Managing Partner at Aite Group, a Ieading independent research and advisory firm in financial services industry
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Articles by Sang Lee
Beyond State Control: The Struggle Over North Korea's Markets
North Korea’s once-thriving markets are experiencing a transformation as the government intensifies control measures. Notably, over the past four years, there have been declining merchant activity and market closures stemming from deliberate enforcement actions involving plainclothes inspectors, permit checks, and seizure of unlicensed goods and foreign materials.
Behind the Wheel of Change: North Korea's Car Culture and the Politics of Movement
When Kim Jong Un visited the newly transformed “Amisan Automotive Technology Service Center” in spring 2025, what he praised as a “specialized comprehensive service base” represented something more complex than improved urban transportation.
Assessing North Korea's Wage Reform: 18 Months Later, Has It Improved Lives or Reinforced State Control?
Eighteen months have passed since North Korea implemented a tenfold wage increase (Cabinet Decision No. 23101-9, October 2023). This landmark decision—coming after 21 years of stagnant and extremely low wages—raises an important question: how has it affected people’s daily lives? The evidence suggests that real purchasing power has barely changed. Despite the nominal wage increases, market prices have risen sharply in parallel, preventing any meaningful improvement in living standards.
North Korea’s Agricultural Policies: Embracing a Chinese Model for Increased Productivity?
Last fall, articles published by North Korean state media outlets such as Rodong Sinmun revealed a familiar priority in North Korea: mobilizing people to work in the fields while urging officials to ensure that agricultural equipment is operating at full capacity.
North Korean Market Prices Suggest Serious Food Shortages
Recently, the BBC became one of few global outlets to succeed in interviewing ordinary North Koreans inside the country about the food situation, and the picture they painted is dire: starvation, empty markets and other signs of severe food shortages. In the past few years, when reports of food scarcity have surfaced from North Korea, market prices have given remarkably little credence to the claims. However, this is not the case at the moment.
North Korea’s Energy Sector: Hydropower Stations and Policy
Hydropower is the dominant form of electricity generation in North Korea. The country’s numerous mountains and rivers make it an attractive choice for power generation. As noted in article one of this series, Statistics Korea estimates it accounted for 53 percent of all power generation, while Nautilus Institute put hydro at 76 percent. At the same time, the country experiences harsh winters when frigid temperatures can cause rivers to freeze, limiting flow to the country’s key power plants.
Understanding Kim Jong Un’s Economic Policymaking: Tourism as an Industry
Commentary, Economy This article is not about booking a tour to North Korea.[1] That’s a topic for another day.
North Korea’s Dramatically Increasing Trade Deficit With China: A Short-term Trend or Longer-term Strategy?
Economy After more than two years of isolation to try to stave off a COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK, or North Korea), the resumption of at least limited train-based trade with China earlier this year was a welcome sign to most North Korea watchers. But when that trade was halted once again in late April, questions resurfaced about the potential impact of these trade disruptions on an already difficult economic situation.
Was North Korea's Covid-19 "victory" planned from the beginning?
Our researchers have shared with us articles from their own pages. Please take a moment to view the article from its original source. View By: Benjamin Katzeff Silberstein Since last month, there’s been strong signs that North Korea may soon declare “victory” over Covid-19. Its claims of progress against the virus are puzzling, like many claims the country has made about its Covid-19 situation, especially at a time when cases were climbing in the rest of the region.
What to Expect for US-ROK and Inter-Korean Relations Under Yoon Suk-yeol
Commentary, Foreign Affairs 2022 Election Outcome On March 9, the conservative People Power Party’s candidate, Yoon Suk-yeol, was elected the next president of South Korea, with 48.56 percent of the electorate vote over his main opponent, Democratic Party’s Lee Jae Myung, 47.83 percent.
Innovations in Execution Venues: Looking to Reignite Market Growth
Innovations in Execution Venues: Looking to Reignite Market Growth May 30, 2023 – Innovation in electronic trading has completely transformed global capital markets over the last 30 years.
White-Label Execution Services: Next-Generation Vendors Fill the Gap
Boston, December 10, 2015 – As trading volume suffers but the cost to maintain global electronic trading infrastructures does not decline, bulge-bracket firms’ appetite to provide white-label electronic trading services has waned. Lower-tier brokers without the deep pockets to build and maintain their own infrastructure are left searching for other options or face exiting the execution business altogether. Is the next generation of white-label execution vendors prepared to meet their needs?
4 Reasons Why Investors Should Consider Alternative Investments
Global alternative assets under management are nearly $8 trillion at the moment, and is expected to rise to $13.6 trillion by 2020 according to PwC. Alternative investments as a whole have grown twice as fast as traditional investments since 2005. While alternatives were previously available only to public pension funds, sovereign funds, and endowments, affluent individuals are starting to tap into this market.
Demystifying Blockchain in Capital Markets: Innovation or Disruption?
Boston, September 9, 2015 – With the initial exuberance over bitcoin waning quickly, the underlying blockchain technology has become the next big thing in financial services technology. Conceptually attractive yet hard to tangibly pin down or explain, blockchain has the potential, to some, to be the greatest technology innovation since the Internet.
3 Signs That We’re Heading Into a Stock Market Bubble
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- As traditional investments reach new highs, attempts are made to identify the top of the market as well as drivers of excessive optimism. The dot-come bubble of the 1990s is a classic example of a stock market bubble. This was primarily driven by speculation around the development of the Internet and associated businesses, which quickly caused markets to overlook fundamental metrics that, to a certain extent, define the health of a growing and/or stable business.
7 Common Alternative Investments That All Investors Should Know
NEW YORK ( TheStreet) -- Your choice of investment opportunities is largely restricted. Outside the familiar world of stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds and other pre-packaged products, there is a whole universe of alternative investment vehicles that you should be aware of. Alternative investments include venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, real estate investment trusts, commodities as well as real assets such as precious metals, rare coins, wine, and art.
7 Common Alternative Investments That All Investors Should Know
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Your choice of investment opportunities is largely restricted. Outside the familiar world of stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds and other pre-packaged products, there is a whole universe of alternative investment vehicles that you should be aware of. Alternative investments include venture capital, private equity, hedge funds, real estate investment trusts, commodities as well as real assets such as precious metals, rare coins, wine, and art.
Top Three Common Alternative Investments Myths, Debunked
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Most people don't understand exactly what "alternative investments" are. Hearing the term, you might think "hedge funds" or other vehicles only the wealthy have access to. But there are many kinds of alternative investments and many are accessible to all kinds of investors. Alternatives are on the rise. The global assets under management of alternative investments has risen by 119% over the last eight years, to $8.1 trillion in 2013, according to McKinsey & Company.
Crowdfunding: Understanding the Basics
Boston, January 7, 2015 – Buyers and sellers interacting in a marketplace may be nothing new, but nascent crowdfunding, now considered an alternative asset class, is growing to co-exist with traditional banking and securities, and it's set to raise US$93 billion by 2025. Through new ideas and human connections, crowdfunding offers real opportunities for accredited investors (mostly) and institutions while helping underserved borrower and entrepreneurial markets get funds.
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