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Life is happy in tax-free North Korea Monday March 20, 10:30 AM
SEOUL (Reuters) - Aid workers say North Korea is short of food, analysts say its economy is a mess and U.S. President George W. Bush says leader Kim Jong-il is a tyrant, but Pyongyang says life is wonderful -- and blissfully free of tax.
North Korea has one of the lowest per capita income figures in the world. Although it says it has free health care, it cannot supply enough electricity to keep its factories running or to light the country at night.
On Monday, North Korean official media sang the praises of living in the communist country.
"The people of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea enjoy a happy life, not knowing what the tax is like," the official KCNA news agency reported.
DPRK is short for the North's official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.
North Korea said it got rid of taxes in 1974.
"The tax system has been in force in all the countries for thousands of years with the appearance of states. Its complete repeal in the DPRK was the first of its kind in human history," KCNA said.
North Korea has demanded what would be billions of dollars in economic assistance for dismantling its nuclear weapons programmes.
It receives significant humanitarian assistance from the South, which uses taxes from its citizens to help feed people in the North.
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/20032006/8...orth-korea.html
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