NK ECONOMIC REFORMS

Jodi of the Asia Pages (a recent and worthy find) wonders whether the Dong-A Ilbo or the New York Times is more trustworthy:

Can someone please explain why I read this in a Korean paper and this in an American one?

North Korea's leader, Kim Jong Il, a hard-core Communist who has begun tilting his country toward a market economy, extolled the virtues of profit during a visit in June to a North Korean factory.
-- New York Times, Aug. 20, 2004

Dr. Kenneth Quinones, former State Department`s North Korean affairs officer, argued yesterday that North Korea had suspended market economy reforms since this spring and returned to a socialistic economic system.
--Dong-a Ilbo, Aug. 20, 2004

According to visitors to North Korea, once bare store shelves are now stocked with all sorts of consumer goods, many from China. About 300 markets selling food, clothing and other goods have been established.
-- New York Times, Aug. 20, 2004

"I heard department stores and shops are empty in order to display goods in the Unification Market near the foreign residential district south of Pyongyang," [Quinones] said, adding, "What we can't see may be more important than what we can see for understanding North Korea.”
-- Dong-a Ilbo, Aug. 20, 2004