the 50th anniversary of the opening of the city’s famous Okryukwan restaurant.

It did not identify which department Pak has been assigned to but he is believed to be posted to the light industry department under the control of leader Kim Jong-Il’s only sister Kim Kyong-Hee, Yonhap said.

Cho Myung-Chul, an analyst with the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy, said Pak was an iconic leader of the North’s 2002 economic reforms which aimed to boost productivity.

Pak headed the North Korean cabinet from September 2003 to April 2007, when he fell out with party and military leaders over the implementation of his market-oriented economic reform, Yonhap said.

“His comeback might be connected with the North’s efforts to correct the failure of the currency renomination,” Cho told Yonhap.The revaluation announced November 30 involved a 100-for-one swap of old won banknotes for new currency. But restrictions on the total amount which could be changed wiped out savings in many cases.Uncertainty and confusion sent prices soaring and worsened food shortages. A top communist party finance official, Pak Nam-Ki, has been executed to try to quell public anger.