North Korea
North Korea has the structural profile of a relatively industrialized country where nearly half of the Gross Domestic Product is generated by industry and human development is at medium levels. Purchasing power parity (PPP) GDP is estimated at $40 billion, with a very low per capita value of $1,800. In 2012, Gross national income per capita was $1,523, compared to $28,430 in South Korea. The North Korean won is the national currency, issued by the Central Bank of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
Juche
In 1956, Kim Il-sung declared "Juche" to be the guiding principle of the economy. After the devastation of the Korean War, North Korea began to rebuild its economy with a base in heavy industry, with the aim of becoming as self-sufficient as possible. As a result, North Korea developed what has been called the "most autarkic industrial economy in the world". North Korea received a lot of economic aid and technical assistance from the Soviet Union and China, but it did not join Comecon, the Communist common market. In the 1990s, it had one of the world's lowest rates for dependence on petroleum, using hydroelectric power and coal instead of imported oil. Its textile industry uses vinylon, known as the ""Juche" fiber", which was invented by a Korean and which is made from locally available coal and limestone. The history of the development of vinylon often featured in propaganda that preached the virtues of technological self-reliance. North Korea had 10,000 CNC machines in 2010. The first domestic homemade CNC machine was introduced in 1995 and in 2017 it has around 15,000 machines.