A South Korean scholar says that there are about 750 unofficial marketplaces in North Korea and that the number of the country’s leading consumers has reached one million.
 
Professor Lim Eul-chul of the Institute for Far Eastern Studies at Kyungnam University presented the estimates on Monday at a seminar held at the National Assembly.
 
Lim said that the expansion of the North's domestic market resulted in the growth of the nouveau riche, who are exerting a large influence on real estate and employment in the North.
 
The professor said that if alley vendors are included, the number of gray marketplaces reaches up to 750.
 
At Sunam marketplace in Chongjin City, for instance, Lim said there are about 12-thousand vendor stalls.